<GULP> Windows folder is 22.7 GB! (28.9 GB on disk)

MagicMtnDan

This computer has 40GB hard drive and over 20 GB is somehow taken up by the Windows folder.

I'm not a techie so I need some help. I've looked at the folder and don't see what I can do to reduce this file size safely. I don't understand how it could be so bloated. I did remove a lot of the $NTuninstall folders (almost 1 GB) but this Windows folder is choking the computer.

Help please.

Newbie alert: this is my first post here. I apologize in advance if this is in the wrong forum, etc.

Thanks

Ruu_Old

Is there anything in the Windows\Temp folder?

AlmightyCushion

Fair play OP. This is the right forum and not a lot of people post in the right forum on their first post.

Try doing a search for files with the extension .tmp

petes

AlmightyCushion wrote:

Fair play OP. This is the right forum and not a lot of people post in the right forum on their first post.

Try doing a search for files with the extension .tmp

Pfff. Some people don't post in the correct forum on their 1000th post.

OP, how long has it been this size?

AlmightyCushion

petes wrote:

Pfff. Some people don't post in the correct forum on their 1000th post.

Very true.

Stephen

Google for "Treesize". Its a great little program that will show you what's occupying all of that space.

MagicMtnDan

Thanks for your help.

Ruu wrote:

Is there anything in the Windows\Temp folder?

The Windows Temp file is only 2.58 MB (15.9 Size on disk).

Here are just some of the file names and sizes. I've checked every file listed under Windows and can't find any that are larger than any of these:

$f_mig$ - 432 MB (313 Size on disk).

assembly - 27.3 MB (25.1 Size on disk)

Downloaded installations - 138 MB (106 Sod)

Driver Cache - 113 MB (110 Sod)

Fonts - 104 MB (102 Sod)

ie7 - 24.8 MB (14.9 Sod)

ie7 updates - 81.5 (54.6 Sod)

IME - 86.3 MB (76.9 Sod)

INF - 55.7 (26.6 Sod)


ServicePackFiles - 501 MB (321 Sod)

System32 - 930 MB (813 Sod)


The root directory, WINDOWS is 28.4 GB (22.5 GB Sod)

MagicMtnDan

AlmightyCushion wrote:

Fair play OP. This is the right forum and not a lot of people post in the right forum on their first post.

Try doing a search for files with the extension .tmp

I did a search in the WINDOWS folder (*.tmp) and came up with only 10 files.

What do you mean by "Fair play OP"?

MagicMtnDan

Stephen wrote:

Google for "Treesize". Its a great little program that will show you what's occupying all of that space.

OK, thanks for that suggestion. I downloaded Treesize and here's what it tells me (these are the largest files on the harddrive):

46,901 MB C
.........29,175 MB WINDOWS
..............25,868 MB [Files]
.........12,886 MB Documents and Settings
................7,686 All Users.WINDOWS
........................7,581 Application Data
........................4,867 MB Administrator.DANSCOMPUTER
.................................4,755 Local settings


Does this information help? Now what?

mukki

reading through the thread, and i have no idea what it could be....


try doing a scan disk
mycomputer
right click on c drive
properties
tools
check now (schedule to run on reboot)
reboot the pc and make a cup of tea

if its still huge...
use windows search

search c:\windows

for files above 100,000kb

enable to search hidden and system files

and post up a screen shot of your results (click on search results press alt and prtscn together, open mspaint, edit-paste, save, back to boards attach)

MagicMtnDan

Thanks for your feedback. The harddrive doesn't have enough space to do a scan disk or much of anything else other than surfing the Web.

I hate to say something this dumb but it appears to me that the folder named "[Files]" is the problem. It's 25,868 - what is that folder?

mukki wrote:

reading through the thread, and i have no idea what it could be....


try doing a scan disk
mycomputer
right click on c drive
properties
tools
check now (schedule to run on reboot)
reboot the pc and make a cup of tea

if its still huge...
use windows search

search c:\windows

for files above 100,000kb

enable to search hidden and system files

and post up a screen shot of your results (click on search results press alt and prtscn together, open mspaint, edit-paste, save, back to boards attach)

Mr. Presentable

OP, I am not aware of a folder in Windows (XP) called Files. What is in it?

biko

Download and use CCleaner

AlmightyCushion

MagicMtnDan wrote:

What do you mean by "Fair play OP"?

I mean well done in finding the correct forum. We've had questions similar to this posted in After hours before. After Hours seems to be the only forum people know.

mukki

AlmightyCushion wrote:

I mean well done in finding the correct forum. We've had questions similar to this posted in After hours before. After Hours seems to be the only forum people know.

i think he is asking what OP means

opening post(er)

AlmightyCushion

mukki wrote:

i think he is asking what OP means

opening post(er)

Why didn't I realise that?

Soundman

Sounds like System Restore is taking up all your space. Have a look and see what percent of your HDD is allocated to it.

AlmightyCushion

Soundman wrote:

Sounds like System Restore is taking up all your space. Have a look and see what percent of your HDD is allocated to it.

Is that not in the root? So that wouldn't be in his windows folder. I don't know as I have System Restore turned off.

Soundman

Quite possible. Never gone that far into it. I was just suggesting it as it is somethign I discovered was eating up my HDD space too.

AlmightyCushion

Soundman wrote:

Quite possible. Never gone that far into it. I was just suggesting it as it is somethign I discovered was eating up my HDD space too.

Well the folder name is 'System Volume Information'. Just out of interest could you take a look under you c drive and check if it's there? If not try the windows folder.

Soundman

Ok. Had to show all hidden files and folders to find it but you are correct and it is in the root. Using Vista 32bit. Presume XP is the same.

AlmightyCushion

Soundman wrote:

Ok. Had to show all hidden files and folders to find it but you are correct and it is in the root.

Well at least we've ruled that out.

Dorsanty

Not sure if anyone has used this before but if you have java installed try this,

http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/

Click the web start link for instant action. It will list the top 50 files for size, date, etc. Also it orders the tree by size so can drill down to find the largest folder in seconds.

AlmightyCushion

I don't think the problemis that he has a couple of massive files in there. I think the problem is that he has loads of medium sized files that aren't needed in there.

jabberwock

get your hands on Spacemonger.
old visual representation software
easy to look at

not sure if the OP has done a Disk Cleanup
will get rid of all the temp files

Stephen

Yeah it looks like the root of your Windows folder is full of junk. Could you post a list of the files contained there?