Problem with disk cleanup

I have been attempting to use disk cleanup to "compress old files" and when i click this option it doesn't seen to actually be doing anything and i have to stop it.
I have 704, 000 files to be compressed.
Is there another way of going about this function?
Another program i can use?

Thanks in advance,
Swooshman

 

Here is a tweak you may be interested in trying,write your own batch file for a cleanup app.

Step 1.
Create a new text file and place the following contents inside:

c:\windows\system32\cleanmgr.exe /dc /sageset: 1
c:
cd \
cd c:\windows\prefetch
del *.* /q

Step 2.
Save the file, changing the extension from .txt to .bat
For this tip's purpose, we will call it clean.bat

Step 3.
Execute the file. This will run the Disk Cleanup program in a special mode which asks what items you will want cleaned when Disk Cleanup performs an unattended cleanup. Check the items you wish to have cleaned up, then click OK.

Step 4.
Right-click on the clean.bat file and click edit. Change the first line to read:

c:\windows\system32\cleanmgr.exe /dc /sagerun: 1

Step 5.
Save the file. You can execute this file in place of running Disk Cleanup, or, to have this program run unattended, run the Add Scheduled Task Wizard in the Control Panel and create a scheduled task using the clean.bat file you just created.

Note: This cleanup script will also clear windows prefetch directory. Often this directory can become cluttered with old appication and a cleaning would free up disk space but it will result in a one time performance decrease and windows has to rebuild the cache with active software afterwards.

 

Thanx b.....you da man.

 

Glad I could help.

 

bchivers, re: prefetch.
I have a Registry patch that will disable Prefetch. Is there any real advantage in keeping Prefetch for a light user? I know it is theoretically faster, but in real life?

I've never checked, as I am just learning XP, but will CCleaner (and similar programs) also empty out the Prefetch folder each time you run them? Bazza
PS: thanks for the batch file. Baz
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bigbazza,what is your reason for disabling it? Disabling the prefetch service (or only using setting 1 or 2) can speed boot times but it only hurts overall system performance. The prefetch folder gets cluddered up so IMO it's good to clean it out once in a while,for me maybe once a month if I think about it.

I don't know for sure,went to CCleaner home page and didn't see any mention of it. Are you farmiliar with X-Setup Pro my favorite tweaking tool,you can use it to clean your prefetch when you need to.

 

Thanks for the reply. I was considering disabling prefetch as I hate accumulating past history of any sort. I tried CCleaner and cleaning Prefetch is a ticked option (in XP). Tried it. It didn't appear to work. Prefetch stuff was still there. Maybe you have to reboot straight away for it to take effect. I will give it another try when I use XP again.

Will also try X-Setup Pro. Thanks again. Bazza

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bazza,you can go to (I'll be nice)
C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch
and delete everything in this folder but leave the folder. Your next boot will be slower but after that it should return to normal. I read in another thread that you were compiling a list of tips/tricks/sites. A couple of links you may be interested in
mdgx
tweakxp.com
tweak hound

 

Thanks guys. I know how to delete prefetch stuff, but was looking for something more automatic. From what I have read, it puts a lot of stuff in there and it accumulates like index.dat if you don't clean it out regularly. Most users would be astonished at the crap that is in index.dat, and the prefetch folder, after a short period of time. Bazza

 

Thanks for the links. Will check them out. Baz

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Try this.




1. Go into My Computer and go into your hard drive.


2. Right-click anywhere that a file is not and select the 'New' submenu and click 'Text Document'


3. Name it "deleteprefetch"


4. Double-click on the text file you just created.


5. Type "del C:\Windows\Prefetch\*.* /Q" (without the quotes).


6. Go to File > Save As... and choose "All Files" from the "Save as Type" box and save it as "deleteprefetch.bat"


7. You just created a batch file that will automatically delete all the files in your Prefetch folder.

 

Thanks for the batch file, bchivers. I will try it out.
BTW, does the /Q stand for Quiet? (ie no questions). Bazza

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To tell you the truth,I dont know what it stands for.

 

DEL(ete) doesn't have /Q as a paramater, that is why I asked. I have seen /Q before. Usually used so that the program does what it is supposed to do without asking silly questions (like "proceed Y/N", etc). Bazza

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