Can you reduce bloated Windows Folder to increase disk space on La

  • Thread starter Thread starter C Reyn
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C

C Reyn

Could someone point me in the right direction, please?

QUESTION: BEST WAY TO ACCOMPLISH A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN C: DRIVE DISK
SPACE? (And No, Santa isn’t bringing me a new machine for Christmas; I went
dear hunting, and, well, Oooh, Boy, is ol’ Rudolph(ina) hacked!)

HARDWARE: HP 5250N Laptop, Pentium III processor@700 MHz, 256 MB RAM 10 GB
HDD.
SOFTWARE: Windows ME (Orig) Upgraded to WinXP SP2; MS Office SB, upgraded
to MS Office 2003 Pro. Installed but NOT operating: Non-MS professional
packages/related data files.

BACKGROUND EVENTS:
Installed Windows XP Home Edition SP1 from disk, replacing Windows ME; data
files amounting to 2.1 GB data moved to separate drive. Restore Point
created and System files backed up in installation process. Ran into
problems with installation, dumped it and re-installed XP SP1, again creating
restore point and backing up system files. Then Via Automatic Update,
received and installed XP SP2. Again, Restore Point created, and system files
backed up during installation process. The Restore Points (except last) have
now been dumped.

Because my MS Office programs were not accessible after installation of XP
SP2, I re-installed MS Office Pro 2003. I also installed Trend Internet
Security, PC- cillin Anti-virus package (now removed). Also installed free
versions CClearner and Clary Utilities downloaded based on recommendations
through MS Help and Support forums to help me sort it all out.

Space Available NOW= 9.33 GB – 1.8 GB Programs -2.1 GB Data files – 4.0 GB
(Windows, primarily *.dll and *.exe files) In analyzing my C: Drive, I now
have used 8.10 GB (including some ash and trash) of the available 9.33 GB
storage space on the disk, of which 4.0 GB is the WINDOWS folder ALONE.

DUE TO NEED for DRIVE SPACE, I want to SHRINK TO NMT 2 GB the fattened
WINDOWS FOLDER which resulted from multiple Windows installations.

RESEARCH AND EFFORTS TO DATE:
1. Reviewed system requirements for ME, XP SP1 and XP SP2 and confirmed
system will support the software (albeit slowly). See KB Arts
#326582;#837783.
2. Tried Googling the problem, then Read Keith Clarke’s article on best
utilities to cleanup/speedup disk on MSN Forums. AND USED THEM as I installed
them. .
3. READ NUMEROUS MS HELP AND SUPPORT ARTICLES RELATING TO XP and disk
problems, seeking info to get rid of backed up multiple installations.
4. Ran Clary’s disk analyzer utility with the results shown above.
5. NO JOY, AND AVAILABLE DISK SPACE IS DECREASING EVERY DAY.

I would appreciate any wisdom, guidance and insight that would assist me in
reducing the Windows (iterations) folder to achieve more C: drive disk space
should any knowledgeable persons be willing to provide.

Thank you.
C. Reyn, aka creyn1@ Comcast.net
 
Could someone point me in the right direction, please?

QUESTION: BEST WAY TO ACCOMPLISH A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN C: DRIVE DISK
SPACE? (And No, Santa isn’t bringing me a new machine for Christmas; I went
dear hunting, and, well, Oooh, Boy, is ol’ Rudolph(ina) hacked!)

HARDWARE: HP 5250N Laptop, Pentium III processor@700 MHz, 256 MB RAM 10 GB
HDD.
Click to expand...


A 10GB hard drive is absolutely tiny these days for any computer
running Windows XP. Although there may be things you can delete or
make smaller to save some space, it's hard to imagine that they can be
anything but stopgap measures. The only real solution to your problem
is buying a bigger drive.You can buy a 100GB laptop drive for $65 US,
or possibly less, if you shop around.
 
Ken,
I'm a bit disappointed in that the question is a yes /no item, but thanks
for your response. FYI, the laptap is at this moment attached to a 160GB
external drive but I would like to shrink the BLOATED Windows folder
nonetheless. One other observation and I'll move along and resolve the
problem myself: My first machine was an IBM Model 80 with about 250K of
storage and a helluva lot less RAM. We put a man on the moon with the
computing power of a X-286 machine. Could we agree that Microsoft /Windows
programming has become a lot Less Elegant in the interim? With all due
respect, you guys gotta clean up some of the sloppy programming. Again,
thank you for your response.
'Nuf Sed.
C. Reyn
 
C said:
Ken,
I'm a bit disappointed in that the question is a yes /no item, but thanks
for your response.
Click to expand...


