Windows Update Uses Up 4.3 GB of HD Space?!

[David Z]

I have a Dell Dimension 4550 running XP Home (SP 1). I haven't updated
the operating system in a long time, maybe even since I bought it in
2003. My main HD is a 120 GB drive which is partitioned to 15 GB for
the boot drive and the rest to a data partition.

I need to update XP to install QuickBooks which requires SP 2. I went
to Microsoft's website to update and downloaded a series of updates
which are required before I can install SP 2. These updates reduced my
free HD space by 4.2 GB (from 10.4 GB to 6.2 GB) and I haven't even
downloaded or installed SP 2 yet! The Windows folder increased by 0.7
GB (from 1.2 GB to 1.9 GB), so I'm not sure why my free space declined
so much.

These numbers don't sound right to me. Do they sound right to you?
What could be going wrong here?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I have a Dell Dimension 4550 running XP Home (SP 1). I haven't
updated the operating system in a long time, maybe even since I
bought it in 2003. My main HD is a 120 GB drive which is
partitioned to 15 GB for the boot drive and the rest to a data
partition.

I need to update XP to install QuickBooks which requires SP 2. I
went to Microsoft's website to update and downloaded a series of
updates which are required before I can install SP 2. These
updates reduced my free HD space by 4.2 GB (from 10.4 GB to 6.2 GB)
and I haven't even downloaded or installed SP 2 yet! The Windows
folder increased by 0.7 GB (from 1.2 GB to 1.9 GB), so I'm not sure
why my free space declined so much.

These numbers don't sound right to me. Do they sound right to you?
What could be going wrong here?

System Restore...
Hibernation files...
Backups for the updates you have applied...

The informnation below can help you pinpoint where the space is being 'used'
and perhaps (given the smallness of your partition/drive) - give you a
little extra breathing room in the process.

If you are comfortable with the stability of your system, you can delete the
uninstall files for the patches that Windows XP has installed...
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/spack.htm

Used Disk Cleanup?
Is hibernate turned on and do you use that feature?
Uninstalled unnecessary applications lately?

You can run Disk Cleanup - built into Windows XP - to erase all but your
latest restore point and cleanup even more "loose files"..

How to use Disk Cleanup
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310312

You can turn off hibernation if it is on and you don't use it..

When you hibernate your computer, Windows saves the contents of the system's
memory to the hiberfil.sys file. As a result, the size of the hiberfil.sys
file will always equal the amount of physical memory in your system. If you
don't use the hibernate feature and want to recapture the space that Windows
uses for the hiberfil.sys file, perform the following steps:

- Start the Control Panel Power Options applet (go to Start, Settings,
Control Panel, and click Power Options).
- Select the Hibernate tab, clear the "Enable hibernation" check box, then
click OK; although you might think otherwise, selecting Never under the
"System hibernates" option on the Power Schemes tab doesn't delete the
hiberfil.sys file.
- Windows will remove the "System hibernates" option from the Power Schemes
tab and delete the hiberfil.sys file.

You can control how much space your System Restore can use...

1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
2. Click the System Restore tab.
3. Highlight one of your drives (or C: if you only have one) and click on
the "Settings" button.
4. Change the percentage of disk space you wish to allow.. I suggest moving
the slider until you have just about 1GB (1024MB or close to that...)
5. Click OK.. Then Click OK again.

You can control how much space your Temporary Internet Files can utilize...

Empty your Temporary Internet Files and shrink the size it stores to a
size between 64MB and 256MB..

- Open ONE copy of Internet Explorer.
- Select TOOLS -> Internet Options.
- Under the General tab in the "Temporary Internet Files" section, do the
following:
- Click on "Delete Cookies" (click OK)
- Click on "Settings" and change the "Amount of disk space to use:" to
something between 64MB and 256MB. (It may be MUCH larger right
now.)
- Click OK.
- Click on "Delete Files" and select to "Delete all offline contents"
(the checkbox) and click OK. (If you had a LOT, this could take 2-10
minutes or more.)
- Once it is done, click OK, close Internet Explorer, re-open Internet
Explorer.

You can use an application that scans your system for log files and
temporary files and use that to get rid of those:

Ccleaner (Free!)
http://www.ccleaner.com/

Other ways to free up space..

SequoiaView
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/

DX Hog Hunt
http://www.dvxp.com/en/Downloads.aspx

JDiskReport
http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/index.html

Those can help you visually discover where all the space is being used.

 

[Allan]

I have a Dell Dimension 4550 running XP Home (SP 1). I haven't updated
the operating system in a long time, maybe even since I bought it in
2003. My main HD is a 120 GB drive which is partitioned to 15 GB for
the boot drive and the rest to a data partition.

I need to update XP to install QuickBooks which requires SP 2. I went
to Microsoft's website to update and downloaded a series of updates
which are required before I can install SP 2. These updates reduced my
free HD space by 4.2 GB (from 10.4 GB to 6.2 GB) and I haven't even
downloaded or installed SP 2 yet! The Windows folder increased by 0.7
GB (from 1.2 GB to 1.9 GB), so I'm not sure why my free space declined
so much.

These numbers don't sound right to me. Do they sound right to you?
What could be going wrong here?

I have SP2 installed and the \Windows folder is almost 5GB in size. I don't
think you need to worry about running out of space so just go ahead and
install SP2. After installing SP2 you may want to defragment the OS boot
partition.
One more thing to keep in mind is be sure to scan for spyware before
installing SP2. I would try a few anti-spyware scanners either installed or
online and remove any problems as thoroughly as possible.
Remember that SP2 may incorporate some of the updates that you have already
downloaded as "cumulative" updates so your space usage may not increase as
much as you fear.
One more thing is that you may want to visit Dell's own website for any
additional advice on upgrading to SP2 that they may suggest. I found the
information from HP to be helpful when I installed SP2.
Good luck with your update.

