View Full Version : Problem uninstalling/creating drive space???
Would be most gratefull if anyone can spot my mistake. I have been trying to create space on the hard drive on my laptop with Win XP home edition. Following the general clean up and uninstall procedures with uninstall, disc clean, registry clean, crap clean but have been getting concerned that it does not appear to be creating any space on the hard drive. I would say somewhere I am doing something wrong
Just unistalled a program of 24 Mb however there has been no corresponding space created?? where am I going astray?
frostbite
28th Nov 2006, 19:52
Have you tried running defrag?
Yes I did, that was the next step I tried however computer told me that I did not have enough space to do this as the process required more space than I had. Just hope that I have not backed into a corner I cannot get out of.
Saab Dastard
28th Nov 2006, 21:19
Empty the recycling bin, refresh the view.
24MB on a 20/30 GB disk will make f**k-all impression on free space!
Especially if you have compression on the Program Files folder - is compression enabled in XP home?
SD
JamesT73J
29th Nov 2006, 07:37
Something else that makes a difference (especially on a smaller drive) is reducing the space system restore uses.
You don't need to switch it off; but if you reduce it you merely lose a number of restore points - the trade off is quite a bit of space.
vapilot2004
29th Nov 2006, 08:32
In addition to the ones already offered. :)
In Add/Remove Programs in CP, you can look at the amount of space software uses in MB and take out the biggest offenders that you can live without. Sounds like you've been here, but you may want to look for bigger fish than 24mb.
Remove Windows Tempfiles:
Close all open programs << Important. Open Windows Explorer and look at the c: \Windows\Temp folder and delete all you can find here.
Right Click your Recycle Bin and open Properties. Lower the amount of space used.
Kill User Temps:
Close all open programs. Open any Explorer Window with an Address Bar (or use Internet Explorer) and type in %temp% in the address bar and hit Enter. Delete all you can find here. Remember to close all open programs first or you can lose data during this process. Do this for each user by logging on if you have multiple accounts.
Find the biggest space hogs:
Click Search, then choose your C: drive, then under Advanced options, click Size and enter 20MB or larger for a start. Be sure to click "Search Subfolders" and see what is found. For files you recognise, back them up and delete them. Other files may have some higher purpose. Location may be a clue as to their function. Don't delete if you don't know. If the file is over 200mb and you are feeling brave, back it up on CD and try deleting. Avoid files within the Windows folders.
Browse for the bloat:
Open Explorer, then the C drive. Right click folders and left click properties and wait - can be a while if folder is very full. Explorer will report total number of files and size. Investigate sub folders one by one and backup and delete. Be careful in Program Files area. Better to uninstall from Control Panel here and no deletions allowed within Windows other than mentioned as above.
Reboot & Defrag.
Good Luck!
Many thanks for the continuing advice.
SD I Crap Clean routinely as well as check recycle so that unfortunately is out however will check on/research compression? not so familiar with that aspect of things.
James T37J Yes I have wished to go that route as I do have a number of refresh points and have been adding as I 'experiment' so could do with removing some but was not sure quite how one did that, am in the process of try to find out though. Did see I could reduce the space allocated, does this have the same effect perchance? If so what space would give me roughly two/three points?
Vapp2004 Thank you for that info, will copy that place on desk and begin forthwith, If I do not reappear here it can be assumed that something critical was culled in error.
Once again thanks to all contibutors.
Following the 'Browse for the bloat' advice and exploring the various folders I came across some similar files which rang no bells at all. They were Untitled-061112-234451-001... , ...3, ...4 and some were around 3.99GB each. Underneath then were the letters NBF. Finaly managed to identify them as BackupNow archives made some time ago and that particular program had been deleted in the search for space. Upon deleting just one to gingerly experiment, hey presto :) space appeared on the hard drive.
Thanks all for the advice and help, it was much appreciated.
Mac the Knife
30th Nov 2006, 17:53
TreeSize Free V1.7.9, available from JAM software - http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml - gives you a graphic, sortable view of your disk so you can see exactly what the diosk hogs are.
The results can be quite surprising!
:ok:
Truly cool application, Mac, thank you. Now we just need one which saves du -k|sort -g
How on Earth do you manage to find this stuff?
BOFH
Mac the Knife
1st Dec 2006, 13:39
Since someone was talking about restore points, maybe it's time to remind people of the free ERUNT utility - http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/
This allows you to set what is effectively a "restore point" very quickly, anytime you like (read the blurb). This is accessible through the Windows Recovery Console, so that Windows and the GUI does NOT need to be up for you to fully restore the Registry to a previous point.
I have the Autobackup option set, so that everytime the PC starts successfully a restore point is automatically generated (you can set the number of points saved and they are automatically deleted on an "oldest first" basis, so that things don't get too full).
:ok: