joeth said:
Can anyone give me an estimate of how many MB in downloads per day
on average auto updates will produce? Or alternatively how to
track the size of downloaded updates on a daily basis? I'm trying
to monitor closely the downloads on our system and therefore want
to have these numbers.
I know manual control of updates is an option but since I usually
have very little clue what the updates are about I'm an auto update
person.
Apart from Windows I also get occasional Java and Adobe updates:
any advice on the likely size of these would be welcome too.
Control Panel --> Add or Remove Programs --> Check out the "Size" column.
There is no way to predict the futre - updates generally range in size from
small to large. ;-) The smallest could be next to nothing or a few bytes
while the largest could be 1+GBs.
Here's the thing - for most - it won't matter in the end. They either need
the updates or they did not need the thing getting the updates in the first
place, which would bring them back to not needing the updates as they would
get rid of the thing getting/needing the updates.
If this is a space (disk drive space) concern - given where you posted -
here is my general "space related" advice for Windows XP users.
Windows XP and other applications can take (easily) between 4.5GB and 9GB.
I would not suggest anyone with a drive smaller than 20GB even attempt to
run a full featured version of Windows XP and install anything else of
significance.
Download/install the "Windows Installer CleanUp Utility":
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301
After installing, do the following:
Start button --> RUN
(no "RUN"? Press the "Windows Key" + R on your keyboard)
--> type in:
"%ProgramFiles%\Windows Installer Clean Up\msizap.exe" g!
--> Click OK.
(The quotation marks and percentage signs and spacing should be exact.)
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
( Particularly of interest here - #4 )
( Alternative:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_hotfix_backup.htm )
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 128MB..
- 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 128MB. (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..
JDiskReport
http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/index.html
SequoiaView
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/
Those can help you visually discover where all the space is being used.
You should now perform a full CHKDSK on your system drive (C
...
How to scan your disks for errors
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265
* will take time and a reboot
You should now perform a full Defragment on your system drive (C
...
How to Defragment your hard drives
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314848
* will take time
Uninstall any and all third-party firewall applications (ZoneAlarm, etc)
and utilize the built-in Windows Firewall only.
If you are low on space beyond the 4.5GB and 9GB that a normal Windows XP
with several major (and not so major) applications installation will take -
then it is most likely your data. Things you should consider with *your
data*: How much you use now and *BACKUPS*.
If there is data you do not use at all anymore - make two copies of it on
external media that you can store far away in a fireproof/waterproof
container in a manner sufficient for long-term storage of said media type.
Erase that data from your computer.
Backup everything on your computer of importance to you. If you do not
wish to learn much about backups - that's okay. Something along the lines
of the "Seagate Replica" drive - in the 500GB size I would recommend - would
be great for you. It is as plug-n-play as they get for backups in a
complete manner.
