hard drive full and need help cleaning up

[ace01]

I have a Dell Latitude 2100 with a 16 GB SSD.  It is full and I am trying to clean it up.  I have installed Clean Up! but I still have a number of files on the hard drive that I am unsure of it's reason.  Eula files and multiple $NtUninstallKB954155_WM9$ files are a couple that are taking up a lot of space.  Can these be deleted and are they potential damage?  What else can I do to clean up my hard drive?
Thanks for your help.

[Mister2]

Hi ace01, and Welcome to SpywareHammer

I have never used Clean Up! myself, preferring CCleaner to do my housework.  Try the following - we can remove both cleaners afterwards to regain some space.

Temporary files can quickly build up on your computer causing problems such as slow running, errors when accessing the internet and failure to display online images and video.  They can also pose a security risk as they may allow automatic logon to secure sites and they also hold details of your surfing history.

Removing these files manually is possible but an easier way is to use CCleaner.

• Download CCleaner from http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/builds (Go for the Slim build.)
• Run the downloaded file to install CCleaner.
• Run CCleaner and click 'Search for Updates' (the link is at the bottom right of the window).  Update the program if there is a newer version available.
• Go to 'Options' and click the 'Settings' tab, then click 'Advanced'.  Uncheck the box against 'Only Delete Files in Windows Temp Folders Older than 48 Hours' and click OK.
• Make sure there are no browser windows open.
• Click 'Run Cleaner'.
• Close the CCleaner window when finished.
• Please note that running CCleaner will force you to enter login and password details for any sites which require them.  Make sure you know them!.
  

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Next, set your browser cache to only store files for 5 days.  If you are not sure how to do this, let me know which browser you use (IE8, Firefox or whatever) and I will run through it with you.

If your system is running OK you can regain some space by removing old Restore Points and creating a fresh one.  Again, if you are not sure how to do this, let me know what operating system you are running and we can take it from there.

The EULA files should be delete-able but there is a slim chance an application may look for the file to check it is legitimate.  I suggest you right click these files and insert a 'zz' at the beginning - eula.txt would become zzeula.txt.  If everything still works OK we can delete these later.  The other files you mentioned are the uninstall files to roll back Windows updates should they cause problems.  If your system is running fine then they can be removed.

Let me know how that goes and we can look into further space saving procedures.

[ace01]

Thanks for the reply.  I actually read another post about CCleaner and ran it last night.  It did clean some stuff up by my hard drive is still full (only 279 MB free).  I have taken so much stuff of the computer and it doesn't seem to help.  One concern for me is seeing files in my program files that I am unsure of their use.  Like you suggested I did delete the uninstall files and some of the eula files.
Can you please explain how to remove the old restore points.
Thanks,
ACE01

[Mister2]

Disable / re-enable in Vista - http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial143.html#disable
Disable / re-enable in XP - http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial56.html#disable

Before re-enabling System Restore, reboot your system.

Each Restore Point adds incrementally to the previous ones, so that will clear out your old Restore Points and start afresh.

Next we can look at your installed programs - there will no doubt be things in there that you no longer use (or never wanted in the first place).

• Download Bill James' List Installed Programs utility from this page

(It will be named InstalledPrograms.zip)

• Unzip the file to your Desktop, where it will be renamed InstalledPrograms.vbs (Depending how your system is set up you may not see '.vbs' at then end of the filename)
• Double click on InstalledPrograms.vbs to run it
• Leave the text box blank and click OK
• When the list has been processed (after a few seconds) you will be asked if you want to view the results.  Click 'Yes' and the list will open in Notepad
• Save the file to your Desktop as Progs.txt and attach it to your next post

Now download TreeSize Free from here - http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml , install it and run it (it will take a few minutes to complete).
Note the names of the largest folders (usually at the top of the list) and post them here.  That will give us a clue as to where all the space is being used up.

[ace01]

Okay, I followed all of the steps you recommended.  I attached the progs.txt and here are the files that are highlighted in yellow on the TreeSize report:
Program Files - 4,530 MB
WINDOWS - 4,258 MB
Documents and Settings - 2,471 MB
[Files] - 2,1,02 MB
1386 - 607 MB
Thanks again for all of your help.
ACE01

[Mister2]

Thanks for the info.

A few questions if I may:

- What size is your hard drive (80GB, 160GB and 250GB seem to be the choices for this machine) and what free space do you now have?

- Is the C: drive split into 2 or more partitions?  I ask because the 5 largest folders you saw in TreeSize only total around 11.5GB - I'm wondering if the rest of the space is 'hiding' on a separate partition.

- Do you do much video editing on this computer?  Video files are notorious for taking up huge chunks of storage, and if they are stored as individual  files in the root directory of the drive (in other words, not in a separate folder) the TreeSize will not report the combined size as a large amount of data.

