Missing free hard disk space

[Lee_Chidester]

I have a NEC Ready(forgot exact make),333MHz PII, 7.8GB hard drive. I use it in my home.
Two nights ago, right before i turned my computer off, I checked and saw that i had approximately 670MBs of free hard drive space left. The next morning I checked and saw only 24MBs left! I've been able to, through Scan Disk and clearing out the cache, bring it up to about 185MBs. This same thing happened about 2 months ago, but I lost only(lol) 200MBs.

Also, another general question. when i try to start RegEdit it gives me a "Registry editing has been disabled by your administrator." error.

Can someone please help me ?!?

[Paleo Pete]

Not sure about losing drive space, wondering though if the Windows swap file is part of the reason...Also check your Internet Options, and you'll see a settings button for the Temporary Internet Files. Set it to minimum.

Do you have Virtual Memory set to let Windows handle it or a preset folder size? Usually Windows does a pretty good job by itself...

The regedit problem sounds like your machine has a user profile defined, with an Administrator option invoked to disallow access to certain features. Open Control Panel, and double click the "Passwords" icon. Check the User Profiles tab, and see what the settings are. It should have the top box checked, All users share desktop and settings, or close to that. If you have an Administrator option enabled somewhere you'll need the Password to change things around.

Also check the "Users" icon in Control Panel, see if you have multiple profiles set up. One might be the Administrator.

Can't think of anything else...

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If you had everything...Where would you put it?

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)

[Lee_Chidester]

I've forgot where the swap file settings are located, can you remind me? Virtual memory was already set to Windows control.

No different profiles.

[ixl]

Poke around on the software sites and find a util called "treesize" and run it. It will show you how much space is taken up by every directory on the drive, sorted in order. Very useful for figuring out what is going on with these sorts of issues.
Also: scan for viruses if you haven't yet.

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Charles M. Kozierok
Webslave, The PC Guide (http://www.PCGuide.com)
Comprehensive PC Reference, Troubleshooting, Optimization and Buyer's Guides...
Note: Please reply to my forum postings here on the forums. Thanks.

[Paleo Pete]

Swap file (Virtual Memory) settings:

1. Right click the My Computer icon on the desktop and click Properties. Click the Performance tab. The Virtual Memory button is where they'll be.

2. Start\Settings\Control Panel\System Icon\Performance tab will get you to the same place.

Be careful playing around with these settings, it's not that hard to change settings and find Windows won't work at all...letting Windows handle Virtual Memory (default) is recommended.

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If you had everything...Where would you put it?

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)

[suetoo]

Set the max virtual setting to 1/4 of what your total RAM is, and make your min the same. If windows is left to decide, it will use up your whold hard drive space for the swap file. I have mine set at 1/4 and it works just fine... That should make your swap file smaller, and it will stay that way, giving you more room on the HDD.

That was a suggestion from Techtv, by the way, so It wasn't all my idea.

[Reid]

In addition to the good help you are getting, check the Recycle Bin properties by right-clicking the icon. I believe the default is 10% of the drive size, which is taking more drive space than needed. You might try cutting that back to 5% as a starting point.

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rdrummond@thesimpsons.com