How do I free up space on my local disk drive?

I have 9.35 GBs of free space left on my local disk ( C: ) drive and I'm totally retarded when it comes to computers. Any help on how to free up some space would be greatly appreciated. Brandi

 

Hello mate

There is a few things you can do.

Go to Start Menu -> Control Panel -> Add/remove programs (if xP) Programs and features (if vista/w7).

From here you can remove games you dont play any more programs you dont use.

Once you have done that.

Open My Computer right click your C: drive go to properties. Once in there click "Disk Clean up" and tick all of the boxes as most of this you wont need especially if you are "totally retarded when it comes to computers" haha

That may take awhile if you haven't done it before.

Now that that is done go to the same place again (C:\ right click Properteries) click the Tools tab and Dragframent the Harddrive. This will put all files that are fragemented across the HDD as close as possible for faster reading of files.

If that doesn't free up enough space please let me know and I will suggest more

Good luck.

 

Welcome to Major Geeks, fellow West Virginian.
Could also remove all restore points , cut down on space reserved for Restore Points, and start a fresh one if your machine is clean.
Right click on My Computer,open the System Restore tab.

 

Buddy you can run CCleaner aka as Crap Cleaner, I pulled 2GB of a netbook yesterday (brand new system) and 5GB of a mates PC. Basically it removes all the "old temporary" and non-essential files (junk files) from a system and is very easy to run.

 

Watch out with it's registry cleaner though. Some empty keys are there for a reason.

 

Thats another thing you could do before removing the restore points as hrlow nicley pointed out, run an anti virus scan and run soemthing like spybot search and destory to help get rid of any nasties then delete restore points and create a nice fresh one.

 

Ok I was deleting some programs to free up space but there were some programs that I'm not sure of. I'm gonna give you the list, could you tell me which ones are junk...lol Sorry I really do appreciate the help though.

Activation assistance for the Microsoft Office Suites
Adobe AIR
Adobe Flash Player 10 ActiveX
Adobe Flash Player 10 Plugin
Adobe Reader 9.1
AIM 7
Atheros Driver Installation Program
Bonjour
Compatibility Pack for the 2007 office system
Conexant HD Audio
CyberLink DVD Suite
CyberLink YouCam
HDAUDIO Soft Data Fax Modem with SmartCP
HP Active Support Library
HP Customer Experience Enhancements
HP DVD Play 3.7
HP Help and Support
HP Quick Launch Buttons 6.40 H2
HP Total Care Advisor
HP Total Care Setup
HP Update
HP User Guides 0118
HP Wireless Assistant
Java (TM) 6 Update 17
Juno Preloader
Label Print
LightScribe System Software 1.14.17.1
Microsoft.NET Framework 3.25 SP1
Microsoft Live Search Toolbar
Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007
Microsoft Office PowerPoint Viewer 2007
Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Works
Move Media Player
MSXML 4.0 SP2 (KB94430)
Muvee Reveal
Net Waiting
Netzero Preloader
NVIDIA Drivers
Power2Go
Power Director
QuickTime
RealTek USB 2.0 Card Reader
RTC Client API v1.2
Snapfish Picture Mover
Uninstall AOL Emergency Connect Utility 1.0
Synaptics Pointing Device Driver
Viewpoint Media Player

If I start getting annoying or asking to many stupid question just let me know...lol Thanks

 

I don't want to give advice on what programs to delete (you have many in that list that are important to the operation of your laptop).

I'm curious what is the total capacity of your HD? Do you have a lot of personal data that is taking up space--pictures, video and music?

 

Yeah I do have a lot of pics and music on my computer. I did everything Qwerty told me to do and then started defraging my computer at like 1pm today and it's still defraging at 10 25pm. Is that normal? lol I need to take a friggin computer class or something...lol

 

Did you run CCleaner? Normally good to do before a defrag.

 

No it is not normal for defrag to take 8hrs. How big is your HD? If it is something like 100gb than the space you regain by uninstalling a few unnecessary programs will not help much since new music or photos will use it up fairly quickly. You may need to move some of your data to an external HD or write it DVD. (you are on a laptop, correct?)

What % complete is the defrag? If it isn't close to being complete you may want to download a quicker defragmenter like auslogics.

 

My local drive is 287GB and my recovery drive is 10.9GB. I've moved some of my pics and it's no longer in the red. I'm gonna move some of my music as well. This computer isn't that old I just bought it in Sept. I just don't see how I've already got that much crap on it...lol I guess I'll just have to get a external HD or something. If there's anything on that list that I posted earlier that you know doesn't need to be on my computer let me know and I'll take it off. Thanks for your help.

 

It worked!!! I have lots and lots of free space on my computer and I didn't even have remove much stuff. I guess it just needed a good defrag and cleaning...lol Thanks you guys I would have been lost without your help. Greatly appreciated!!!:celebrate

 

What worked? Defrag just consolidates your files. It doesn't give you more space. What suddenly gave you "lots and lots of free space"? Can you please tell us what was the last thing you did to give yourself more free space?

I was just about to post:

 

I told you a defrag would do it good haha

Glad you are happy with the result.

 

I deleted some games, programs, music and pics that I didn't need or use. Then I used the CCleaner after that I defraged it with the Auslogics and it worked.

 

i have an older pc with just an 80gb hd (currently 60gb free with plenty of games/graphics/other software installed), BUT i have a 500gb usb drive where i keep everything (WAY cheaper than any flash drive). when i'm done with something, i uninstall/delete and forget about it. if i want to install/use it again, i pull it off my external (copy/paste the setup onto my desktop or copy the music or pics into the appropriate folder) and install/use it again.

i pretty much only do this with games i've beaten but may want to play again, in the future. if i download anything new, i download it to the external then copy it to my internal when i'm ready to use.