Freeing up hard drive space in Documents & Settings

I would like to do some spring cleaning in that folder but don't know where to start, I calculate I can free up at least 8 GB, where should I start?


Thanks.

 

If you use Nero and have ever used Nero Express or Nero recode, there could be several gigs in its folder where it stores images supposedly temporarily but never deletes them. I believe it would be Documents and Settings > Your Name > My Documents > Nero Vision > Imported/Exported Video.

My Pictures, My Music or My whatever could be other places to look for stuff windows likes to fill.

 

2 quick and dirty things you can do to clean up space is:

1) Delete profiles from people that no longer use the system

2) Go to IE , Firefox, Safari, go to options, and delete all temp internet files and cookies.

That should free up a few hundred megs.

 

I've done those, and I don't have Nero.

I have also found some gigs in System Volume Information, is that the System Restore folder?

 

I like windirstat for finding files that are taking up space.

If you are talking an extra 8gb in Documents and Settings I would first narrow down which user has the largest profile (probably your own) by mousing over the user folders in Explorer.

Then run WinDirStat highlight the DocumentandSettings folder in the top pane (it will put a white rectangle around tfiles in the folder in the bottom pane and then start clicking on the largest blocks to see what is taking up the space. 8gbs is probably media files, very few other things take up that much space.

 

There are technically two profiles on this computer, the Administrator and the 'Computer' - the former has Administrator rights (I think).

The machine is an ex-business computer from about 2002 if memory serves me correctly. Everything is done in Computer but I was thinking this might have something to do with the All Users folders.

I can't seem to run that program properly, it just opens a DOS window then closes....

 

That's unfortunate...it wouldn't install?

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In Documents and Settings right click each of the user folders (including All Users) and select properties to see whose taking up the space.

Then do the same inside the culprit user's folder. If these folders don't add up to approximately the total space for this user then you'll have to look in hidden files for this user to see what is going on.

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You could also try http://www.majorgeeks.com/AMUST_Disk_Cleaner__d5400.html The graphics aren't great (pie chart icon next to name of folder) but it will help you find the basic folder that is using the space faster than the above. Once you find the folder you can right click and explore using Windows explorer.

 

It seems to happen when I download stuff from sourceforge funnily enough. I download the .exe file, doubleclick, and then nothing.

I'm looking through these folders in docs/settings and for example I'm unsure if I can delete stuff in the itunes folders even though the music/program runs off an external drive.

From the looks of things it might be leftovers from uninstalled programs too.

 

You'll have to use your own judgement on what to delete. I just found about 800mb in MyUsername/local settings/tmp left over from a nero install.

You might want to show hidden folders or try the Amust link above to check this hidden temp folder for size.