How do I re-install XP and delete previous junk files?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ian
  • Start date Start date
I

Ian

Does anyone know a way of detecting unused files and
deleting them from my HDD. The reason being I have two
PC's for working from home, both of the same spec and with
the same programs on. For some reason one PC uses double
the amount of HDD space as the other even though they are
set up the same way and don't have anything installed on
them which isn't installed on the other. I do not have
these two connected to the internet, I store everything I
do on them onto floppy disks and don't use these for
anything other than work-based word or excel files. The
PC with the most used HDD space is now reaching it's
maximum, as both of these PC's only have 6GB HDD each, but
the other PC has over 4GB of space left. I have looked in
Windows Explorer and there is no files which I have saved
myself onto the HDD. There are, however, an extremely lot
of .dll files (and other program files) which I cannot
delete - many of which appear a few times.

The PC's originally came with Windows 2000 installed, but
I have upgraded them both to XP. I have tried re-
installing a fresh copy of XP onto the PC but all it seems
to do is stop me from deleting certain files. I have
called the Microsoft telephone helpline, but they have
baffled me with jargon.

The copies of XP I bought are both Upgrades. Is there a
way of detecting which files are unused and deleting them
from my PC? Or a way of deleting everything from my HDD
and copying the files from one PC to the other? I do not
have Windows 2000 boot disks.

Any help would be appreciated.

With thanks,

Ian.
 
You don't state which version of Word or Excel you are using but lets start
with Office 97 products. In Word, Click Tools then Options. Open the Save
tab. Make sure that Allow Fast Saves and Always create backup copy is NOT
checked. Both of these will create either a larger than necessary file size
or create a new file each time you save a file (respectively).

Office 2000 and above will sometimes create a empty temporary file (still
takes up hard drive space) when you open a file. Doesn't delete it when you
exit from the file. Eats up HD space. Can't remember what the file type is
however.

Do a file search for .chk, .tmp, .bak, after rebooting your machine. You
can safely delete any of these files (as long as they are not dated with the
current date).

BTW, on my laptop, WIN XP as configured with all current updates and no temp
files takes up 1.76 GB of hard drive space. "Minimal" configured Office 97
Pro takes up 90 MB. Once you add in graphics and other programs....

Make sure the configuration of both machines's programs is identical. Go
through each menu item step by step.

Check your recycle bin on both machines also. Make sure that you are not
using more than 10% in the recycle bin (Right click on RB and then Left
click Properties.

System recovery files can also be set differently. Check them also as can
your virtual memory settings (page file).
 
For some reason one PC uses double
the amount of HDD space as the other even though they are
set up the same way and don't have anything installed on
them which isn't installed on the other.
Click to expand...

Is Norton's protected bin enabled on one machine? If yes, empty it.
 
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