Win7 Software Creep

Good day

I am running 7 on this laptop and have split the drive into basically the OS and work allowing 40 gigs for the OS as there was some programs on there when I got the pc.
I had a clean up a couple of weeks ago and managed to have nearly 6 gigs free
so the system would work easily. Today I see that is reduced to 3 making it
ready to run slow.
I have tried to find and stop all OS parts that add to it but obviously not got all.
Nothing new installed by me. Can anyone give me advice as to where I should look. Thanks in advance to any posters.

 

In my experience with two Win 7 systems they need a good bit more than 40GB. Like you I split my OS from my data by partitioning but despite regular cleaning they have both crept up from about 37GB initially to 42-43 now so I allow at least 60GB.

One thing that will cause creep, as cleaners don't normally touch it, is event reporting. As I'm not short of space I never delete it as it can be useful so you might want to take a look at that. I'd be interested in anything else you find so do keep us updated.

 

EDIT - that's for a 64 bit system. 32 bit would require a lot less - my wife's 32 bit Win 7 is only using 29 GB but does have a lot less software installed than mine.

 

Thanks Earthling. I am also running on 32 . I will see about expanding the drive to 60 which is excessive in my mind. Thats why I run Ubuntu in tandem but
from time to time I have to use 7.

Best

 

As I said in the edit you won't need 60 for 32 bit but I wouldn't recommend less than 50.

 

Earthling hit it on the head with 60 GB for a Windows 7 installation. I would say that it probably wouldn't hurt to go to 80 GB if possible.

One Windows item that uses a large amount of space is System Restore. I have set all my PCs to use 5 GB, and I still have a large number of restore points. I believe the default is 10% of the hard drive space if I am not mistaken.

If your drive was crowded on your 40 GB partition, perhaps System Restore is what ate those GBs. It shuts down on a very crowded drive and then will begin making restore points again if space is freed.

 

Hi Altbo

Thanks for your tip . You have hit a chord and altho I had cleared things I did some work using restore and afterwards it may have added,At 73 I tend to forget the odd bit or bytes o I will look.
I am in a bit of a dilemna as I run XP on my desktop and this laptop was a gift from my son a few weeks ago.
It came with 7 loaded but no disk so I am wary of upsetting it and losing the OS.Its a Lenovo and has a lot of proprietary Lenovo software on C which does not help. once I get home I am tempted to just use Ubuntu and ditch all C barring the bare 7 OS.I saw something about a free upgrade to 10 the other day but did not get the full facts. Can you point me at anything showing this.

All the best

 

Hi Plodr

Thank you for your reply . Interestingly I never thought of Word and its cohorts as large users. They were/are on the machine and I think they will have to go. There is plenty of writers using far less space about that can be used. In fact I use wordpad most of the time.
All programs I installed I did on the D drive so they are not a problem as far as I can tell.
Thanks for the Lenovo tip will do.
All security again on D. I run ASC every week but maybe CC tackles different aspects.
All in all food for thought.
Its evening here and I have quite abit to do tomorrow. I will come back when I can with any results.
I have just signed on for the win 10 test but can not download as its too big for my present setup. Will have to wait until I get back to UK.

all the best

 

Yeah you don't want to risk losing 7 for any reason - it's your free ticket for Win 10, though that is still many months away. I wouldn't try removing any of the Lenovo stuff without first getting an image of how it is now. The free Aomei Backupper is probably the easiest imaging program around at present so I'd recommend that. Be sure to create the rescue CD as that's how you restore your image should you ever need to.

http://www.backup-utility.com/

Lenovos aren't the easiest to decrapify. I tried it on one here and ended up having to restore the system from an image.

 

Again Thanks

Thats an excellent tip also regarding a backup disc and software and I will certainly do that.
Also the note about win 10 which would be nice. Anyway time for supper.

Good night all

 

As plodr suggested, run CCleaner. Also use it to remove old System Restore points, as mentioned by AltBo.

Have a look at the snapshot. I have both Windows XP Professional (with Microsoft Office 2003 Professional) and Windows 7 Ultimate (with Microsoft Office 2007 Professional), and about 30 programs on each partition. And I'm using less than 30 GB.

 

bogjumper...

Hope this isn't overload. Actually, Windows isn't really very easy to navigate. It's easy to forget how to find things.

Earthling's advice is great on creating a system image. The only thing to remember with a system image is that, if/when you restore the image, your personal files will be the ones you had at the time of the creation of the image. They will also be in the exact state of completion they were at that time. This is also true of system settings and of programs and of their settings. Literally, everything will be as it was at the time of the creation of the image backup.

I like to combine imaging with some other backup technique for personal files. Basically, this involves using a backup utility of some sort to back up these files on a regular interval, whatever meets your requirements. For me, it's daily, but there are options for syncing files in real time, too. Syncers will keep track of all changes to whichever areas you use to keep your personal files and then copy any changed file to the area (drive) where your files backup is located. This way, you always have an up to date copy of your personal files.

