Computer help?

[EE_]

Can any computer wiz's here tell me how to get more free space?
I'm down to 1%
I've run disc clean up programs, dumped temp files, keep recycle bin empty, delete cookies.
Defrag will not run completely with this low of space.
Any help will be appreciated.
How can I add memory?
Is there something I can delete from registry files?

[wildcard]

External HD.

*and the obvious, delete some porn.

[EE_]

External HD.

What should I buy and how to add?

[wildcard]

Well, you can get 1 or 2 TB HDs these days. Don't put anything critical on them because they seem to be having growing pains, but for stuff you want to keep, but don't need day to day they're good. I have a Seagate and it's given me no problems.

*and most of them are plug and play USB.

amazon link (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0025KXMKS/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001AHSNB0&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0287DQ5ES3MM4M405TRJ)


**as you see in the reviews it has as many 1 stars as 5 stars. If you get a good one then you're set, get a bad one and hope you bought it local and kept the receipt and box. I got mine at Target.

[EE_]

Is there something I can dump to get more space now? Photos, files?
I've deleted all the programs I can except for party poker that I can't seem to find in the registry to delete

[zap]

Photo's hog alot of space.

[Joe King]

There's always a way to free up room.
What all do you have on your HD?


Or you could always send me a remote assistance request and let me fix it for you. http://serve.mysmiley.net/evilgrin/evilgrin0039.gif (http://www.mysmiley.net/free-winking-smileys.php)

[1970 silver art]

Is there something I can dump to get more space now? Photos, files?
I've deleted all the programs I can except for party poker that I can't seem to find in the registry to delete


If you have a lot of videos on your HD and you want to save those videos, then you can burn those videos on a blank DVD. I think that a regular blank DVD can hold 4.7 GB of data. Videos take up the most disk space and that can add up very quickly. Dumping photos will also help.

[wildcard]

Is there something I can dump to get more space now? Photos, files?
I've deleted all the programs I can except for party poker that I can't seem to find in the registry to delete


You are using the add/delete program feature I hope? :)

*video and audio are the big hogs on mine. I have a ton of documentaries and stuff that I had to keep, but was running out of room.

[EE_]

Is there something I can dump to get more space now? Photos, files?
I've deleted all the programs I can except for party poker that I can't seem to find in the registry to delete


You are using the add/delete program feature I hope? :)


Do you mean for party poker?
It's not that simple, you need to find it in your registry.

[DMac]

What OS are you running?

[EE_]

What OS are you running?


I think it is windows xp

[wildcard]

Is there something I can dump to get more space now? Photos, files?
I've deleted all the programs I can except for party poker that I can't seem to find in the registry to delete


You are using the add/delete program feature I hope? :)


Do you mean for party poker?
It's not that simple, you need to find it in your registry.


yeah, i've played a little bit of online poker in my time. ;D

They don't want you coming back as a noob for the bonus right. Try Eusing's free registry cleaner. search for it and you'll find it.

[wildcard]

If all else fails, move the files you want to keep over to the external HD and then re-install the OS.

[Bullion_Bob]

Get a program call "treesize free" i.e. http://download.cnet.com/TreeSize-Free/3000-2248_4-81064.html

It will show you what and where.

Stay away from the registry, you can nuke your computer with a keystroke if you don't know exactly what you're doing.

[EE_]

Do you guys like trendmicro.com for cleaning?

[DMac]

What OS are you running?


I think it is windows xp


If you are strapped for space and don't want to or can't uninstall some programs then you can delete the folders here: C:\WINNT\$NtUninstall* - start with the oldest folders first.

These folders contain the updates that have been downloaded over the years on your PC. If you can, backup these folders before deleting them. It isn't recommended to delete the C:\WINNT/$NtUninstall* folders if you can manage to keep your free space at a good level, but if you are in a pinch, it shouldn't break anything.


*edit

Don't delete all of the folders. Keep at least 3 months worth.

[mightymanx]

I use CCleaner it's free on the internet and cleans out your registry of all the crap works great.

[Bullion_Bob]

Do you guys like trendmicro.com for cleaning?