Why disappointed? You have an antique computer that may meet your
needs adequately, but is still at the low end of WinXP's supported
hardware spectrum. There is only so much that can be done with such
limited resources.

Some steps can be taken to free up hard drive space, though none of
these pertain directly to the Windows folder:

A primary space waster within each user profile would be IE's
penchant for storing copies (or significant portions thereof) of nearly
every web page your friend has ever visited. Try reducing the amount of
temporary Internet files cached, which is huge by default. I always
reduce it to a maximum of 50 Mb. In Internet Explorer, click Tools >
Internet Options > General, Temporary Files > Settings.

Same principle for the Java cache. Start > Control Panel > Java >
Temporary Internet Files > Settings.

The System Volume Information is the folder in which WinXP's System
Restore feature stores information used to recover from errors. By
default, WinXP sets aside a maximum of 12% of the partition's size for
storing System Volume Information, but the amount of space set aside for
this purpose can be adjusted by the user. Start > All Programs >
Accessories > System Tools > System Restore > System Restore Settings,
select the pertinent partition and click Settings. If you don't want to
use System Restore at all, simply turn off the System Restore feature
(Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore,
System Restore Settings) and reboot. This will delete all of your
Restore Points, freeing up the hard drive space.

Another great waster of space can be the Recycle Bin. By default,
this takes up to 10% of your hard drive capacity. On today's large hard
drives, this is tremendously wasteful. (It's even more wasteful,
relatively speaking, on the tiny drive you have.) It can be set to a
lower limit by right-clicking the desktop Receycle Bin icon, selecting
Properties, and using the slider bar to lower the maximum size to
something more reasonable -- 1% to 2% should be more than enough space.

FYI, the laptap is at this moment attached to a 160GB
external drive but I would like to shrink the BLOATED Windows folder
nonetheless.
Click to expand...


The Windows folder itself holds very little that can be truly
classified as "bloat;" nearly everything there has a purpose, even if
you don't happen to take advantage of all of Window's built-in features.
Within the Windows folder itself, you can delete fonts that you don't
use to free up a few hundred kilobytes. The same for most of the *.log
files. If you're confident that you won't need to uninstall either the
most recent service pack or any of the subsequent hotfixes, you can
safely delete the C:\Windows\$NTuninstall..." folders. You can also
make sure the C:\Windows\Temp (created for and used by legacy
applications) is empty.

One other observation and I'll move along and resolve the
problem myself: My first machine was an IBM Model 80 with about 250K of
storage and a helluva lot less RAM. We put a man on the moon with the
computing power of a X-286 machine. Could we agree that Microsoft /Windows
programming has become a lot Less Elegant in the interim?
Click to expand...


Plotting a course to the moon was a little more than a mathematical
exercise in ballistics and fuel consumption rates, and actually required
a lot less of a computer that people expect of their PCs and operating
systems today. There certainly wasn't any call for fancy graphics,
media players, games, etc., and a GUI interface to be built in so that
users wouldn't have to actually learn to use the computer.

With all due
respect, you guys gotta clean up some of the sloppy programming.
Click to expand...


With all due respect, you're not addressing anyone who has any control
over Microsoft's programmers. There are no Microsoft employees
regularly perusing this newsgroup in any official capacity. If you've
valid technical suggestions on how to improve the product (not that it
matters very much now, with WinXP nearing its End-of-Life), you should
present these via official Microsoft channels



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot
 
Ken,
I'm a bit disappointed in that the question is a yes /no item, but thanks
for your response. FYI, the laptap is at this moment attached to a 160GB
external drive but I would like to shrink the BLOATED Windows folder
nonetheless. One other observation and I'll move along and resolve the
problem myself: My first machine was an IBM Model 80 with about 250K of
storage and a helluva lot less RAM. We put a man on the moon with the
computing power of a X-286 machine. Could we agree that Microsoft /Windows
programming has become a lot Less Elegant in the interim? With all due
respect, you guys gotta clean up some of the sloppy programming.
Click to expand...


You guys? I?

You are apparently under a misconception here. This isn't Microsoft
you're addressing, I don't work for Microsoft, and I am not
responsible for any of their programming. In fact, it's been many
years since I wrote a line of code.

