I keep getting a message stating that I don’t have much room left on my hard drive, and need to clean files. Last time I did that, and cleaned cookies, it SLOWED my computer down to the point where I had to uninstall Internet Explorer and replace it with Google Chrome.
:eek:
The same thing is happening right now. Does anyone have an easier way to do this? :smack:
Download Windirstat (Google it) a free utility that does not take much space.
Run it against your C-drive and see where all the space is gone. I predict you will be surprised. The graphical representation makes it easier to pick out the real space-wasters. Just be very careful not to delete system files. (google the filenames you want to delete to see what people say about them if you don’t recognize them)
You cookies aren’t likely to be taking up very much space.
enable view system files & hidden files
then check the size of this folder
C:\Users<your username>\AppData\Local\Temp
IMHO, except in some edge/corner case should be able to delete all of the content of that folder w/o unfortunate repercussions
CCleaner (AKA Crap Cleaner) does a good job of safely deleting unneeded files and cleaning up registry errors.
Look in these directories if they exist:
C: emp
c: mp
c:\windows emp
and delete all files. Some of them will be in use and you can’t zap them, that’s okay.
Next go to c:\windows, click the header for type, then find all the text files and delete *.log. Again, some of them you won’t be able to zap.
Next, go to c:, switch to search mode and look for *.tmp. Delete all that you are allowed to.
It’s amazing how much space that will free up the first time you do it.
I can’t download any of those cleaners, because it says my disk is full, and I don’t know how to access c: files in a way that I can delete them.
Believe me, I have tried to become computer-savvy and have never accomplished this.
Assuming you are running windows:
Find the Icon for “My Computer” and double click it.
You should see little icons giving your various available drives, one of which is labeled C: (possible with some other identifiers such as hard drive etc.)
you can do as others have suggested and manually look for temp files to delete, but I would begin by right clicking on C:
Then click on “properties.”
You should see a pie chart indicating that you have no free space.
Click on the “Disk Cleanup” button.
The computer will spend some time doing some calculations and then list a number of boxes that you can check to delete unused files and how much space you will produce by deleting them.
Check the ones you don’t need and then hit “OK”
This should free up a fair amount of space.
Press the Windows key and E to bring up Windows explorer. Point at the C drive and right click. Scroll down and click Properties. A pie chart will be displayed showing Used and Free space (usually in blue and red).
If the pie is mostly blue your hard drive is probably pretty full, and from there you can decide to go on a cleanup mission if you want. It is a manual process and can be time consuming so plan accordingly. Pictures, music, and movies take up a ton of space so you might want to start deleting unwanted items from those folders.
You can also check the size of individual folders by right-clicking on them just as above. Personally I would not install disk management tools as suggested above because I’d rather keep control and do it myself.
I found out that 74 gigabytes are stored on my hard drive, and I have less than 1 GB available. I cannot figure out where the GBs are located.
Ccleaner. Use it.
Someone on another board recommended CCleaner too, and just now, I was able to download it. It’s busy cleaning my hard drive right now, I hope.
Best you let it run with nothing else to interfere. In other words, close all other programs and walk away from your computer. Also considerGlary Utilities.
Lastly, get into the habit of regularly using these utilities at least once a week.
Click on the “More Options” tab and clean up all but the most recent restore point,
The above folder is likely multiple gigabytes of things which you do not need. idk why the windows clean up doesn’t touch it. CCleaner does clean it.
Navigate to this temp folder–C:\Users<your username>\AppData\Local\Temp
rclick on it
choose properties
choose security
choose advanced
choose owner
note the current owner
change the owner to you username
close all of the property windows [not the window with the folder in it]
rclick on the folder again
choose properties
choose security
select your user account
give you user account full control to this folder
close all of the property windows [not the window with the folder in it]
open the folder
select all files and folders in the folder
hit the delete key
wait
if some folders/files are in use they will not be deleted–don’t worry about those
rclick on the folder again
choose properties
choose security
choose advanced
choose owner
change the owner back to what it once was
close all of the property windows [not the window with the folder in it]
close the window with the folder in it
go about your business with a few to several gigs more free space
I am going from memory, so some of the steps, terms and titles may be slightly different
If you have Google Earth installed, it can maintain a pretty large cache of stuff from time to time. It’s okay to delete that cache. You’ll just have to re-create it the next time you run GE. But, iirc, you can adjust the size of that cache somewhere in GE.
Good luck and kind regards
Oh yeah.
You may need instructions on how to enable viewing hidden.system files and hidden files/folders
This has instructions on how to get to the “folder options” area where you can enable viewing system files and hidden folders.
You’ll need to do this part before you can navigate to
C:\Users<your username>\AppData\Local\Temp
I forget if this will send those files to you recycle bin or not.
You can shift+delete, iirc, to skip teh recycle bin
OR
Just check and clear your recycle bin after deleting the files from your user temp file.
Mission accomplished! I now have 60GB available for use. 
Thanks for all of you, here and elsewhere, who recommended CCleaner. I had never heard of it, and it seems to be the only disk cleaner that really works.
Just another endorsement for CCleaner. It is my core utility.
I found I have a HDD memory leak related to Internet Explorer temporary internet files. Like the OP, I ran out of room without a clear reason early this summer. I backed up some photos and stuff externally to make a little room, installed CCleaner and freed up over 100 gigs. It did take about three days to run the clean process.
Then, a few weeks ago, I noticed I had a lot less free space than I expected. Since the first cleaner run, I’ve been pretty careful to avoid IE but, same as before, several dozen gigs were used up by IE Temporary Internet Files. File types appear to be mostly .js, .png, .jpg, .gif & .htm.
I did a little experiment. I ran the cleaner, restarted the PC but didn’t start any programs or apps after the reboot. After maybe 10 minutes, I ran CCleaner and about 30 MB of temp internet files had found their way onto my machine. If I disable wifi, no leak so these are coming in through the web.
I can’t find these files at all through Windows Explorer though I can’t see the complete directory path in CCleaner.
What can cause this type of memory leak?
Been using this for years. It also lets you save the cookies you want to save so you don’t have to put in all those passwords over again (like on the SDMB).