How To Clear My Hard Drive Windows Xp

Make clean up your Difficult Drive

By: Arie Slob

Over time, your Hard Disk fills up with all kinds of stuff, and before you know it, that drive you bought simply a twelvemonth or so ago, and whose capacity looked swell back then, is already alarmingly full. Y'all need a sure amount of "headroom" or empty infinite on your harddrive for Windows to role properly. Things like the Windows swap file require empty space on the harddrive for standby utilization and your system can wearisome downward enormously if it's not available.

Check out these steps to slim downward on your Hd's utilize:

Uninstalling unused components
Deleting Temp Files
Deleting other files
Temporary Internet Files
Compact Outlook Express Email
More Tips

Uninstalling unused Components

Many people never bother to bank check which components of Windows are installed, and which ones can be removed. Are yous using Microsoft Fax Services? If non, you can salve effectually 3.7MB. Use Internet Explorer, but not MSN Explorer? Uninstalling MSN Explorer gets you 13.5MB back! Don't play the "standard" Microsoft games? They apply 12.1MB of space!

To uninstall Windows components:

Open your Control Panel (select Start > Control Panel)
Open Add or Remove Programs
Click the Add/Remove Windows Components button
Select the components you lot want to remove and printing OK

Uninstalling unused components

For more data read these tips:

Uninstall Windows Messenger
Uninstall Additional Windows Components

Deleting Temp Files

When Windows crashes, or locks up and y'all have to utilize Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart, some temporary files volition be left on your disk. Some installation routines will also exit temporary files behind.

These files volition be left in your \Documents and Settings\your username\Local Settings\Temp binder.

You can use Windows Explorer to find and delete these files. To be on the safe site, don't delete files with today's date, these files could still be in utilise (most probably you'll become an error telling y'all that a file can't be deleted because it's in apply).

Deleting Temp Files

You can also cheque your unabridged hard disk, to see if in that location are whatever temp files in other places:

Open Windows Explorer, and select your drive (east.g. C:\)
Press F3, this will open Search
In the Search for files or folders named: (in box enter) *.tmp
Select the drive y'all desire to search in the Wait in: box
Press Search Now

Finding Temp Files

Deleting other files

Other files you could delete are files with these extensions:

.dmp - Dump file. When Windows (or an application) experiences a crash, a memory dump is performed. If you don't employ these files (for trouble shooting), delete them, you lot can relieve quite a flake of space!
.bak - Backup file; when a new (information) file is created, some programs will rename the old version with a .bak extension. Be careful when removing these files.
.cnt - Help-related file; e'er notice those tables of contents when yous launch certain Help files? If yous don't need a tabular array to assistance you lot navigate through a Assist file, delete these. They will not come back.
.fts - Help-related file; when you perform a search with a Help file, this is created to brand all time to come searches exist performed quicker. East.G., non worth having around unless you use Help files on a daily basis. They are re-created if you do a search in a Help file, then these should be regularly scanned for and deleted.
.gid - Help-related file; when you run a Help file, it creates a GID to make future accesses to that particular assistance file a tad quicker. They're a complete waste matter of space. You'll have to delete these on a regular basis, as they are recreated with every Help file execution.
.old - Old file; come across .bak.
.~mp - Temporary file; run into .tmp.
.$$$ - Erstwhile file; run across .bak (usually, non ever)
.000 - Old file; encounter .bak

To be on the prophylactic side, delete your files to the Recycle Bin, and leave them in that location for a week or two. If you don't run into any problems, you can empty the Recycle Bin. If Windows or any program complains about a missing file, but select your Recycle Bin, detect the file and correct-click on it. From the context card choose Restore. This will restore the file to its original location.

Temporary Internet Files

Another source of "disappearing" hard deejay space are the Temporary Internet Files. To speed upwards your Internet browsing, pages, graphics and other page elements are stored in your browser'due south enshroud. Information technology'southward worth it to make clean this cache from fourth dimension to fourth dimension:

From the Internet Explorer card, select Tools > Cyberspace Options
On the Full general tab, press the Delete Files push button under the Temporary Cyberspace files header
A Window will popular-upwards asking you if yous want to delete your Offline content. If y'all don't download Spider web sites with Internet Explorer and view them when you are not connected (off-line) to the Internet afterwards, you lot tin can bank check the box Delete all offline content

Deleting Temporary Internet Files

Compact Outlook Express Email

When you "delete" email in Outlook Express, they aren't really deleted! If you ever upgraded i version of Outlook Express to a newer version you probably experienced that: after upgrading y'all notice a lot of old email you lot thought you had deleted "returned".

Outlook Express but removes the "pointers" to the actual electronic mail from the index, simply to actually remove the e-mail itself, you need to run the Compact Binder office.

You lot can admission this function from the Outlook Express menu: File > Binder. You tin can choose either Meaty or Meaty all Folders, the divergence is that the first i simply compacts the binder currently selected.

Deleting Temporary Internet Files