This is a peer support newsgroup. We are all just Windows XP users
here, helping each other if and when we can. We are not Microsoft
employees (not even those of us with "Microsoft MVP" behind our names;
that's an honorary title for having provided consistently helpful
advice) except for an occasional employee who posts here unofficially
on his own time.

In my view, the elegance of Microsoft /Windows programming is
completely irrelevant. I (not Microsoft) gave you what I personally
believe to be good advice; I described what I would do in your
situation. You, of course, are free to take my advice or disregard it
entirely.

By the way, *my* first computer was an IBM 1401 with *no* disk storage
and 4K (4000, not 4096) characters of RAM. Although I was able to get
a lot done with it, it's functionality was in no way comparable to
today's computers. When you compare computers of two different eras,
look *very* carefully at the differences in what they do and how they
operate, as well as the environment they have to work in. To pick only
a single example, when I programmed that IBM 1401 back in 1962,
security issues were not any kind of concern.
 
The default allocation to System Restore is 12% on your C partition
which is over generous. I would reduce it to 700 mb. Right click your My
Computer icon on the Desktop and select System Restore. Place the cursor
on your C drive select Settings but this time find the slider and drag
it to the left until it reads 700 mb and
exit. When you get to the Settings screen click on Apply and OK and
exit.

Another default setting which could be wasteful is that for temporary
internet files, especially if you do not store offline copies on disk.
The default allocation is 3% of drive. Depending on your attitude to
offline copies you could reduce this to 1% or 2%. In Internet Explorer
select Tools, Internet Options, General, Temporary Internet Files,
Settings to make the change. At the same time look at the number of days
history is held.

The default allocation for the Recycle Bin is 10 % of drive. Change to
5%, which should be sufficient. In Windows Explorer place the cursor
on your Recycle Bin, right click and select Properties, Global and
move the slider from 10% to 5%. However, try to avoid letting it get
too full as if it is full and you delete a file by mistake it will
bypass the Recycle Bin and be gone for ever.

There might be ways, other than by resizing partitions, to generate more
space in the system partition.This can be achieved by relocation of
folders.

For Temporary Internet Files select Start, Control Panel, Internet
Options, Temporary Internet Files. Settings, Move Folder.

To move the Outlook Express Store Folder select in Outlook Express
Tools, Options, Maintenance, Store Folder, Change.
http://www.tomsterdam.com/insideoe/files/store.htm

How to Change the Default Location of the My Documents Folder:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310147

You may also need to change Default File locations in the Microsoft
Office programmes you choose to move the My Documents folder. For Word
go to Tools, Options, File Locations, highlight Documents, click on
Modify and change file path. For Excel go to Tools, Options, General
and change default file path.

My Documents is one of a number of system created Special Folders
including My Pictures and My Music. These can more easily be relocated
using Tweak Ui. Download TweakUI, one of the MS powertoys, from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

In TweakUi select My Computer, Special Folders. You can scroll down to
see the full list of Special Folders to the left of the Change
Location button.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Bruce,
Thanks for your somewhat more insightful response, I'll see if I can't put
it to good use. Nice to know the 1st moonshot didn't require an XP-capable
machine. Guess those folks weren't playing games, just playing for keeps.
And amid the verbiage to which you apparently took exception, there is a
fairly viable suggestion to "improve the product:" Clean up the sloppy
programming. And the fact that none of this groups members are *official*
Microsoft programmers is of minimal relevance in my humble opinion. One
would have to be pretty naive to think MS provides such open forums without
monitoring them for workable concepts, developable ideas, etc. No? And,
perhaps Vista was the result. Hmmm. Did I hear folks are coming back to XP?
Reckon if its lifecycle is over, MS is in the toilet? I think not. But i
digress.

Guess I'll just keep using my antique machine as best I can and wish you all
well.
Happy Holidays.
 
Gerry,
Merry Christmas to ya!

Thanks for a most useful response. I'll go through the system and try to
implement it properly.

BTW, Where is Stourport in relation to London exactly? Haven't got my
Google Earth on due to lack of space on the drive.
 
C said:
Could someone point me in the right direction, please?

QUESTION: BEST WAY TO ACCOMPLISH A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN C:
DRIVE DISK SPACE? (And No, Santa isn't bringing me a new machine
for Christmas; I went dear hunting, and, well, Oooh, Boy, is ol'
Rudolph(ina) hacked!)

