Amy wrote:
> Can I safely remove the updates & service packs listed in my Add or
> Remove Programs to free up space? Can I just simply click remove
> there?
You could - but you would be removing the patches/updates/service packs and
everything they have fixed would be back to the state they were before.
What operating system is it? I'd bet WIndows XP given your terminology
usage - but better to ask and get it clarified...
Operating system and service pack level is a nice start - if you wish to be
very accurate - there are two things you should provide:
Start button --> RUN
(no "RUN"? Press the "Windows Key" + R on your keyboard)
--> type in:
winver
--> Click OK.
The picture at the top of the window that opens will give you the general
(Operating System name and flavor) while the line starting with the word
"version" will give you the rest of the story.
Post _both_ in response to this message verbatim. ;-)
Assuming Windows XP of some flavor with some service pack installed...
You can remove the uninstall folders in a method of your choosing if you
feel that small amount of space will help and/or that you will not be
uninstalling them soon/at all.
See what is taking up the space and how the drive is partitioned.
Start button --> RUN (no RUN, press the "Windows Key" + R) --> type in:
compmgmt.msc
--> Click OK.
Answer things in the affirmative until the window opens. In the computer
management window, left side, locate and expand "Storage" and select (click
on) "Disk Management". That should bring up a list on the right of your
disks. Find your drive(s) in that list and scroll left/right to see the
other columns and give the "Total" and "Free" space here. Looking at the
picture on the right side, bottom part of the Disks - how is each one
partitioned (divided up into sections)?
Now that you know how things are partitioned and how much space you should
have (in total) - let's cleanup.
Download/install this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301
After installing, do the following:
Start button --> RUN --> type in:
"%ProgramFiles%\Windows Installer Clean Up\msizap.exe" g!
--> Click OK.
(The quotation marks and percentage signs and spacing should be exact.)
If you are comfortable with the stability of your system, you can delete the
uninstall files for the patches that Windows XP has installed...
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/spack.htm
( Particularly of interest here - #4 )
( Alternative:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_hotfix_backup.htm )
You can run Disk Cleanup - built into Windows XP - to erase all but your
latest restore point and cleanup even more "loose files"..
How to use Disk Cleanup
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310312
You can turn off hibernation if it is on and you don't use it..
When you hibernate your computer, Windows saves the contents of the system's
memory to the hiberfil.sys file. As a result, the size of the hiberfil.sys
file will always equal the amount of physical memory in your system. If you
don't use the hibernate feature and want to recapture the space that Windows
uses for the hiberfil.sys file, perform the following steps:
- Start the Control Panel Power Options applet (go to Start, Settings,
Control Panel, and click Power Options).
- Select the Hibernate tab, clear the "Enable hibernation" check box, then
click OK; although you might think otherwise, selecting Never under the
"System hibernates" option on the Power Schemes tab doesn't delete the
hiberfil.sys file.
- Windows will remove the "System hibernates" option from the Power Schemes
tab and delete the hiberfil.sys file.
You can control how much space your System Restore can use...
1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
2. Click the System Restore tab.
3. Highlight one of your drives (or C: if you only have one) and click on
the "Settings" button.
4. Change the percentage of disk space you wish to allow.. I suggest moving
the slider until you have just about 1GB (1024MB or close to that...)
5. Click OK.. Then Click OK again.
You can control how much space your Temporary Internet Files can utilize...
Empty your Temporary Internet Files and shrink the size it stores to a
size between 64MB and 128MB..
- Open ONE copy of Internet Explorer.
- Select TOOLS -> Internet Options.
- Under the General tab in the "Temporary Internet Files" section, do the
following:
- Click on "Delete Cookies" (click OK)
- Click on "Settings" and change the "Amount of disk space to use:" to
something between 64MB and 128MB. (It may be MUCH larger right
now.)
- Click OK.
- Click on "Delete Files" and select to "Delete all offline contents"
(the checkbox) and click OK. (If you had a LOT, this could take 2-10
minutes or more.)
- Once it is done, click OK, close Internet Explorer, re-open Internet
Explorer.
You can use an application that scans your system for log files and
temporary files and use that to get rid of those:
Ccleaner (Free!)
http://www.ccleaner.com/
Other ways to free up space..
SequoiaView
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/
JDiskReport
http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/index.html
Those can help you visually discover where all the space is being used.
In the end - a standard Windows XP installation with all sorts of extras
will not likely be above about 4.5GB to 9GB in size. If you have more space
than that (likely do on a modern machine) and most of it seems to be used -
likely you need to move *your stuff* off and/or find a better way to manage
it.
--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
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