What old Microsoft files can I delete safely?

[Computer Deb]

All of a sudden, I seem to have lost alot of space on my main hard drive. I have uninstalled programs that were 200-300 mb only to be able to see the same amount of space available.

First question, when I uninstall through WIN XP Control Panel, does it "keep or store" the old program? I can see some files that look like that, but I'm not sure?

I have been to "Sillydog.org" and read the Microsoft Hidden files info. I have tried to delete these in DOS, but I can't, probably because I have WIN XP.

This is so frustrating. I have a 10 gig primary drive and only have one program that is is more than 500 mb. I know that XP needs 2 gig, but I just don't have that many programs nor do I have that many big files, because I store them on CD or my slave drive.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

Frustrated (again),

Debbi

[mjc]

First off....are you running System Restore?

If so you may want to trim down the size of its folder.

In XP you can't really get rid of system components, you can only "hide" them. (Well, there are some you can actually remove, but for the most part they are small sized items)

Another thing is to religiously manage your Temp folder.....

http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25943

That thread has details on how to do this for all versions of Windows.

Also you will want to make sure you are clean...antivirus, anti-trojan and anti-adware. Scan with the products of your choice and then get HijackThis (http://mjc1.com/mirror/hjt/ ) and run it (use the tutorial on that page) and post the log here.

And finally, if space is that tight, consider adding an additional drive...you can pick up an 80GB for under $75 and 120 GB for under $100 (right now it seems the best buy $/GB is the 120)

(newegg.com has the WD 120GB with 8 MB cache and free shipping for $98.75...... quick someone take my cards away from me and hand me a bucket....droooooooool....I'm about to drown my keyboard)

[Mark Miller]

Besides what Mjc has said I have found that the culprit with XP allot of the times is system restore. If you are using it, it will eat 20-30mb's a day.
Either do as Mjc has suggested or in disk cleanup [start menu- accessories- system tools] hit more options which will let you delete all your restore points but the last one. If you have never done this you will be amazed at the disk space you get back. You will still have 1 restore point.
Mark:)

[FrankSG]

Either do as Mjc has suggested or in disk cleanup [start menu- accessories- system tools] hit more options which will let you delete all your restore points but the last one. If you have never done this you will be amazed at the disk space you get back. You will still have 1 restore point.
Mark:) [/B][/QUOTE]
Mark--I have often wondered if all of those restore points that I have made are hogging up space. And from what I have read here, it seems that they are. I went to Accessories/System Tools but couldn't find "more options". I'm using WinXP Home. Am I doing it wrong? I would like to eliminate a lot of the restore points that I've made. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you said. Any suggestions? Thanks
~Frank~

[FrankSG]

First question, when I uninstall through WIN XP Control Panel, does it "keep or store" the old program? I can see some files that look like that, but I'm not sure? The uninstall program almost never uninstalls everything. It often leaves the folder that the program was in, and also leaves a few files in the folder. When I uninstall a program, I always check to see if the folder is still there. If it is, I deleted it.

[Computer Deb]

I DO regularly (daily) clean my temp file and then I erase them.

I DO use System Restore, which I will reset the limit right away!

I do plan to get a larger hard drive, but until this week, hadn't been close to being full. I did find a large file that was some art file in a temp file. I had worked on a few things, but didn't realize that it was saved as a temp.

I have run Spybot, but will again, because I did have a few issues a couple of weeks ago. I thought I had done a good job of getting rid of them.

I also have HIJACK THIS and will run that too.

Thanks again, this is what I needed and suspected about my situation!

Debbi

[jabarnutcase]

Hi Frank-
If you click on Disk Cleanup as mentioned, after it's done it's "calculating thing", (and before you have actually "cleaned" anything), there will be a "more options" tab up top where you can clean all but the last restore point.

Maybe you were looking for "more options" under system tools rather than within the disk cleanup utility itself?

And yes, by default, and depending on the size of your Hard Drive, system restore is set to a ridiculous size.

I think it only needs around 200MB to operate...Especially if you occasionally clean them out. (Even if you run out of alloted space, it will simply keep replacing the oldest restore point with a new one.

It's one of the first of many things I do on a clean install is turn that thing WAY down.

[Computer Deb]

It's amazing ... after a few of the things recommended, I now have almost 3 gig free! Yesterday, when I got concerned when I had only 1/2 a gig, now I have almost 5 times as much!

Thanks again for everyone's help ... I now understand (better) why Microsoft is nickname M$.

I appreciate everyone's suggestions ... I just go through alot of paper, printing them out!

[Budfred]

It is a good idea to run Spybot on a regular basis. Even if you clean everything out, you could have more dropped into your system shortly after. This is most common when you install programs, but there are other things that will install themselves that you won't even know about.....

[Mark Miller]

Frank,
Jab hit it right on the head. Start menu-aceesories- system tools- DISK CLEANUP- as said let it do it's thing and then when the next screen pops up on top will there will be more options on top. Click on that and one of your choices will be to wipe all but the last system restore. Sorry for confusion
Mark:)

[FrankSG]

I found the "more options". It's funny, but as many times as I used the Disk Cleanup, I never noticed the more options tab before. I'm glad you guys pointed it out to me since there are other things you can do with it. I did remove all of my restore points except one--and I reclaimed 2.2Gig of space! WOW! It's mind boggling. The first computer with a hard-drive that was purchase in our office had--I think it was in 1990--had a 42MB hard-drive. I thought that was a lot. Now, MS has utilities where the utility alone can use up over 2Gig!

[Mark Miller]

Hi Frank,
I just want to bring to you attention that system restore does not have to take that much space.
Click on system restore. [My computer- right click- system restore- bottom left- system restore settings. It only needs 2-300mbs to run. It will not go below 1% of your hardrive though. I have a 120gb and the smallest system restore setting is still over 1gb.
Keep this in mind everyday a new point is created which uses 20-30mbs, so depending on the size you can clean it out whenever. If you don't it gets rid of the old ones and makes new ones.[When it runs out of room.
Are you confused? Because I'm confused.
Mark:D :D :D

[FrankSG]

Originally posted by Mark Miller
Hi Frank,
I just want to bring to you attention that system restore does not have to take that much space.
It only needs 2-300mbs to run. Mark:D :D :D
Wow! I had mine set way too high--that's what was taking up all the space. I set it back down to a reasonable level now. Actually, the way I see it there's no reason to keep all of those restore points anyway. With all the changes I make to my computer, if I went back to a restore point that was made a month ago, it probably wouldn't do me any good. Well--I'm glad I got that straightened out. I'm going back to the TV room now and finish watching the football game.