This is all a lot to swallow, but don't worry about asking questions. Please, just ask away about how to get all of this done. We all enjoy chipping in to help with issues when we can, and it's what we do I guess I would say. Lots of great experience here for working through all the pesky details when it comes to owning and operating a PC.

BTW, I haven't used CCleaner's tool for deleting restore points (as mentioned by Eldon), but there is a way in Windows to set (lower) permanently the usage amount of system restore to a specific amount. I'll go ahead and post here how, should you choose to look into the option, although I can understand your concerns about keeping the OS intact while you are in your possible transition state to Windows 10.

In Windows 7, to change the default size of the system restore allocation, do the following:

Start button->Right click on Computer and select Properties->on the left of the menu, select "System protection"->Make sure your main drive is highlighted and then click on "Configure"->Adjust the slider bar so that the amount in GB matches the desired amount (I use as close to 5 GB as I can get, which gives me plenty of restore points) and then select OK.

It will take about a day for the change to take full effect.

Here is more:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/335-system-protection-change-disk-space-usage.html

 

Ah, but the OP has had the good sense to split his drive into "OS and work" so when he does a system image his work partition and its folders won't be included so won't be overwritten if the image is restored. This is the #1 benefit of partitioning the drive IMO.

I completely agree with your views about system imaging and data backup, it's exactly how I operate. I use WinRAR for daily data backups but only image the system drive once or twice a month.

 

That's really quite an achievement, though in these days of ridiculously cheap large drives personally I can't see much point in it.

 

Thanks for catching that Earthling. A +1 for partitioning I guess.

I don't know why, but I have always avoided partitioning (backing up to a main drive partition) for the simple reason that I fear main drives breaking mechanically rather than at the disk/sector level...

 

All backups are directed to a separate drive for the reason you give. I don't back up to the Data partition.

 

Dear All

There is quite a few posts from your good selves that I have to digest and work
through. This will take a little time as I have just been asked to give a talk on
a subject which will require me preparing a slideshow so it will be a bit of both in the future.
I have just realised I should have hit the thank you button for you all but we have gone quite a way down the line. So please accept my apologies. In place I will just say that how nice that people are still ready to give a hand and again many thanks for all your contributions.I think we are all pretty scattered around the globe from what I have seen so I will leave you with this smiley

 

Hi All again

Just as I completed the last post the whole system fell down and would not reboot so
obviously the mbr was banjaxed . Fortunately I still had my Ubuntu USB and when I stuck it on I expected to reload. Lo and behold it came up with a little rescue app for MBR unbidden. Hit it and all fixed in a couple of minutes. I mention this as Its just Murphys that I have been looking at backups and getting all your advice and bloop.
Anyway all fixed. On an aside as I got into MG this time saw all yours thanks buttons and hit them all. Keep well wherever you are in the future

 

Don't be taken in, it's an old Ubuntu trick to sabotage Windoze and then miraculously recover it :-D

More seriously, I just never mix Linux and Windows on the same disk. The boot process is tough enough to fix once corrupted without the complications introduced by mixing Grub2 with MBR. So I only run Linux in a VM - if you have decent hardware it's by far the best way to do it. Alternatively of course you can run Windows in a VM.

 

Good advice from Earthling! I would have to wholeheartedly agree that a Linux host with a Win Guest in a VM is the way to go; although I suppose a Win host with a Linux Guest VM would also work?!

A VM is easier to setup; it's easier to maintain; it's easier to use; and it's easier to "undo" if it isn't what you hoped it would be.

The only reason I can think of to recommend a dual boot arrangement is that rare situation when the computer RAM cannot be upgraded to 2GB+ (for money OR hardware reasons), depending on the host OS. 4GB+ is preferable, especially if Win7 is a host or guest. If you can't meet the RAM requirements, your VM experience will be miserable and you won't use the VM anyway. In those RARE instances, a dual-boot scenario makes sense, IMO.

 

"The only reason I can think of to recommend a dual boot arrangement is that rare situation when the computer RAM cannot be upgraded to 2GB"
Or if you want OSX and Windows on the same computer. I have two HDD and boot one or the other depending on if the user wants a Mac or PC.

 

Good day Earthling

Interesting point . Its bit of a pain in the arm to use VM and now that I have the magic app
to recover with I will hang on. Im back home in 3 weeks-will miss the lovely sun as I see
Scotland looks just the opposite. However once I am back with my desktop which is my main machine I will drop Ubuntu from here and just run 7. But thanks for the tip it was something I was not aware off.

 

Hi All

Just a quick followup. I went into Restore ,and Accessories where I used all to the hilt.I went over anything else that I could delete on C: and now I am sporting a 16 Gig free space which makes it all run on greased rails. Thanks again all the people who replied.

All the best