|  | Cleaning up C drive |  | |
| | | m_ridzon |  |
| Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:35 am Post subject: Cleaning up C drive |  |
I am running WinXP SP3 Pro. My harddrive is partitioned into 4 partitions with C drive having the operating system on it. I originally formatted this harddrive about 4 years ago making C drive 10GB. Over the 4 years, I've downloaded many software updates for Windows and my other applications. I noticed that I only have about 1.5GB left in C drive and would like to free up some space if possible. Once the downloads are downloaded and ran, do the downloaded files sit dormant somewhere in the C drive? In other words, can I delete the downloaded files to free up C drive space? Or are they constantly being referenced and called upon by the computer system?
I am just trying to clean up C drive without making the system unstable.
M Ridzon |
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| | | Pegasus (MVP) |  |
| Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 10:20 am Post subject: Re: Cleaning up C drive |  |
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"m_ridzon" <mridzon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:79B94302-739C-41B0-A952-40C0F2E6CE04@microsoft.com...
| Quote: | I am running WinXP SP3 Pro. My harddrive is partitioned into 4 partitions with C drive having the operating system on it. I originally formatted this harddrive about 4 years ago making C drive 10GB. Over the 4 years, I've downloaded many software updates for Windows and my other applications. I noticed that I only have about 1.5GB left in C drive and would like to free up some space if possible. Once the downloads are downloaded and ran, do the downloaded files sit dormant somewhere in the C drive? In other words, can I delete the downloaded files to free up C drive space? Or are they constantly being referenced and called upon by the computer system?
I am just trying to clean up C drive without making the system unstable.
M Ridzon
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It depends on what exactly you downloaded - please give some examples. You might also move the paging file to a different drive in order to free up disk space, and maybe restrict the amount of space used by System Restore. |
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| | | db.·.. |  |
| Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 11:32 am Post subject: Re: Cleaning up C drive |  |
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firstly, i would strongly recommend that you create a winxp sp3 so that you won't have to worry about making your system unstable without the ability to "repair" it.
secondly, i would begin deleting any .tmp and ..zip files on the c drive and simply uninstalling any old programs and freewares since there are newer versions available and can be re-installed.
--
db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
"m_ridzon" <mridzon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:79B94302-739C-41B0-A952-40C0F2E6CE04@microsoft.com...
| Quote: | I am running WinXP SP3 Pro. My harddrive is partitioned into 4 partitions with C drive having the operating system on it. I originally formatted this harddrive about 4 years ago making C drive 10GB. Over the 4 years, I've downloaded many software updates for Windows and my other applications. I noticed that I only have about 1.5GB left in C drive and would like to free up some space if possible. Once the downloads are downloaded and ran, do the downloaded files sit dormant somewhere in the C drive? In other words, can I delete the downloaded files to free up C drive space? Or are they constantly being referenced and called upon by the computer system?
I am just trying to clean up C drive without making the system unstable.
M Ridzon |
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| | | Ron Badour |  |
| Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 12:07 pm Post subject: Re: Cleaning up C drive |  |
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Have you tried XP's Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe)?
Look in your Windows folder for files with names similar to this: $NtUninstallKB946648$ These are the uninstall files for updates that you have downloaded and installed. These files can take up a lot of room so if your machine is stable, these files can be deleted. MVP Doug Knox has a utility to remove the files plus the associated registry entries: LINK In the left panel, select: Win XP Utilities. In the right panel, select: Remove Hotfix Backup Files.
Once the files are gone, you will not be able to uninstall the updates; however, if the PC is stable, there should be no need to remove them.
You could also resize the partitions and add more space to C: drive; however, you will need special software to do so. BootIt Next Generation is available from: LINK and it does partitioning, makes a compressed image, does many other partitioning chores and is a boot manager. It is not quite as easy to use as Partition Magic but it is half the cost and has more features. Unlike the crippled PMagic demo, BING is a *full function* demo you can try for FREE for 30 days. The web site has a lot of support articles.
-- Regards
Ron Badour MS MVP Windows Desktop Experience
"m_ridzon" <mridzon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:79B94302-739C-41B0-A952-40C0F2E6CE04@microsoft.com...
| Quote: | I am running WinXP SP3 Pro. My harddrive is partitioned into 4 partitions with C drive having the operating system on it. I originally formatted this harddrive about 4 years ago making C drive 10GB. Over the 4 years, I've downloaded many software updates for Windows and my other applications. I noticed that I only have about 1.5GB left in C drive and would like to free up some space if possible. Once the downloads are downloaded and ran, do the downloaded files sit dormant somewhere in the C drive? In other words, can I delete the downloaded files to free up C drive space? Or are they constantly being referenced and called upon by the computer system?
I am just trying to clean up C drive without making the system unstable.
M Ridzon |
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| | | Mike Hall - MVP |  |
| Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 12:20 pm Post subject: Re: Cleaning up C drive |  |
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"m_ridzon" <mridzon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:79B94302-739C-41B0-A952-40C0F2E6CE04@microsoft.com...
| Quote: | I am running WinXP SP3 Pro. My harddrive is partitioned into 4 partitions with C drive having the operating system on it. I originally formatted this harddrive about 4 years ago making C drive 10GB. Over the 4 years, I've downloaded many software updates for Windows and my other applications. I noticed that I only have about 1.5GB left in C drive and would like to free up some space if possible. Once the downloads are downloaded and ran, do the downloaded files sit dormant somewhere in the C drive? In other words, can I delete the downloaded files to free up C drive space? Or are they constantly being referenced and called upon by the computer system?