They are a good company. If you want the dirty on how to get rid of viruses, download and run combofix, then install and scan with malware bytes, you can toss in another scanner after that like "ad-aware" or "super antispyware" for full on paranoid mode. They may find scant traces, but the payload itself is usually long dead after combofix.

The registry cleaner part of ccleaner is not the greatest. Be warned, I've had it nuke a laptop running XP for a client before. The cleaning portion is decent. It does not get everything, but most of it.

[Joe King]

Do you guys like trendmicro.com for cleaning?

That won't really free up room.
Unless your PC is just crawlin' with virus's to the point of filling the HD



One way I've used to free room on others PC's that have had your problem, is to do a search for files larger than about 50megs, and then sort by type.

That way I've been able to quickly scan through the list to see if there are any large video, music, on any other type of file I know is safe to delete.

[AndreaGail]

I agree with the advice to go with an external harddrive

bought a 500GB western digital a while back for $100 (think they are about $80 now)

size is 6 in x 4 in x 1/2 in, nice and small and works great!!

can't give any other advice though, i still have over 100 gb free so i've never had to use any of those cleaning programs though i do always empty my recycle bin and delete all temp int stuff

[Joe King]

Do you guys like trendmicro.com for cleaning?


They are a good company. If you want the dirty on how to get rid of viruses, download and run combofix, then install and scan with malware bytes, you can toss in another scanner after that like "ad-aware" or "super antispyware" for full on paranoid mode. They may find scant traces, but the payload itself is usually long dead after combofix.

The registry cleaner part of ccleaner is not the greatest. Be warned, I've had it nuke a laptop running XP for a client before. The cleaning portion is decent. It does not get everything, but most of it.
I too have had this happen once.

[Phoenix]

Well, you can get 1 or 2 TB HDs these days. Don't put anything critical on them because they seem to be having growing pains, but for stuff you want to keep, but don't need day to day they're good. I have a Seagate and it's given me no problems.

*and most of them are plug and play USB.

amazon link (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0025KXMKS/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001AHSNB0&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0287DQ5ES3MM4M405TRJ)


**as you see in the reviews it has as many 1 stars as 5 stars. If you get a good one then you're set, get a bad one and hope you bought it local and kept the receipt and box. I got mine at Target.


As is usual, wildcard echoes my sentiments exactly!

Do what he recommends! ;D

[EE_]

No luck getting any free space. Looks like I'm off to get an external hard drive.
Thanks guys for the info!
EE

[wildcard]

I loaded the info on mine and then unplugged it and stashed it in a very stable place that won't get too warm or cold. Every so often I plug it in to grab something and then it goes back into storage. So far so good. Be very careful not to jar it while the disc is spinning.

[undgrd]

Just an FYI. You need at least 15% free space on your HD in order to Defrag.

[Ares]

I always tell people that want to clean up space, but want to keep their files to get a NAS box (Network Attached Storage). I have a D-Link DNS-323 with 2, 1TB drives that I use to store whatever I want. Even after a year of saving good Youtube vids, PDF's, law books, etc. etc. etc. I'm only using 420GB. I still have a good 540GB left.

They do require some know how on setting up though.

[sirgonzo420]

I always tell people that want to clean up space, but want to keep their files to get a NAS box (Network Attached Storage). I have a D-Link DNS-323 with 2, 1TB drives that I use to store whatever I want. Even after a year of saving good Youtube vids, PDF's, law books, etc. etc. etc. I'm only using 420GB. I still have a good 540GB left.

They do require some know how on setting up though.


What is required to do this?

I have a wireless router and an external hard drive...

[Ares]

I always tell people that want to clean up space, but want to keep their files to get a NAS box (Network Attached Storage). I have a D-Link DNS-323 with 2, 1TB drives that I use to store whatever I want. Even after a year of saving good Youtube vids, PDF's, law books, etc. etc. etc. I'm only using 420GB. I still have a good 540GB left.

They do require some know how on setting up though.


What is required to do this?

I have a wireless router and an external hard drive...


I bought mine from newegg, but I'm also a little familiar with Linux (which is the OS this NAS box runs on.)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822155003

Here's a howto:

http://wiki.dns323.info/

[Silver Rocket Bitches!]

