Sunday, December 17, 2006

Running out of hard drive space? Here are some remedies.

When you bought your computer, you probably thought you would never use up all of your hard drive space. However, the impossible has happen and you need more space. You could always buy a larger hard drive but you don’t have to spend money. There are a number of things you can do to recover space on your current hard drive.

The most obvious solution is to delete useless and obsolete files.
Windows XP comes with a disk cleanup utility, appropriately called “Disk Cleanup.” To access it, go to Start Menu > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup. A new window will appear, be sure to check: Download Program Files, Temporary Internet Files, Offline Webpages, Microsoft Error Reporting Temporary Files, Recycle Bin and Temporary Files. You can elect to include Compress Files. This last option does not delete files; instead, it compresses old files. You can see the list of files which will be deleted by clicking [View Files].

Defrag the Hard Drive
After cleaning the hard drive, you should also defrag your hard drive. Oftentimes, files are saved on different sectors on a hard drive. You can consolidate the files and decrease the gaps between them by using Windows XP’s Disk Defragmenter. To access it, go to Start Menu > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter. A new window will appear. Click [Analyze] to see if your hard drive needs to be defragmented. If so, click [Defragment] to begin the process. The process can take minutes and even hours depending on the degree of fragmentation on the disk.

Decrease the size of System Restore
Windows XP comes with a backup utility, System Restore. System Restore creates backups of the registry. It comes in handy when your system crashes. System Restore can roll your computer back to a healthy state. By default, System Restore can commandeer up to 12% of your hard drive space. Most users don’t need such a tremendous amount of space. You can manually adjust the amount of space allocated to System Restore. Right click the “My Computer” icon and select Properties > “System Restore” tab > under Disk space usage, slide the bar back to a more reasonable 3% > [Apply] > [O.K.].

Decrease the Size of the Recycle Bin
System Restore is not the only utility which hogs up hard drive space. The Recycle Bin also takes up space. You can adjust the size of the Recycle Bin, right click the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop and scroll down to Properties. A new window will appear. On the “Global” tab, slide the bar back from 10% to a more reasonable 3%.

Decrease the Size of Internet Explorer's Cache
Besides deleting temporary Internet files, you can also decrease the size of Internet Explorer (IE) disk cache. The default setting is 1024 MB (1.0 GB). Start IE and, from the menu bar, go to Tools > Internet Options > “General” tab > [Settings] > under disk space, enter a value of 50 – 150 MB.

There are several free third party utilities which can even recover more hard drive space.
My favorite disk cleaner is CCleaner (a.k.a. Crap Cleaner). CCleaner can permanently delete a long list of files, such as: temporary Internet files, temporary files, temporary download files, cookies, Windows log files and, the ever difficult to delete, index.dat files. CCleaner can also delete obsolete files generated from nonWindows software applications, such as: Firefox, Opera, Spybot Search & Destroy, Lavasoft’s Ad Aware, WinZip, WinRAR, Nero, Kazaa and Macromedia Flash Player to name a few. CCleaner can delete files with multiple passes, permanently deleting the files – not even a forensic team would be able to recover them. There are 2 other programs that deserve a honorable mention, EasyCleaner and IE Privacy Keeper.

Oddly, Windows XP Disk Defragmenter does not defrag either the paging file or the registry. There are 2 ways to defrag the paging file. The easiest way is to use Sysinternal’s Page File Defrag. By the way, Microsoft bought out Sysinternet a few months ago. The utility is quite easy to use and there is no installation required. Start Page File Defrag and select to defrag at the next reboot. You can defrag the paging file manually. I listed the instructions to defrag manually on a previous post.

If you want to defrag the registry, the twin software programs ERUNT and NTREGOT are the best. ERUNT creates backups of the registry much like Windows System Restore while NTREGOT defrags the registry. ERUNT has a distinctive advantage over Windows System Restore since ERUNT allows you to manually delete any registry backup.

42 comments:

Ken said...

Excellent. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Wow! what an idea ! What a concept ! Beautiful .. Amazing …

Anonymous said...

I am really Glad i found this blog.Added winston-blog.blogspot.com to my bookmark!

Yariv said...

Hi not every external hard drive can do this so be carfull and read the guides first
best external hard drives

Calvin said...

One thing I like to do is set the swap files to zero, defrag the hard drive, and then set a swap file again. That way, even the swap file isn't fragmented.

eric johnston said...

I have had this problem with hard drive running out of space, and on each occasion it was complete rubbish,as prior to these messages there was between 40% and 60% free space still available,so the moral here is do not rely too heavily on vista's error messages.I would suggest running a program like East-tec eraser as this will "tidy" up your hard drive and delete any files to whatever level of security you want,and it's idiot proof,as I haven't managed to delete things I shouldn't!!!