I am just trying to clean up C drive without making the system unstable.
M Ridzon
|
You can move the downloads to another partition such that you can re-install them easily if you have a problem in the future..
-- Mike Hall - MVP How to construct a good post.. LINK How to use the Microsoft Product Support Newsgroups.. LINK Mike's Window - My Blog.. LINK |
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| | | m_ridzon |  |
| Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 7:33 pm Post subject: Re: Cleaning up C drive |  |
Ron,
The disk cleanup did quite a bit. I deleted all but the latest restore point and that helped out a lot. I now have 2.6GB of free space. I have a whole bunch of the $NtUninstallKB946648$ files. I'm hesistant to remove them though. There's been instances where I've had to uninstall some of these updates and reinstall them to fix a problem (ie: recent problem in July with XP update and Zone Labs firewall).
Mike,
You mentioned something about moving the downloads to another partition. Is that possible to do with these Win update uninstall files?
db,
Is there a specific location I should look for to find a multitude of .tmp and .zip files? Do they all end up in a central location where I can delete them all?
Pegasus,
How do I move the paging file to a different drive? Is that a good idea or is it preferable to leave on C drive. I have F drive which has about 9GB of free space.
Thanks, M Ridzon |
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| | | Ron Badour |  |
| Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:16 pm Post subject: Re: Cleaning up C drive |  |
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You can move the uninstall files; however, you had better have a lot of room available.
If your system uses the paging file frequently (minimum ram installed), moving it to the outer ring (F: drive) of the drive may cause a slow down. This would be my last choice for making more space.
Zip files could be scattered anywhere--you just have to look for them. Disk cleanup probably got the majority of the .tmp files.
You could also limit how much the recycle bin retains and you can limit the temp files IE retains.
-- Regards
Ron Badour MS MVP Windows Desktop Experience
"m_ridzon" <mridzon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:EE9B9550-C22B-4F77-9CA5-5F1E7DBFEA93@microsoft.com...
| Quote: | Ron,
The disk cleanup did quite a bit. I deleted all but the latest restore point and that helped out a lot. I now have 2.6GB of free space. I have a whole bunch of the $NtUninstallKB946648$ files. I'm hesistant to remove them though. There's been instances where I've had to uninstall some of these updates and reinstall them to fix a problem (ie: recent problem in July with XP update and Zone Labs firewall).
Mike,
You mentioned something about moving the downloads to another partition. Is that possible to do with these Win update uninstall files?
db,
Is there a specific location I should look for to find a multitude of .tmp and .zip files? Do they all end up in a central location where I can delete them all?
Pegasus,
How do I move the paging file to a different drive? Is that a good idea or is it preferable to leave on C drive. I have F drive which has about 9GB of free space.
Thanks, M Ridzon |
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| | | m_ridzon |  |
| Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:22 pm Post subject: Re: Cleaning up C drive |  |
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Ron,
I don't know how to tell if my system uses the paging file frequently so I'll probably leave it alone. I know I've gotten messages in the past that say "virtual memory low" when I'm running a high powered software program. Someone told me to set the virtual memory to "system managed" to help this problem, which I did.
I did a search on C drive for *.zip files and found a bunch. I found Symantec error log files. I found Symantec LiveUpdate files. I found Internet logs. I found a bunch that are related to Java updates and Jave cache. I found one in which the directory is listed as lib/deploy (not sure what it's for). I found a few for the Windows Media Player. Is it safe to delete all of these? Does the system reference to them ever? Will I risk making the system unstable by deleting any of them? Could I possibly email you a screen print of them before deleting them so that you can tell me if it's safe or not?
M Ridzon |
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| | | Ron Badour |  |
| Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:38 pm Post subject: Re: Cleaning up C drive |  |
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You would need an expert on every program that has a .zip file--I am not the person you need. Frankly, unless you can get a definite answer from someone, I would not delete nor move a .zip file. I recall in W98 days that there were programs that actually used .zip files when they were operating. I don't know if the same is true today.
-- Regards
Ron Badour MS MVP Windows Desktop Experience
"m_ridzon" <mridzon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:84F04656-1323-4BF9-9D48-BDC2CDFACC56@microsoft.com...
| Quote: | Ron,
I don't know how to tell if my system uses the paging file frequently so I'll probably leave it alone. I know I've gotten messages in the past that say "virtual memory low" when I'm running a high powered software program. Someone told me to set the virtual memory to "system managed" to help this problem, which I did.
I did a search on C drive for *.zip files and found a bunch. I found Symantec error log files. I found Symantec LiveUpdate files. I found Internet logs. I found a bunch that are related to Java updates and Jave cache. I found one in which the directory is listed as lib/deploy (not sure what it's for). I found a few for the Windows Media Player. Is it safe to delete all of these? Does the system reference to them ever? Will I risk making the system unstable by deleting any of them? Could I possibly email you a screen print of them before deleting them so that you can tell me if it's safe or not?
M Ridzon |
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| | | Plato |  |
| Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 3:14 am Post subject: Re: Cleaning up C drive |  |
Pegasus (MVP) wrote:
| Quote: | I am just trying to clean up C drive without making the system unstable.
It depends on what exactly you downloaded - please give some examples. You might also move the paging file to a different drive in order to free up disk space, and maybe restrict the amount of space used by System Restore.
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If you have one hard drive then the page/swap file should be on the same drive as your windows folder. |
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