Computer spring clean

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snappit

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Ken
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I'm trying to clean up my lap top which seems to have used a lot of space on the C drive. I ran Ccleaner and defraggler which cleared up about 11GB. However, it is still showing that I have used about 57GB of space. I can't understand what is using all this space. I don't have hardly any music,films or games on it. All my photos are on the D drive or on external hard drives. Anyone have any ideas as to what can be using the space ? I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to computers.

Thanks
 
Have a look through the un-install and see if there's any programs that you don't use any more.
 
First off, what operating system are you using? There are a load of system files and such which can eat up your space - this is particularly bad with Vista.
 
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I can't get your link to work either, same redirect. Is it my ISPs DNS I wonder (Talk Talk)
 
ok....I can get it just the hyperlink or dns is odd.

If anyone wants it take it from the cnet link above.
 
That link worked yesterday when I tried it. I wonder whats happened to the hyperlink. :thinking:
 
The system restore cache uses a ton of space as well, as do the shadow copies (I think that's what they're called) of files that are created, on some OSes, so you can revert back to a previous version.
 
SR Cache isn't something you should normally clear though. It shouldn't be set to take up too much space though, as default on mine it's only set to 3gb.
 
As I said earlier, we need to know what OS the OP is using. Vista by default allocates 15% of total disk space to the Volume Shadow Copy Service to store both system restore points and Shadow Copies of files. Windows 7 is better behaved in this regard and XP does things completel differently so it's hard to give good advice without more detail.
 
Thanks for replies. I am on Vista so that could explain a lot. I have downloaded treesize so will have a look.
 
As I mentioned earlier, Vista allocates itself around 15% of your available HDD space when its installed (effectively 15% of the entire drive as no apps or data will be present at that point) for system restore files and "shadow copies" of files you have changed which allow you to roll back to a previous version. You can reduce this by following these steps.

First, to see how much storage space is currently allocated:

1. Click the start menu
2. Click on All Programs, and then Accessories
3. From the accessories menu, right click on Command Prompt and select "run as administrator"
4. Type "vssadmin list shadowstorage" into the command prompt
5. The results should tell you the amount of storage used and the maximum amount alloted

If you're not happy with those numbers (and few people are which is why Win7 uses 5%), here's how you resize them. Keep in mind, you will lose some older system restore points when you do this.. If you are at allunhappy with the way yur PC is finctioning and you think restoring it to an earleir time would help, then do tht before going any further.
1. Repeat steps 1-3 to get bring up the Command Prompt
2. Type "vssadmin Resize ShadowStorage /For=[your hard disk]: /On=[your hard disk]: /MaxSize=[how much space you want to allocate]"
3. For example, for your C drive: "vssadmin Resize ShadowStorage /For=C: /On=C: /MaxSize=2GB"
4. You should get a message saying "Successfully resized the shadow copy storage association, and you should have more free space on your hard drive.

Hope this helps.
 
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