 

[David Z]

Thank you very much.

System Restore...

That alone gave me back 3.6 GB!

Hibernation files...

And that one gave me back about 0.8 GB.

Backups for the updates you have applied...

And that one gave me about 1 GB.

I'll try the other stuff tomorrow.

Thanks again.

- David

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I have a Dell Dimension 4550 running XP Home (SP 1). I haven't
updated the operating system in a long time, maybe even since I
bought it in 2003. My main HD is a 120 GB drive which is
partitioned to 15 GB for the boot drive and the rest to a data
partition.

I need to update XP to install QuickBooks which requires SP 2. I
went to Microsoft's website to update and downloaded a series of
updates which are required before I can install SP 2. These
updates reduced my free HD space by 4.2 GB (from 10.4 GB to 6.2 GB)
and I haven't even downloaded or installed SP 2 yet! The Windows
folder increased by 0.7 GB (from 1.2 GB to 1.9 GB), so I'm not sure
why my free space declined so much.

These numbers don't sound right to me. Do they sound right to you?
What could be going wrong here?

System Restore...
Hibernation files...
Backups for the updates you have applied...

The informnation below can help you pinpoint where the space is
being 'used' and perhaps (given the smallness of your
partition/drive) - give you a little extra breathing room in the
process.

If you are comfortable with the stability of your system, you can
delete the uninstall files for the patches that Windows XP has
installed... http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/spack.htm

Used Disk Cleanup?
Is hibernate turned on and do you use that feature?
Uninstalled unnecessary applications lately?

You can run Disk Cleanup - built into Windows XP - to erase all but
your latest restore point and cleanup even more "loose files"..

How to use Disk Cleanup
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310312

You can turn off hibernation if it is on and you don't use it..

When you hibernate your computer, Windows saves the contents of the
system's memory to the hiberfil.sys file. As a result, the size of
the hiberfil.sys file will always equal the amount of physical
memory in your system. If you don't use the hibernate feature and
want to recapture the space that Windows uses for the hiberfil.sys
file, perform the following steps:

- Start the Control Panel Power Options applet (go to Start,
Settings, Control Panel, and click Power Options).
- Select the Hibernate tab, clear the "Enable hibernation" check
box, then click OK; although you might think otherwise, selecting
Never under the "System hibernates" option on the Power Schemes tab
doesn't delete the hiberfil.sys file.
- Windows will remove the "System hibernates" option from the Power
Schemes tab and delete the hiberfil.sys file.

You can control how much space your System Restore can use...

1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
2. Click the System Restore tab.
3. Highlight one of your drives (or C: if you only have one) and
click on the "Settings" button.
4. Change the percentage of disk space you wish to allow.. I
suggest moving the slider until you have just about 1GB (1024MB or
close to that...)
5. Click OK.. Then Click OK again.

You can control how much space your Temporary Internet Files can
utilize...

Empty your Temporary Internet Files and shrink the size it stores
to a
size between 64MB and 256MB..

- Open ONE copy of Internet Explorer.
- Select TOOLS -> Internet Options.
- Under the General tab in the "Temporary Internet Files" section,
do the following:
- Click on "Delete Cookies" (click OK)
- Click on "Settings" and change the "Amount of disk space to use:"
to something between 64MB and 256MB. (It may be MUCH larger right
now.)
- Click OK.
- Click on "Delete Files" and select to "Delete all offline
contents" (the checkbox) and click OK. (If you had a LOT, this
could take 2-10 minutes or more.)
- Once it is done, click OK, close Internet Explorer, re-open
Internet Explorer.

You can use an application that scans your system for log files and
temporary files and use that to get rid of those:

Ccleaner (Free!)
http://www.ccleaner.com/

Other ways to free up space..

SequoiaView
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/

DX Hog Hunt
http://www.dvxp.com/en/Downloads.aspx

JDiskReport
http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/index.html

Those can help you visually discover where all the space is being
used.

Thank you very much.

( System Restore... )
That alone gave me back 3.6 GB!

( Hibernation files... )
And that one gave me back about 0.8 GB.

( Backups for the updates you have applied... )
And that one gave me about 1 GB.

I'll try the other stuff tomorrow.

Thanks again.

Glad to help out!
Thanks for posting back.

From 4.2GB extra used to 5.4GB more free... Not bad for three things. ;-)

 

[Thomas Wendell]

I have SP2 installed and the \Windows folder is almost 5GB in size. I
don't think you need to worry about running out of space so just go ahead
and install SP2. After installing SP2 you may want to defragment the OS
boot partition.
One more thing to keep in mind is be sure to scan for spyware before
installing SP2. I would try a few anti-spyware scanners either installed
or online and remove any problems as thoroughly as possible.
Remember that SP2 may incorporate some of the updates that you have
already downloaded as "cumulative" updates so your space usage may not
increase as much as you fear.
One more thing is that you may want to visit Dell's own website for any
additional advice on upgrading to SP2 that they may suggest. I found the
information from HP to be helpful when I installed SP2.
Good luck with your update.

And after SP2 all post-SP2 updates....

--
Tumppi
=================================
A lot learned from these newsgroups
Helsinki, FINLAND
(translations from/to FI not always accurate
=================================

 

[Karl Snooks]

David,
Excellent advice from Shenan Stanley, as you indicated.

The program "CCleaner", which he referenced, is a real winner. The
program is free, although donations are accepted and the program will clean
much of the crud from your system and even from your registry. I use the
program regularly.

Don't be surprised that even with the gained space that over time and as
you add more software if you don't eventually run up against a space problem
again.

Karl Snooks