Anonymous said...

Because theCheap D3 Items variety raises, it might be harder and harder in order to guess. Many of the packages which i are going to be talking over supply often 128-bit encryption as well as 256-bitCheap Guild wars 2 Gold encryption

Anonymous said...

Hola! I've been following your weblog for some time now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Houston Texas! Just wanted to mention keep up the great work!
Look into my web-site - teen porn

Anonymous said...

I do believe all the ideas you have offered to your
post. They are very convincing and will definitely work. Still, the posts are very quick for novices.
May just you please lengthen them a bit from next time?
Thank you for the post.
My page: Teens Free Porn

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the good writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it.
Look advanced to far added agreeable from you! By the way,
how can we communicate?
Also visit my website - free porn

Anonymous said...

I think the admin of this web site is in fact working hard in favor of his site,
because here every stuff is quality based material.
Also visit my web blog free teen porn

Anonymous said...

Great post but I was wanting to know if you could
write a litte more on this topic? I'd be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit further. Many thanks!
My page :: High Desert

Anonymous said...

Good day! Do you know if they make any plugins to assist with Search
Engine Optimization? I'm trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I'm not seeing very good success.
If you know of any please share. Kudos!
Here is my web-site Marc Primo

Anonymous said...

Pretty! This was an extremely wonderful post. Thanks
for providing this info.
Feel free to surf my blog : high quality beats by dr. dre headphones

Anonymous said...

This is a topic that is near to my heart... Many thanks! Where are your contact
details though?
my website > hookah Orlando fl

Anonymous said...

You are so interesting! I don't believe I have read anything like that before. So wonderful to discover somebody with unique thoughts on this subject matter. Seriously.. thanks for starting this up. This site is something that is needed on the internet, someone with a bit of originality!
Also see my page > Tetra Fish Food

Anonymous said...

This is my first time pay a quick visit at here and i am truly impressed to read all at single place.
Feel free to visit my site ; seo company india

Anonymous said...

This is a topic which is near to my heart.

.. Take care! Exactly where are your contact details
though?

Take a look at my blog; electric cigs

Anonymous said...

If you are going for best contents like I do, just visit
this site daily since it presents quality contents,
thanks

Also visit my weblog: wii u news

Anonymous said...

Wоw, wondeгful blog layout! How long have you beеn blogging for?
you make bloggіng lοok easy. The overall look of your website is fantаstic, lеt alone the
cοntеnt!

mу homepage; http://Astrologie-Forum.Info/

Anonymous said...

It truly іs a chef's phrase for 'a sрot for eveгything anԁ
all the things in its place'. You will probably be ready to attain desired regard and good reputation with enable of your energy and bravery. They have lived life akin to that of effective saints, sages and Rishis who have been recognized for their penance and austerities.

Have a look at my page; pizza stone chester vt facebook

Anonymous said...

Hey there! Do you know if they make any plugins to assist with
Search Engine Optimization? I'm trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I'm not seeing
very good results. If you know of any please share.
Many thanks!

Also visit my weblog: Ros42j4bdu.multiply.com

Anonymous said...

Bakе at 350 for 25 minuteѕ or until toothpіck insеrted in centеr
comes out clean. That's right, no buying that sorry excuse for pizza dough at your local grocery store; we'гe talking the real deal herе.
Τhere аre not а lot of frozen pizzas out there thаt lock іn that freѕh
take out taste anԁ I wanted to ѕee what this pіzza coulԁ offer me.


Here iѕ my ѕіte; pizza pan ashtabula menu

Anonymous said...

I hаve been brоwsing onlіne more than 3
hours today, уet I nеveг fоund аnу inteгesting articlе
like yours. It іs ρretty woгth enough for me.
Persоnаlly, if all sitе ownеrs and
bloggerѕ made good content as you dіԁ, the web wіll bе a lot moгe uѕeful thаn еνeг bеfore.


Feеl free to visit my homeрage ... Chemietoilette

Anonymous said...

Its likе уou гead my mind! Υou seеm tο knoω a lοt abοut this, lіke уou wrote the
bоok іn it оr sоmethіng. Ι
thinκ that you сan do ωith sοme piсѕ tο dгiѵe thе mеssаgе hοme a little bit,
but othеr than that, thiѕ is wondeгful blоg.
An excellent гead. Ι will definitely bе back.


Also viѕit my blog pοst :: Beta.Truck.Net

Anonymous said...

Nоrmally I don't learn post on blogs, but I would like to say that this write-up very compelled me to try and do it! Your writing style has been amazed me. Thank you, quite great article.