- Do you use the Hibernate feature on this computer?  If not then go to Control Panel, Power Options, Hibernate tab.  Uncheck the 'Enable hibernate support', click Apply and reboot.  The hiberfil.sys file should be automatically deleted and save 2 - 3GB space.  (Repeating the above process but checking the box will recreate the file should you wish to use Hibernate in the future).

[ace01]

Thanks for the continued and timely support.
-This is a netbook and the hard drive is a 16GB SSD.  Currently I only have 409 MB of space available.
-I had done some video editing on it previously but due to space took all of the files off.
-I am unable to enable the hibernate feature because my disk space is too small.

Any helpful hints are greatly appreciated!!

ACE01

[Mister2]

My apologies - I thought you might be using the SSD as a RAM boost.  All becomes clear knowing it's a netbook!

OK, assuming you don't want to uninstall any of your existing programs (most of them are related to networking, peripherals or Dell utilities anyway) I can suggest the following:

• Delete your HiJackThis folder as the program is way out of date.  If you want to install the latest version then use this link
• Go to your Documents folder and delete delete the Sample Music, Sample Pictures and Sample Videos from within the Music, Pictures and Videos folders respectively.  You could also remove the 'desktop.ini' files in these folders.
• Staying with documents, if there are any files you can transfer to CD/DVD/USB key then do so.  It is often the case that documents are kept 'handy' on the computer but rarely (if ever) actually get accessed.
• Check out the size of your Page File:  Go to Control Panel, System, Advanced System Settings.  On the Advanced tab click Settings in the Performance section.  Click the next Advanced tab and then click Change in the Virtual Memory section.  Highlight the drive that contains your paging file and click Custom Size.
  Set Initial Size and Maximum Size to the required values and click Set.  Reboot your system.  You should be able to set the Min and Max size to as low as 1GB depending on the amount of RAM installed.
• I would uninstall Adobe Reader (apart from the amount of space it uses with features I never use, I find it a pain constantly trying to update) and install Foxit Reader instead:  Download the free Foxit Reader.  Double click the downloaded file to start the installation and accept the licensing agreement.  Make sure you uncheck 'Make Ask.com my default search' and 'set my homepage to Ask.com'.  Click Next and follow the instructions to complete the installation.
• Finally, how attached are you to Norton?  That is another bloated program that could be replaced by a couple of smaller, faster (and free) programs.  Let me know if you want to explore that path and I will go into more detail.

How much free space do you have now?

[ace01]

• Interesting that you say Hijack This is old because I just installed it last week.  I did remove it however since it does not seem useful to me currently.
• I have removed all documents that I am able to live without.  I also removed the I386 file and placed it on an external hard drive.  My understanding is that this is the setup of windows and since I don't have the CD of it I may need the files in new hardware is place on the computer.
• I checked out the page file but am not sure what settings to use.
• I did uninstall Adobe only to find I needed the flash player plugin to view a You Tube video.
• This is my work computer so I have to stick with Norton.

With all of that accomplished I currently have 1.42 GB free.  I am still wondering about all of the files that have multiple numbers in the name and set-up files.  Can the set-up files be removed?
Thanks again for all of your assistance.
ACE01

[Mister2]

Certification of authority to perform modifications. By seeking assistance to modify a computer, including removal of malware, installation of software, or any other changes on the computer in question you certify that you have the authority to seek such assistance and make such modifications.  This issue arises most often with respect to work computers.  Even with your certification by virtue of this rule, staff members may ask for further assurance of your rights concerning the computer.

http://spywarehammer.com/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=236.0

So before we continue I need to ask, do you have the authority to work on this computer?

[ace01]

Yes, I have the authority I just have to keep certain programs on it since they are used throughout the company.

[Mister2]

OK, thanks for that.

Re. HJT - I noticed the version stated in progs.txt was V1.0.0, whereas the current version is V2.0.4.  As you point out, we don't need this anyway.

You should be able (have been able?) to remove Adobe Reader on its own without affecting Adobe Flash - use either Add/Remove Programs in Windows or else run CCleaner, Tools tab, highlight Adobe Reader and hit Uninstall.

Shame about Norton but we can work round it.

The folders and files named something like 'Hotfix for Windows XP (KB953955)' can be removed.  Normally I recommend keeping them in case the fix needs to be rolled back.  However, as we will be removing the uninstall files anyway that is no longer a major concern. So delete these Hotfix files/folders and also the uninstall files (such as the '$NtUninstallKB954155_WM9$' you mentioned in your first post).

I will be away until Wednesday night but I don't foresee any problems doing the above.
I will check in again when I get back.