HARDWARE: HP 5250N Laptop, Pentium III processor@700 MHz, 256 MB
RAM 10 GB HDD.
SOFTWARE: Windows ME (Orig) Upgraded to WinXP SP2; MS Office SB,
upgraded to MS Office 2003 Pro. Installed but NOT operating: Non-MS
professional packages/related data files.

BACKGROUND EVENTS:
Installed Windows XP Home Edition SP1 from disk, replacing Windows
ME; data files amounting to 2.1 GB data moved to separate drive.
Restore Point created and System files backed up in installation
process. Ran into problems with installation, dumped it and
re-installed XP SP1, again creating restore point and backing up
system files. Then Via Automatic Update, received and installed XP
SP2. Again, Restore Point created, and system files backed up
during installation process. The Restore Points (except last) have
now been dumped.

Because my MS Office programs were not accessible after
installation of XP SP2, I re-installed MS Office Pro 2003. I also
installed Trend Internet Security, PC- cillin Anti-virus package
(now removed). Also installed free versions CClearner and Clary
Utilities downloaded based on recommendations through MS Help and
Support forums to help me sort it all out.

Space Available NOW= 9.33 GB - 1.8 GB Programs -2.1 GB Data files -
4.0 GB (Windows, primarily *.dll and *.exe files) In analyzing my
C: Drive, I now have used 8.10 GB (including some ash and trash) of
the available 9.33 GB storage space on the disk, of which 4.0 GB is
the WINDOWS folder ALONE.

DUE TO NEED for DRIVE SPACE, I want to SHRINK TO NMT 2 GB the
fattened WINDOWS FOLDER which resulted from multiple Windows
installations.

RESEARCH AND EFFORTS TO DATE:
1. Reviewed system requirements for ME, XP SP1 and XP SP2 and
confirmed system will support the software (albeit slowly). See KB
Arts #326582;#837783.
2. Tried Googling the problem, then Read Keith Clarke's article on
best utilities to cleanup/speedup disk on MSN Forums. AND USED THEM
as I installed them. .
3. READ NUMEROUS MS HELP AND SUPPORT ARTICLES RELATING TO XP and
disk problems, seeking info to get rid of backed up multiple
installations.
4. Ran Clary's disk analyzer utility with the results shown above.
5. NO JOY, AND AVAILABLE DISK SPACE IS DECREASING EVERY DAY.

I would appreciate any wisdom, guidance and insight that would
assist me in reducing the Windows (iterations) folder to achieve
more C: drive disk space should any knowledgeable persons be
willing to provide.
Click to expand...

Although some of what I will say will have been repeated in other posts -
some may not have been said at all.

10GB is really small these days. When I can buy a USB thumb drive that
holds 8GB for $50 now - a 10GB moving parts hard disk drive is beyond
obsolete. Judging by other responses you have given - this is not what you
wish to hear and likely will discard this. However - I agree with Ken in
that I believe you would greatly benefit in a larger drive install. (You'd
also benefit by doubling/trippling or more the amount of memory in the
machine. Unfortunately - it looks like your laptop limits you to doubling
the amount of RAM - and how you would do that would depend on what is
installed in it now:
http://crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=Pavilion N5250)

I agree - it is likely that the code in the Windows OS itself could be
greatly reduced in size - but unfortunately - many of the files and such in
the 'Windows' folder are *not* exclusively "Windows" files. It is VERY
likely many of them are being utilized by the other applications you have
installed so that they did not have to include them in their installations.
It is likely that if you got rid of some bloat in the Windows OS code -
you'd end up with a growth in the bloat of the programs you may have
installed. ;-)

Beyond that - you can cleanup some - 10GB is by no means insufficient if you
just have Windows XP and Office 2003... As long as you keep your personal
file storage under control.

The information below can help you pinpoint where the space is being 'used'
and perhaps (given the smallness of your partition/drive) - give you a
little extra breathing room in the process.

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

Used Disk Cleanup?
Is hibernate turned on and do you use that feature?
Uninstalled unnecessary applications lately?

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 256MB..

- 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 256MB. (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..

SequoiaView
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/

DX Hog Hunt
http://www.dvxp.com/en/Downloads.aspx

JDiskReport
http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/index.html

Those can help you visually discover where all the space is being used.
 
Periphery of West Midlands 25 miles west of Birmingham, 130 miles north
west of London.

Happy Christmas to you to.

--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
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