Can any computer wiz's here tell me how to get more free space?
I'm down to 1%
I've run disc clean up programs, dumped temp files, keep recycle bin empty, delete cookies.
Defrag will not run completely with this low of space.
Any help will be appreciated.
How can I add memory?
Is there something I can delete from registry files?


This is what butters my bread so I'll give you the advice I give the customers.

You say you dumped temp files, but which temp files did you dump? You have a folder within your Windows profile that all programs use as a dumping ground, on top of your temporary Internet files. Check C:\documents and settings\<username>\local settings\temp. Local settings is a hidden folder so you need to enable those. Anything in that temp folder can be deleted as it can be recreated as needed.

Also, check C:\windows\temp. Delete anything in there.

Many computers will create log files, which, if they don't manage probably can lead to .log files that are in excess of 1gb. Try this, click start -> search -> all files and folders -> what size is it. Specify the value as 500000kb. This will search for anything > 500mb. You may find some files lurking that are wasting space. Don't just start deleting indiscriminately though. Make sure if you do find something that do any damage.

You can certainly add more memory but that won't help except to give the applications and processes more resources to help them run concurrently.

Don't worry about the registry, that's just two files, user.dat and system.dat. This is not going to help in this instance. You start playing with that more when you have a pesky program that is not playing nice.

Hope this helps.

[SHTF2010]

i have a couple thumb drives that i store extra info on, easier than burning a CD

[mamboni]

Like Art said, backup your important files to dvd and then delete them from the hd.

*Protip - If you have to ask how to free up hard drive space, do not mess with the registry at all.


Lots of good advice on this thread. But, be very careful using DVD-R for backup/archiving: the disk can fail in storage. I archive to DVD-R but I always make a minimum of 2 copies on 2 different quality brands (i.e. Taiyo Yuden, Verbatim, Matsui Gold, TDK) and sometimes 3 copies if it's really important data. Honestly, hard disk storage is so cheap today that there is no excuse for not buying a couple of hard drives for backup/archiving in addition to DVD. In lieu of USB external HD, you might consider an IDE/SATA-to-USB adaptor(docking station) which lets you plug in the raw IDE/SATA HD. The latter are cheap so if you are using multiple HDs this can save some money and save on physical storage space.

I'm amazed that your PC even functions with only 1% HD free space. A good rule of thumb is 20% free space, for swap files and general system operation.

[DMac]

A general tip regarding page files for windows users, if you have more than 1 partition or physical disk put your page file somewhere other than C: - you should notice some improvements in overall performance.

[EE_]

Okay, I put a Seagate 500 expansion HD on and dropped my documents and pictures into it..then deleted these files.
I only got to 6% free space.
What can I move to get more space?
Thanks again.
EE

[Dusty]

Yes they do,
There are programs out there that can help you reduce an 8 meg photo to
an less space hogging .

depends on what you want to do>?
.

photos do take a lot or room, and most photos can be thinned down and still
be usable, depends on how much detail you can stand to lose.l

[DMac]

From Silver Rocket's post,

Try this, click start -> search -> all files and folders -> what size is it. Specify the value as 500000kb. This will search for anything > 500mb.

Try this with 200,000kb as the criteria. Then 100000kb. There could be installation setup files or other log type stuff that can be trashed or backed up to the other disk.

[EE_]

From Silver Rocket's post,

Try this, click start -> search -> all files and folders -> what size is it. Specify the value as 500000kb. This will search for anything > 500mb.

Try this with 200,000kb as the criteria. Then 100000kb. There could be installation setup files or other log type stuff that can be trashed or backed up to the other disk.


I did as SR said and got to 4%
I then did this at 500 and got no programs at that size.
I'll try as you say and lower the criteria.
back in a few

[Bullion_Bob]

Okay, I put a Seagate 500 expansion HD on and dropped my documents and pictures into it..then deleted these files.
I only got to 6% free space.
What can I move to get more space?
Thanks again.
EE


d/l and run treesize free, it will tell you what exactly is taking up the space, and where it is. Worth it's weight in gold 1000 times over.