cleaning out harddrive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dwayne Epps
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Dwayne Epps

I hope this is an appropriate newsgroup for this question.

I'm running Win2000 and I have been looking for a comprehensive resource
either online or preferrably in a book that discusses how to clean out the
harddrive. I've read lots of different articles and information online, but
nothing fully detailed.

I routinely delete out my temporary internet files, internet history,
cookies, temp files but I continue to see my harddrive space eroding.

Some information that I have read indicates that many of the files aren't
deleted unless the files are deleted in DOS during bootup even though they
show as being deleted from Windows Explorer. I understand that the same
applies to Outlook email messages and newsgroup messages. I also have read
articles that discuss how index.dat files can seriously eat away harddrive
space as they archive all the URL's, website information, search keywords,
etc., that have been accessed. From the information that I've read, it
appears that .dat files are very dificult to find and delete.

Other areas I'm looking to understand and learn to optimize in a PC are the
registry and anything else that can help clear out old information from the
harddrive and optimize the space.

I also read information about different software packages that clean files
from the harddrive like: Wipe, Evidence Eliminator, etc. These types of
software packages might be decent choices, but I'm looking to understand
what to watch out for and what can be deleted before investing in something
that might not achieve what I need.

So, is there a comprehensive book that discusses these topics? I've come
across a few books that just point out some basics that I'm already aware
of, but nothing that details the full gamut of cleaning, optimizing, and
protecting privacy on a harddrive.

Any help or suggestions is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
-Dman100-
 
Dwayne said:
I hope this is an appropriate newsgroup for this question.

I'm running Win2000 and I have been looking for a comprehensive
resource either online or preferrably in a book that discusses how to
clean out the harddrive. I've read lots of different articles and
information online, but nothing fully detailed.

I routinely delete out my temporary internet files, internet history,
cookies, temp files but I continue to see my harddrive space eroding.
I also read information about different software packages that clean
files from the harddrive like: Wipe, Evidence Eliminator, etc. These
types of software packages might be decent choices, but I'm looking
to understand what to watch out for and what can be deleted before
investing in something that might not achieve what I need.
Click to expand...



Forget about EE, it's garbage.Same applies to Spyware Nuker.

Down AdAware and Spybot S&D and update them to rid yourself of most all
spyware/malware. The rest you can accomplish manually.

Here's a place to start:

http://tinyurl.com/1pdi
 
: I hope this is an appropriate newsgroup for this question.
:
: I'm running Win2000 and I have been looking for a comprehensive resource
: either online or preferrably in a book that discusses how to clean out the
: harddrive. I've read lots of different articles and information online,
but
: nothing fully detailed.
:
: I routinely delete out my temporary internet files, internet history,
: cookies, temp files but I continue to see my harddrive space eroding.
:
: Some information that I have read indicates that many of the files aren't
: deleted unless the files are deleted in DOS during bootup even though they
: show as being deleted from Windows Explorer. I understand that the same
: applies to Outlook email messages and newsgroup messages. I also have read
: articles that discuss how index.dat files can seriously eat away harddrive
: space as they archive all the URL's, website information, search keywords,
: etc., that have been accessed. From the information that I've read, it
: appears that .dat files are very dificult to find and delete.
:
: Other areas I'm looking to understand and learn to optimize in a PC are
the
: registry and anything else that can help clear out old information from
the
: harddrive and optimize the space.
:
: I also read information about different software packages that clean files
: from the harddrive like: Wipe, Evidence Eliminator, etc. These types of
: software packages might be decent choices, but I'm looking to understand
: what to watch out for and what can be deleted before investing in
something
: that might not achieve what I need.
:
: So, is there a comprehensive book that discusses these topics? I've come
: across a few books that just point out some basics that I'm already aware
: of, but nothing that details the full gamut of cleaning, optimizing, and
: protecting privacy on a harddrive.
:
: Any help or suggestions is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
: -Dman100-
:
:
there's a freebie called clndisk that seems to work ok. Given the price of
harddrives is it really worth worrying about what space is wasted? If you
want to save space force stuff like cookies and small files onto a FAT
partition. The problem is its max size is 4 GB and I don't know of anything
in W2K that lets you overflow.

Depending on the average size of your files running the standard W2k
utilities may or may not buy you something. If the files are much much
larger than the allocation blocks they may be fragmented enough to merit
defragging but if they're all one or 2 allocation blocks forget it, all
defragging will do is make you feel like you've done something.

There should be lots of stuff available through Google on FAT, FAT32 and
NTFS.

claus

If you're concerned about privacy go to Windows XP. It can be set up so
tight it becomes a pain. On top of that you can encrypt your stuff but if
you use a good key and forget it you'll be up the proverbial creek.
Encryption also lowers performance and eats processor cycles.
 
All I do with W2K is run disk cleanup, regcleaner and then defrag. Do that
once a week and everything should run sweetly. If your Hdd still fills up
then its filling up with files you create i.e. documents etc .. and no auto
cleanup program is gonna touch that. Ive tried lots of 'cleanup' programs
and I always come back to method Ive outlined above - its simple and
efficient.
If I install a piece of software that Im unsure of or a file sharing prog
like Kazaa then sure - use adaware to clean out the spyware - but thats
privacy not freeing up hdd space.
You could try sifting through Windows for stuff you dont use but be damned
sure before you delete it. i would include stuff like bmp files (wallpaper
you never use) and windows update files - after updating IE the cab files
are still there etc ...
 
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