My site: Chemietoilette

Anonymous said...

Thanκ you fоr any other fantastіc artіcle.
Τhe plaсe else may anyone get that tуpe οf infο іn such
a perfеct ωаy of writіng? I've a presentation next week, and I'm at thе
lоok for suсh infοrmation.

my blοg - Chemietoilette

Anonymous said...

The reason is - video-on-demand market is the only model that works on subscriptions.
The report which questioned 2046 US participants and was run by consulting firm Deloitte revealed that 65% want to connect the internet to their home TV to twatch streams, this figure was 58% in the same survey in 2009.
It's quite small so won't take up any room at all and could easily be
tossed behind your TV or even on the opposite side of the room if you wish.


Here is my page :: roku 2 xs

Anonymous said...

Generally speaking, customer feedback based improvements made everything much easier to handle.
The Olympus E-3 contains a two and a half
inch LCD screen, which is just a little bit smaller than its competitors,
however, this didn't bother me. For more information, take a look at the Canon EOS 5D Mark 3 technologies explained.

my blog post; 5d mark iii

Anonymous said...

hey there and thank you for your info – I have definitely picked up something
new from right here. I did however expertise several technical issues using this website, as I experienced to reload the site many times previous to I could get it to load correctly.
I had been wondering if your web hosting is OK? Not that I am complaining, but sluggish loading
instances times will very frequently affect
your placement in google and can damage your quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords.

Anyway I'm adding this RSS to my e-mail and could look out for much more of your respective fascinating content. Make sure you update this again very soon.

Also visit my webpage - www.kidsbox365.com

Anonymous said...

I told them to type in "Mac - Book Air broken hinge" on Google for proof of the widespread issue, but they
just shrugged it off. 1: The $2,250 Swarovski-studded 32GB i
- Pad, 5 Ridiculously Expensive Apple Gadgets You Won't Believe Are Real, and $20,000 Diamond Studded Apple IPad, the Most Expensive IPad Yet. There are several notebook reviews which give you information about latest laptops launched in the market.

my website; macbook air

Anonymous said...

This is my first time pay a quick visit at here and i am in fact pleassant to read everthing at single place.


My web-site - Porn

Anonymous said...

What a datа of un-аmbiguity аnd preserveness of
prеcіous еxperience rеgarding
unexpected emotions.

Look at my homepage: diamondlinks review

Anonymous said...

I really love your site.. Very nice colors & theme.

Did you create this website yourself? Please
reply back as I'm hoping to create my very own website and would love to learn where you got this from or just what the theme is named. Many thanks!

Here is my web blog ... www.teenpornpost.com

Anonymous said...

These are regularly described as 2 din car DVD, or double din DVD players and this designation references
the height of the component. Both support tethering and have a
GPS transceiver with A-GPS. The Samsung Galaxy S3 is, to begin with
a LTE network compatible smartphone handset that is capable of handling speeds in the range of 30 to 60 mega bytes per second.


my blog ... samsung galaxy s4

Anonymous said...

The WI-FI enabled chromebooks, by Acer will come somewhere around $350.
The NP-NF310 retails around $350 and features an ultra fast start-up speed (under 3 seconds) and a 9+ hour
battery life. " Should you not mind an inferior screen however , you will not taking the laptop with you - we may advise something from the 14-inch range.

Feel free to surf to my blog post: samsung chromebook

Anonymous said...

So it really is greater to decide a 5-8 mega pixel cam and pay out far more
consideration to the Nikon digital camera batteries in its place.
A few in-camera retouching options are also available,
including image cropping and red-eye correction. This will be indicated if you receive an
error on the LCD; "CARD IS NOT FORMATTED" or "OUT OF MEMORY"or "NO CARD PRESENT".


Also visit my blog post :: d7100

Anonymous said...

My brother recommended I might like this website.
He was entirely right. This post truly made my day.
You cann't imagine simply how much time I had spent for this information! Thanks!

Here is my web-site - xxxvideosurfer.com

Anonymous said...

I like it when individuals get together and share opinions.

Great site, stick with it!

My site :: teenies nude free videos

Anonymous said...

Your means of describing the whole thing in this paragraph
is in fact good, every one be able to easily be aware of
it, Thanks a lot.

Also visit my page - asiansexyteens.org

Anonymous said...

Third, let's say you are not satisfied with the camera that you purchased and you decide to change. The Canon products are not only high in quality but also available in worthwhile cost range. On the other hand, the Nano worked fine, but after a couple of hours of steadicam work, my arms were getting tired.

Have a look at my site canon 6d

Anonymous said...

I think the admin of this site is in fact working hard in favor of his web page, because here every data is
quality based information.

My web blog: teens peeing