"Application Data" folders getting kind of bloaty on WinXP netbook

Gah @ netbooks with solid state drives having perennial "running low on disk space" issues...

So anyway, I'm running low on disk space again (I consider 1/2 a gig to be low; I have bad memories of running too low and don't want to ever do that again). I go into My Computer and look at the various sub-folders of C:\ to check their size.

C:\ Free Space: 475mb of 15.0gb

• 0 bytes; [some odd-looking hex folder]
• 2.5gb; Docs & Settings
• 0.5gb; I386
• 2.5gb; Program Files
• 0.1gb; SWSetup
• 5.0gb; WINDOWS

The first thing I notice is that the math doesn't add up, but math isn't really my strong suit, so I move on. :-o

What I notice after that is that the bulk of the part I think I can do something about... Docs & Settings... consists of my profile (right at 1gb) and the "All Users" folder (0.75gb).

I store 98% of my personal files (e.g. Word, Excel, and music files) on an SD card, so these aren't my personal files.

I dig down a little further, and I see where most of the bloat is coming from... "Application Data".

Both from the "main" Application Data folder (e.g. C:\Docs&Settings\shooter\ApplicationData) and the one within Local Settings (e.g. C:\Docs&Settings\shooter\LocalSettings\ApplicationData).

Within my profile (1gb), ApplicationData is 150mb and LocalSettings/ApplicationData is 500mb.

Within the "All Users" directory, it quickly becomes obvious that my Symantec Endpoint Protection is the culprit. That directory is 720mb large... of which ApplicationData is 718mb... of which the Symantec folder is nearly 600mb!

Anyhow, within each of my four profiles (if you consider "All Users" to be a profile), it is the ApplicationData and LocalSettings\ApplicationData folders that is giving me the bloat. Is there any way to clear this out without hurting programs?

Thanks in advance.

 

Hi

First of all, what is the capacity of your SSD?

Secondly, using a security program other than Symantec would definitely be a good space saver. I personally use Comodo's Internet Security (antivirus, antispyware, and firewall in one). I just looked, and as far as I can tell, it stores little to no data in the temp directories, and under 400MB in Program Files (and that's on a 64 bit system, which generally has larger files in it).

To answer your original question, no, there is no way to clear that info out without damaging installed programs.

 

15gb. Small, I know, but it was one of the first (I believe) and my mother-in-law bought it for me as a gift (for my birthday).

It's an HP Mini 110, purchased in September of 2009, IIRC.

 

Windows isn't so bad if you can build a slimmed down version - it only needs 12+ years experience of 32-bit - W95 2nd ver was great, 60MB for Windows + Word 97 ^^)

I'm running a stripped/tweaked ver. of W7 on an 8GB netbook, 1.5GB RAM since August 2009, using 2x8GB SDs in slots for docs/Data/Games/Movies. All have 40%+ free space. There are no frills, only the lightest of Apps installed, no full time A/V, only a firewall and passive defences.

If you find an App is using too much space, dump it and find something older/lighter - it's the only way, you cannot afford to use anything bloated.

Example - last night I read an article extolling the virtues of the latest version of Microsoft Security Essentials, so I decided to test it. Sure, it didn't affect my boot times (still 46-48 seconds), because it loaded later but even with it set to it's minimum actions, it still felt like it slowed the netbook down - and it used around 240+MB of RAM = 16+%! when my W7 and PCTools firewall only use around 420MB combined.

Conclusion - MSE had to go. If I had to run this with an A/V fulltime, I'd test out Avast, last time I checked it out, it used about 60MB of RAM (and about 90MB drive space, iirc).

If you're stuck with less than 1GB of RAM on a netbook with a small SSD, XP SP2 is much lighter - moreso when tweaked than SP3, less RAM used, fewer Services running and less space needed.

PCTools firewall, Avast! A/V and Spywareblaster should take around 120MB of space and give reasonable protection to a careful surfer.

 

I still maintain that Comodo is one of the lightest (and best) security software solutions out. Comodo Internet Security as I already mentioned uses less than 400MB on a 64 bit system (likely much less on a 32 bit system, which is what I'm guessing you have), and less than 5MB of RAM.

 

I have been considering a Linux install since reading this Linux.com post earlier in the year, but have not yet taken the plunge. I would like the ability to "go back" if things don't work out, but this is the first PC that I've ever bought that didn't come with a Windows reinstall disc.

There are only two notebook-type activities I try to undertake on it:

1. I have iTunes installed
2. I have MS Office installed

I don't really do much with iTunes except for iPhone back-ups, which I then transfer out of the back-up directory and onto an external hdd that I have. It's technically unneccessary, but it doesn't really take up that much room...

The MS Office *is* admittedly pure bloat, but I will occasionally need to read/edit work files. I really wish Office had a more modular nature, because the only elements of it I ever use are Word and Excel. I have looked into alternatives (e.g. OpenOffice) but have seen that the same non-modular complaint applies to OpenOffice, as well, with OpenOffice taking up more room on disk than MS Office, to boot. [link1, link2, link3]

If I didn't need to occasionally read/edit word processor and spreadsheet files for work, I could ditch Office and recover ~600MB (IIRC). I am completely open to any alternative suggestions in this regard. I wouldn't be surprised at all to find I'd overlooked something completely obvious. :-o

I don't use the Outlook client [within the MS Office Suite] for my email. For work email, my employer offers OWA (Outlook Web Access) via MS Exchange Server. For personal email, I use Gmail.

Movies are also not an issue/concern for me. But if they were, I'd store them on the aforementioned external hdd.

All of my "documents" and other personal files are stored on the SDHC (8gb,c4) that I asked about in this thread.

These are system/program files.

 

I know I will probably have to pare down on my A/V, so how do Avast and Comodo stack up, performance-/protection-wise, against my SEP?

I went with it because:

• a.) it's enterprise/corporate level security A/V+firewall software
• b.) it's free to me, via our campus software agreement

BTW, thank you everyone, for your assistance.

 

Actually, Comodo and Avast are better than SEP. Symantec/Norton are notorious for getting virus updates later than other A/V software. I've had SEP in the past... didn't like it.

I like Comodo because it's easy enough to use for someone that barely knows how to turn the computer on, but has enough options and is configurable enough to satisfy a computer expert. It's also (as I already mentioned) VERY resource friendly. It's kept my computers infection-free for years.

I've had Avast before... honestly, while I haven't tried the current version, I found my system ran slightly slower with Avast than with Comodo. Avast also had issues (for me) downloading virus definition updates sometimes. Plus, Avast is ONLY antivirus software, while Comodo has the complete package (which is what I use), or has an antivirus only program. Honestly, in your case, I would get Comodo's Internet Security, because even if you go with Avast, you'll want a firewall, and that's extra system resources for two programs.

 

Is there any way I can change the default installation directory for my non-OS software?

I have previously encountered individual installers that allowed me to change the install dir, but I don't recall any of the software I have installed on this netbook falling into that category.

Since I already store nearly all of the documents I work on either on a flash drive or in my Dropbox account, this seems like it could work for me... if I could get it to work. *

If I could have my OS on my hard drive, and the rest of my programs/software on my SDHC card, that seems like it would free up a lot of space.