A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Banter Hall Ask Mr. Gremelin Disc Cleanup?

Okay I'm having trouble with my pc. Mostly because I don't know hardly a thing about it. The computer actually belongs to someone else who has always done all the technical things with it but he stopped visiting about a year ago and now I've got troubles.

I do not have enough free disc space any more and I can no longer do upgrades.

Someone here suggested I do a defrag & disc cleanup, tasks I have never done. Someone else suggested getting rid of cookies & such things which I've never done before either.

So... I set off exploring inside my PC and found the link to do a defrag. But I got a message saying the program needs 15% free disc space to run and I only have 7% so I need to do disc clean up first.

So... I went off to find disc cleanup. Found it. Let it sort through things to suggest what I should get rid of and it came up with a bunch of files it said I could delete & how much space I'd free up.

So... I went off to delete those exact same files and got a message saying that those files were connected to important stuff that would no longer run if I deleted those files!

So... then I shut off the pc, too confused and frustrated to do anything else and seriously not wanting to blow up my PC.

I know we have a big game we downloaded that we'd like to get rid of also.

So I don't know what to do!

Any suggestions?

I think my PC runs Windows 2000 and I use Internet Explorer.



Merme

Uninstall any old programs you don't use...

If you want to keep old files I suggest you go and buy a external hard drive or burn them onto CD/DVD/Bluray

Check what unnecessary or unwanted start-up applications there are
http://www.netsquirrel.com/msconfig/


P.S. It's never too late to ditch internet exploder for Firefox
http://www.mozilla.com/

merme, the fastest way to get rid of cookies and temp internet files is to go through ie and let it delete them. i'll tell you how in a minute. but before you do, make sure you have your passwords saved (written down) so you can put them back in. some will be there but when you delete the cookies, some will not.

and, you can go into your control panel to remove that game, there is an option for add/delete programs. and that will give you a list of programs and what they are for. that is the safest way to delete them.

also, you should empty your recycle bucket as that is where all files you have deleted manually (say pictures or word files) are stored until you verify you want to delete them. kind of a fail safe for you if you delete something you wanted to keep. BUT it does NOT store things you deleted with the add/delete program option in the control panel.

your control panel is in your start menu.

next post i'll tell you about how to delete those cookies and temp internet files.

ok, you delete the temp files and cookies from the control panel too. that has changed since i used ie. i use firefox. you select internet options then on the general tab it should be the second or third thing on there.

Okay, so I've deleted cookies, temporary files and history. I deleted a player I haven't used in a year and I deleted a toolbar I've hated & a messenger service I never used also. Still can't figure out how to delete that game because it doesn't show up anywhere.

So now I'm guessing I have freed up enough space to do those tasks that I tried to do before? The defrag?


Merme

What game was it?

It is called Ben's Game and is given out free by the Make A Wish foundation. I've even emailed them before to ask how to uninstall it and never got a reply.


Merme

Downloading it... I'll find a way how to remove it for you

Is that the game?

It seems like the game is portable which means the entire game is in one folder, just delete the game folder and that would be it.

mark, what is the folder name?

BensGameRelease1

Yes that is the game, Mark and that is the name of it. But I can't seem to find it listed anywhere. I will check again.


Merme

merme, go to your start menu and select search. then type that name into it. it will pull it up in a window that you can delete it from. but when you delete it that way, you will need to empty your recycle bin to really get rid of it.

It's not in the add/delete programs list...

Just delete the folder by holding down the shift key and pressing delete and it will be gone

I found it listed at the bottom of the list when I opened the Explore from the start button. Then I was able to delete it! YAY! And as I see from your post Jiffy, I did have to empty the recycle bin which I also did do!

Thanks so much you two! I've been trying to get rid of that game for a long time!


Merme

Isn't it wonderful to have real help when one needs it.---you guys are the best!!!!!

Glad you got rid of it

If you want to clean up your PC I recommend CCleaner

http://www.download.com/CCleaner/3000-2144_4-10315544.html

You are the second person today who suggested ccleaner to me, Mark! Thank you for the link!


I really appreciate the specific help because I know very little about the pc.


Merme

Merme. I have ccleaner but rarely use it. It offers to delete all kinds of things and it is hard to tell what you really want to delete. I can't 'read' the codes. So I ended up deleting programs I wanted to keep. Be careful using it. Or maybe I just haven't figured it out completely.

see that is my issue with doing a clean-up.---so I have to leave it to my DD & SIL to take care of my computer---- :wink:

CCleaner has a box with options in it you pick and choose where and what you want cleaned,, I just do a general cleaning, which is the easiest to use, the "puter always runs faster after that!

You know, I generally advise AGAINST running disk cleanup; it just tells you to delete some files you haven't accessed in a while... Which can end up messy if you actually have stuff stored that you just havne't accessed in a while that you could need later on...

Your best bet is to uninstall programs you don't use (my computer, control panel, add/remove programs) then delete any downloads you did which are files you won't need again (this can be tricky as you can save files anywhere; likely they'll be on your desktop or in "my documents").

You can also try going through say "my documents" and seeing what exists there that you don't need...

This is my same problem with ccleaner. I may only look at that recipe once a year for my kid's favorite birthday cake. But I saved it there for a reason. And it doesn't show up on the list with the name I gave it, just file # such and so.

Yeh, it can be a real mess.. I have files on this computer as far back as 2000, some of which I don't really have backed up well lol... So imagine my surprise if I should loose client data from 2000 should I get a new job which would require re-using some code that I had already made back then...

Easy fix, install CCleaner,Cleanup, and Auslogics Disk Defrag. They will help free space for you! Disk cleanup and clearing cookies is also a must, if you have any further questions just ask.

They dont delete important files, they might move them to the correct folder if they were accidently moved, but never erased. I know those programs by heart so just away!

You can also find all the Program folders by going to Start,My Computer,C Drive,Program Files, and there is a list of all the programs you installed, their folders.