»Oi, need help with the old computer again!«

hungarian kid:

I've used about 100 gigs but I can't used the other 20,

Are you sure you are not talking about some differences in gigabyte mathematics?

Remember:
1024 bytes = 1 KB
and 1000 bytes = 1 kb

Or maybe it's merely a discrepancy between files size vs cluster size. A file (even if only 1 byte) takes up at least one full cluster (512 bytes up to 32768 and more)

If you have Total Commander running, then go on a subfolder and press <ctrl-L>

posted by knn

ebooks-download.com

in-my-opinion.org -> Technology, Computers, Science, Internet -> Computers and Internet -> Oi, need help with the old computer again!

Documents and Settings

Jeez Man, I just got a look at that graph.

Your documents and settings take about 74% of your G: drive - somewhere in the region of 26 Gig I learned something new, I guess

Documents and Settings are normally on your C: drive, did you move them?

You need to scan that subfolder to see what's taking up all the space. If it's mainly the "My Documents" folder, then it's probably down to you hoarding stuff White laugh

However if it's in "Local Settings", then it's windows or one of your apps.

posted by Marl64

Windows XP - Sneaky B*stard - part 2

2 ) Temp folders Everywhere

You say you checked windows TEMP folder, but did you check them all I learned something new, I guess

Microsoft in its infinate wisdom elected to spread them all over the place, be sure to check

C:\TEMP - Not common, but some apps do create this
C:\WINDOWS\TEMP - legacy location, but still used by older apps
C:\Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\Local Settings\Temp

Each user gets one of these so check 'em all. Also since you have a "Documents and Settings" on your G: Drive, Check that.

Delete anything you find in any of these, files, folders the lot. The rule of Windows is Temp folders are fair game so don't use them to store stuff in. If windows is using a file in a temp folder it will tell you, simply skip it and move on.

While your at it, delete all temporary internet files;

C:\Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files

[CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS PICTURE]

posted by Marl64

Windows XP - Sneaky B*stard - part 3

3) Cleanup your disks

For each drive, go to it's icon in explorer, use the right-button and pick Properties.

Make sure the indexing service is OFF (the bottom button is unticked)

Click on the "Disk Cleanup" Button. After a bit of chugging and grinding you should get a new window which has two tabs "Disk Cleanup" (which you're on) and "More Options".

Make sure all the boxes are checked except Compress Old Files (don't press OK yet)

Select the "More Options" tab, the window should now show three sections "Windows Components", "Installed Programs" and "System Restore"

Click the "Cleanup" button in the "System Restore" section (bottom) and confirm that you want to "delete all but the most recent restore point"

This gets rid of the roll-back information that windows keeps when you add or remove apps, or drivers. It always keeps the last one.

Now click OK on the main window and check if you got any space back

This is basic Windows housekeeping and should be done by everyone whether short of space or not.

[CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS PICTURE]
[CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS PICTURE]
[CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS PICTURE]
[CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS PICTURE]

posted by Marl64

Ah thanks for all your help! Yes, oh yes.. keep going

Marl64:

Also since you have a "Documents and Settings" on your G: Drive, Check that.

That's just from when the G: drive used to be the main harddrive in my old computer, nothing in there cept music and stuff!

Marl64:

Your documents and settings take about 74% of your G: drive - somewhere in the region of 26 Gig

Yup, 21.8 gigs of music!

Marl64:

You say you checked windows TEMP folder, but did you check them all

They were all relatively empty!

Marl64:

Click on the "Disk Cleanup" Button.

I did Disk Cleanup as soon as I got the problem, and I've already tried clearing system restore!

Marl64:

Make sure the indexing service is OFF (the bottom button is unticked)

Ok I've done this, will this make much of a difference?

posted by hungarian kid

Weiter, weiter ins Verderben!
Wir müssen leben bis wir sterben!

hungarian kid:

Yup, 21.8 gigs of music!

Can't blame windows for that White laugh

hungarian kid:

Marl64:

Make sure the indexing service is OFF (the bottom button is unticked)

Ok I've done this, will this make much of a difference?

All it will do is stop it making indexes of your files - indexes which disk cleanup then has to get rid of.

Indexing is something they introduced a while back, it's supposed to speed up searches, but is buggy and unreliable and has been known to case problems for some people.

It's more about performance than disk space.

If you're desperate for space, you can get about 400 Meg back on your C: drive by deleting the contents of

C:\Windows\System32\Dllcache

Which has copies of all the dlls it uses. It doesn't need them and if you delete them, it won't put them back until you add a system component.

Some people also delete

C:\Windows\Driver Cache

Which contains cab files for standard drivers.

But I don't remove this as it is less than 100 meg and having it means you don't need your windows CD if you install any new hardware.

posted by Marl64

Windows XP - Sneaky B*stard - part 4

4) Lost files in Special folders

It happens sometimes that you accidentally drop a file or folder in the wrong place.

I once ran out of disk space on drive C: and couldn't find a trace of why.

I finally tracked it down to my "Temporary Internet Files" which though empty, was taking up 800 Meg I don't know what to do

The cause was a divX movie I'd dropped in there by mistake and the reason I couldn't find it was that Windows "Adjusts" what you see.

If you look in your "Temporary Internet Files" folder you see stuff from your browser cache - cookies, web pages, java, images etc.

But if you have multiple user accounts, try looking in the others. You'll probably see a series of randomly named folders, each of which contains the temporary files.

But you don't see these folders under your own account 'cos windows is being helpful.

In order to see the true contents, you need to log in as a different user, and this is how I found my missing movie - invisible under my own account, clear as day under any other.

There are a number of similar "special" folders that behave this way so it's worth having another account just to check them out.

posted by Marl64

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