The hard drive on this laptop is filling up. I want to get rid of the dross but I'm not sure what it dross. I ran Everything and found tons of stuff I cannot identify. Much of it appears to be either Windows update files or system files. many of them are more than 5 years old if the date column is to be believed.
Would anyone care to suggest a protocol for getting rid of old files? Of course, I will back everything up before beginning; but I'm at a loss for how to proceed from there. Are there certain file names, types, etc. that are low-hanging fruit for deleting?
Bob's yer Uncle
(1/2)(1+√5)
Dell Intel Core i5 Laptop, 3570K,1.60 GHz, 8 GB RAM, Windows 11 64-bit, LibreOffice,and other bits and bobs
I guess I don't understand your question, Argus. Either that or I don't know how to get CCleaner to tell me how many objects are on my hard drive.
I don't usually use CCleaner after a bad experience when it was sold out. I did download and install it to run ro see if it would tell me anything different. I didn't see anything, but after running it I reran Everything and found only about 40,000 objects.
Guess I better rethink using CCleaner, eh?
Bob's yer Uncle
(1/2)(1+√5)
Dell Intel Core i5 Laptop, 3570K,1.60 GHz, 8 GB RAM, Windows 11 64-bit, LibreOffice,and other bits and bobs
If you don't like CCleaner you can use Disk Cleanup; it's built into Windows. If you run Disk Cleanup as administrator, you can clean more than if you just run it.
BobH wrote:I guess I don't understand your question, Argus. Either that or I don't know how to get CCleaner to tell me how many objects are on my hard drive.
I don't usually use CCleaner after a bad experience when it was sold out. I did download and install it to run ro see if it would tell me anything different. I didn't see anything, but after running it I reran Everything and found only about 40,000 objects.
Guess I better rethink using CCleaner, eh?
I can always recommend CCleaner, using the default settings, Bob.
I run both the Cleaner and the Registry options. A good safe app.
Sorry, Bob, was a bit short in my reply; I was thinking along the lines, since you mentioned that you would like to get rid of "old files", and especially low-hanging fruit, that analysing the drive with CCleaner could be a pretty good (and rather safe) start. I didn't see it as a question about how many objects there are; I wouldn't worry about the number per se.
Since quite many here use CCleaner I thought you might have it installed. I agree that there have been some weird things around that software in the past (I still use some old version). I also agree with Hans, a good suggestion. (There is an option to do a clean-up of system files (Windows update etc.) in that dialogue box.)
As for "a protocol for getting rid of old files"; it depends on what has been already done, and what's left (i.e. deleting simple things such temp files, cache etc. (I have seen computers with several GBs of cache files.). Moving some (rarely used) data offline, to an external drive. Checking installed software (apps in modern lingo), and uninstall some if possible.
Byelingual When you speak two languages but start losing vocabulary in both of them.
While CCleaner and other disk cleaning utilities delete files from Temp folders and other hidden places and it gets rid of shortcuts and empty folders etc, you can use Everything to delete :known" files you don't want anymore; even those is forgotten folders you set up years ago. Simply search with Everything based on extension; like: *.xls or *.txt or *.doc, etc... You will still need to scan and delete files manually, but your sure to get every one of them listed. I wouldn't recommend using Everything to delete system files or Windows files. This is where disk cleaners come in handy.
Regards,
Rudi
If your absence does not affect them, your presence didn't matter.
I agree with Hans' suggestion. Use Disk Cleanup. In File Explorer, right click on the drive, select Properties, click the "disk cleanup" button. Once it runs the click on the "Clean up system files" button. It will run again. Once finished you'll likely find that you can clean Windows Updates and recover quite a bit of space. Select anything else you'd like to get rid of or post back and ask.
