Hi, I am computer literate, but not technically minded so here goes!
My pc is a few years old, and running XP. Recently it has been running very slowly so I did a disc cleanup and ran the disc defrag. It says on the disc defrag programme that the free space is 29% - this has dropped significantly, as it is usually around 65%. Even after freeing up space on the disc cleanup, it has only gone up a few percent. There are also some programmes that cannot be removed from Add/Remove programmes, and I wonder if that is not helping? Other than internet, email and the odd letter, the other main use of the pc is for downloading - music, films etc. We always remove downloads from the pc and from the library once finished, so I am at a loss to explain the sudden drop in free space available. Maybe it could do with the memory beefing up? (I don't know how much memory I've got, or how to check it) Any ideas? If not, can anybody recommend a cheap reliable repair shop? Thanks for reading :help:

I wouldn't admit to downloading music and films from "blank site", its illegal. Anyway best thing to probally do would be back up your files and restore it to the factory settings, then it would be back at how the pc was when you bought it and should run ok.

deleted named references to illegal download sites.

Memory isn't the issue here - it's hard disc space.

How big is your disk?

Double Click on 'My Computer', right-click on 'Local Disk (C)' and select properties.

You'll see Used Space, Free Space and Capacity - the latter is effectively your disk space.

It sounds very much like you've got some lurking downloads.

Check your 'temp' directory - usually C:\temp - all sorts of crap can lurk there.

I wouldn't admit to downloading music and films from anywhere, its illegal. Anyway best thing to probally do would be back up your files and restore it to the factory settings, then it would be back at how the pc was when you bought it and should run ok.

Not all downloads are illegal - depends whether the copyright holder has licensed them for downloading, and similar legalities.

Not all downloads are illegal - depends whether the copyright holder has licensed them or not.

my apologies Joe , i deleted the site name from his post and left the remainder behind.

my apologies Joe , i deleted the site name from his post and left the remainder behind.

Of course, Sorry guys - I should have stated that I only download items in the public domain. I have checked the hard disc space, and have a total of 14.6GB, of which 10.3GB is used. Is this okay? I am also suspecting that downloads are lurking somewhere but can't find anything in c:\temp:huh:

my apologies Joe , i deleted the site name from his post and left the remainder behind.

No apologies needed - 90% of what people download IS dodgy....I'm just being a pedant!

Vulcan B2 - open up your 'Local Drive (C)' and from the 'root' click the 'Search' option. Select 'All Files and Folders' from the menu that appears (left hand side of screen) then select 'What size is it?' and click on 'Specify Size'.

Double click on the '0' in the size in kb box and enter 5000 - this will set the search up to find files greater than 5Mb in size.

Press Search and wait. :)

I just found a rubbish 66Mb file in my temp directory thanks to this - so thank you! :)

Of course, Sorry guys - I should have stated that I only download items in the public domain. I have checked the hard disc space, and have a total of 14.6GB, of which 10.3GB is used. Is this okay? I am also suspecting that downloads are lurking somewhere but can't find anything in c:\temp:huh:

When you mentioned it was an older machine I thought that it would probably have a smallish hard disk.

Of course...you could consider upgrading the disc? But in the meantime try the above to find lurking files!

And...obviously only delete the ones you KNOW are downloads or rubbish! :)

Try a program called (*rummage*) windirstat http://windirstat.info/

It gives a tree based and a graphical view of your hard drive so you can see where and what is taking up all of the space.

Of course, Sorry guys - I should have stated that I only download items in the public domain. I have checked the hard disc space, and have a total of 14.6GB, of which 10.3GB is used. Is this okay? I am also suspecting that downloads are lurking somewhere but can't find anything in c:\temp:huh:


I believe the default TEMP folder is C:\Windows\Temp - worth checking anyway. Have you cleared your browser cache ? - there's often a load of uneeded rubbish in that.

Two other space gobblers in WinXP are the page file and if you're using the NT file system (NTFS) the drive space allocation for the Master File Directory which I believe reserves about 10% drive space for itself.

A 15GB drive is really too small for current Windows systems so you might want to think about installing a larger drive. Or you could buy an external USB drive to store your data and have it easily accesible - but you must have USB 2.0 on the system for this to work well.

Try a program called (*rummage*) windirstat http://windirstat.info/

It gives a tree based and a graphical view of your hard drive so you can see where and what is taking up all of the space.Use this to see where all your space has gone. I once used something similar on a friend's "new" computer that was running low on space; it turned out that her dad had had it for a couple of years beforehand, so 70% of the hard disk space was occupied by a folder called C:\Windows\secret that was chock full of porn.

how about deleting system restore information?

On XP systems (and most 2000 vanilla build systems, as opposed to upgraded from a previous OS) you'll find that the temp and temp internet folders are usually held in "c:\documents and settings\%userid%\local settings" , where %userid% is the id of the user of the PC. If you have more than one user you will have more than one temp file location. You will need to switch on the ability to view hidden / system files though.

you can then delete the contents of the temp folder.

Once hidden system files are visible have a look in the C:\windows folder and check how many folders you have with a $ prefix (probably show in blue as well). These are system updates from MS, and providing you have re-booted after the last system update (VERY important as system update Qchains come updates to be processed after re-boot) and your system is stable, these can also be deleted.

It's worth, when you delete any files from a PC to re-boot afterwards, and if the system is stable you can then empty the re-cycle bin.

It's also worth looking for any .dmp memory dump files on your PC, as these can also be deleted.

I wouldn't admit to downloading music and films from anywhere, its illegal.

Not necesssarily, there are legal sites which you can download music and films. Sky offer a download service and so do some new online rental companies.:)

Of course, Sorry guys - I should have stated that I only download items in the public domain. I have checked the hard disc space, and have a total of 14.6GB, of which 10.3GB is used. Is this okay? I am also suspecting that downloads are lurking somewhere but can't find anything in c:\temp:huh:

Just use the windows search facilty (the magnifying glass icon), select the "pictures, music,video" option then put a tick next to the "movie" option, then just type in the movie extention ie. avi or mpeg etc, then simply click "search", that will bring up all the movie files on your system, when you locate some you no longer need simply select and delete and make sure you empty the recycle bin afterwards.

the hdd has over 4gb free... lack of hdd space is not what is slowing the machine down

We always remove downloads from the pc and from the library once finished, so I am at a loss to explain the sudden drop in free space available.

I assume you are referring to the Windows Media Library or something similar?
If you are merely deleting the movies, music from the library then that could explain your lack of disk space improvement.
Removing from the "library" simply removes them from "library" concerned, it won't necessarily mean that you have deleted the file off your computer.
Movies will usually be in the Movie folder, and Music in the My Music folder, or where ever you chose to save your download, these are kept within the My Documents folder by default.
To delete movies etc, you need to delete from those locations and then empty the Recycle bin, rather than simply "removing from Library"

Not necesssarily, there are legal sites which you can download music and films. Sky offer a download service and so do some new online rental companies.:)

i edited his first post which named an illegal p2p site. i did mention this earlier in the thread but thought id clarify it again before the post went off topic.

Thanks for all your suggestions. I have installed the windirstat programme and it's great - I now have more than half of my hdd space free, and it's running very fast again! Cheers;)