My computer disk C is very low on space, and I mean low. Anyways the regular disk cleaner on my computer did not cut it, for when I did delete some unwanted stuff, the space was still low.
Now I downloaded Windirstat, which really shows you how much each file and other items are taking up space.
Problem is that anything I want to delete, it says that removing it might damage my system. Now I understand trying to delete something that is part of Windows may damage it, it is an integral part of the computer. However even old resumes and unwanted photos that I want to delete, it gives me a notification that I should not delete these items? Makes no sense, yet I don’t want to take any risks. But I want to free up space on my local C Disk, and bring it up 300 bytes.
So what is the solution, I am sort of at my wits end. I do want to answer questions, but rather get to the solution. My computer is a Sony Vaio laptop, bought two years ago.
I’m thinking of using CCleaner also, but want to see what advice I can get.
Well, deleting resumés and photos, if you are sure that is what they are, will not damage your system (although it probably will not recover all that space for you either). The things that really hog space are video files and, to a lesser extent, audio ones. Unless you have got quite a few of them, I really do not see why a two year old laptop should be filling up already.
There may be other things you can do, such as reducing the size of your Recycle Bin, or of your swap file.
At what point do you get the message that deleting a text or image file will damage your system? That seems very odd.
Surely you mean 300MB, don’t you? What I did was get a large memory stick and leave it more or less permanently plugged into a USB port and then moved all text files to it. I don’t have image files on the computer, but if I did I would have moved them free. Then I reinstalled all the programs I had installed onto the memory stick and deleted them from C: This freed up less than I hoped, but I had over 1GB when I finished.
This temp file cleaner dumps alot of things the built un utilities do not like java and flash caches.
That said I see this alot. Almost every time its video files. Downloaded movies, porn, whatever. If that is the case The best solution is an external hard drive and move those files to it. Trying to cram more stuff into this machine is a sure fire way to end up with a machine that will not boot or end up with performance loss from massive file fragmentation including windows system files in the event of an update.
Deleting an old resume or two will not solve your problem. You need to honestly identify your space hogs and delete or uninstall them.
Do not remove anything in the windows folder
Do not just delete anything in program files folders uninstall them properly.
If you need further assistance pm me and we can arrange a remote session
Along with that, I’d recommend getting something like Treesize Free- it shows you your folders in descending size order, so you know which ones are taking up the most space, and where you need to cull the most vigorously.
Like others have said, it’s probably video files and/or photos. They seem to be the biggest space hogs on most PCs.
With Internet Explorer open & running (or whatever browser you always use) press CTRL SHIFT DEL and check everything and delete them all. Cached internet folders can become massive. You may even want to do this in Safe Mode to be more thorough.
I think your best solution is to install a large capacity hard drive as your “D” drive. Move all your document, music, and video files to that. You can still point your programs to open files on another drive and you can also make shortcuts to files and folders on another drive.
I use CCleaner every couple of months just to clear out the trash. I also use it to look through all the programs that I have installed to see if I still want them - easy to delete from there. Then I check all programs that start themselves up when I turn the computer on - it is surprising how many thing that you want instant access, so run in the background all the time, slowing startup and hogging resources. So far I have not caused and problems with this.
That said, Ccleaner will not find or delete that five gig video you downloaded and never watched. You have to look for those and delete them individually. Then don’t forget to empty the recycle bin, or they are still there lurking.
That seems to be the root of his/her problem. The OP is aware that disk space can be freed-up by deleting large data files, or moving them to another drive; however, when he/she tries to do this, the system is, for some reason, producing warning messages that say not to do it.
At the risk of pointing out the obvious, have you cleared your recycle bin? When current versions of Windows “delete” a file, they actually just move it to a holding spot in the recycle bin. The files are kept there in case you change your mind and decide to undelete them. You need to open up the recycle bin and empty it in order to permanently delete those files and free up the memory they occupy.
The small files may be copies due to the way windows makes automatic backup copies
You might ignore those,as they are small and not the cause of your problems.
You really want to find large files to delete, some resumes or photos are not significant.
Perhaps there are videos or entire backup directories, such as music,or files from another computer, and so you have them 3 or 4 times ? These sorts of directories may give a silly error, but go ahead and delete them, if you are sure they are created y you.
Some directories and files are the backup of windows and of office, these you want to keep.
Another way to fill the drive is to install programs that take up a lot of space, such as games that come on DVD. The way to delete this is to uninstall them.
CCleaner (AKA Crap Cleaner) is a very good tool for freeing up space. The standard setting are very conservative and will not mess up your drive or any programs. You can enable more aggressive settings to delete even more space. Chances are this won’t cause any problems either.
PC Decrapifier is another tool. It gets rid of bloat-ware installed on computers.
Hello all OP here, and sorry for taking so long to return.
To answer a few questions, instead replying to each and everyone with a new post:
The message comes up when I’m on WinDirStat, as some of you know I can either delete something permanently or through Recycle Bin which I can retrieve if I change my mind.
When I want to delete an item, a pop up comes with something saying “Are you sure you want to delete xx, deleting xx can damage your system”.
Secondly I DO NOT download any videos, porn, music, etc etc. I checked my library and there is only one sample video, I never download, only watch.
I already long ago checked my recycle bin, and it is empty nor does it help. The regular cleaning system on the computer did not help, which is why I downloaded WinDirStat.
I know some resumes and photos I uploaded are not the problem, but I don’t what exactly.
I DO get notifications that I have high disk usage, usually features such CPU and or malware scanner, and other stuff. Sometimes it is stuff like exe., along those lines.
Since my disk is full, I can’t upload anything on it except for my desktop.
I will again run Windirstat and give you all a list of the things that are taking up space, and you guys can give me advice.
How big is your hard drive? I’m surprised that a two-year-old computer has so little space. Unless the computer came with a solid-state drive, perhaps? Those are expensive in larger sizes.