Freeing up memory

[nephilim]

As a bit of a dimwit when it comes to anything IT related I'm struggling to free up memory on my laptop (Acer old thing running Win Vista 32bit) I've deleted all my photos & music (copied to disk) & cant for the life of me find whats taking up all the memory, I've no videos or downloaded films, no games etc, just the usual astro related gumpf (BYEOS,APT, DSS, Sharpcap etc) but these arnt big files?? On my C:drive i've 7.74gb of 68.7gb left free & on the DATA(D:) 37.6gb of 68.5 left. What on earth is using it????!!!!!!! I've 'heard' there could be copies of the things i've deleted hidden elsewhere, but where exactly is completely beyond me. Yes i have deleted my recycle bin btw, thats as far as my knowledge goes 'ish'.

Any advice very welcome

Steve

[Ant]

The classic error is forgetting to empty the recycle bin.

Also check the browser download folder, chrome is particularly bad for that.

cheers

ant

[Ant]

There is also software called treesize - http://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/ - which will help you find the big files.

Ant

[Davey-T]

Do you mean memory or disc space ? two different things.

Dave

[Twiggles]

Should be able to do a scan for all videos and pictures. My guess is that there may be some captured video files hidden somewhere. These will normally be pretty big as its difficult to capture an image and apply compression at the same time, so the files can be quite big compared to their run time.

[MadAlbert]

There is also software called treesize - http://www.jam-softw.../treesize_free/ - which will help you find the big files.

Ant

+1

[Steep]

If you have the Windows disc or recovery discs/recovery partition on it it's worth going back to a fresh install of Windows and reloading only the stuff you really want. I do that on my pc once a year or so just to get rid of the junk that accumulates.

[nephilim]

Do you mean memory or disc space ? two different things.

Dave

Memory I assume, its when i go into computer & i gives the figures under the heading 'Hard disk drives (2)', naff explanation but as i said, i'm naff with IT.

[nephilim]

The classic error is forgetting to empty the recycle bin.

Also check the browser download folder, chrome is particularly bad for that.

cheers

ant

Thanks, I'll give that & the link u gave a go.

Steve

[Bizibilder]

You could also try CCleaner - it gets rid of all the temporary files, cookies, junk etc (its freeware) and then, when you've done all the above run Defrag (under accessories -> system tools -> disc defragmenter) and this will tidy up all your disc files and should release considerable disk space!

[Daddystu]

Also, when imaging if you dont need your internet on disable all services related to the internet. That'll save a considerable chunk of memory. You could tell windows to auto adjust for best performance instead of appearance. I also change my background to black/grey.

I would echo the CCleaner option stated above. Its freeware and very good - also has a good registry cleaner option. HijackThis is excellent for getting rid of any processes/registry/startup files that you dont want to run but you have to be a little more careful in there with what you disable. You can backup before making changes though so feel free to have a dabble.

[nephilim]

Excellent advice as usual!! just freed up 42gb on my C:Drive & 58gb on my D:Drive meaning I can now start using it as my imaging laptop. I used the 2 links above & it was amazing how much rubbish was on there, all the photo's,films & games I'd 'deleted' were still there as shadow copies in places I didnt know existed. Thanks to all who posted.

Steve

[Robny]

Also, when imaging if you dont need your internet on disable all services related to the internet. That'll save a considerable chunk of memory. You could tell windows to auto adjust for best performance instead of appearance. I also change my background to black/grey.

I would echo the CCleaner option stated above. Its freeware and very good - also has a good registry cleaner option. HijackThis is excellent for getting rid of any processes/registry/startup files that you dont want to run but you have to be a little more careful in there with what you disable. You can backup before making changes though so feel free to have a dabble.

Also a +1 for CCleaner

I use that followed by a defrag which might also help speed up your machine

[planetdnb]

Memory and Disk space are 2 different things. It sounds like you have spare disk space so you are looking to free memory. Memory is consumed by open programs, if you want to free some up then you need to close any unneeded software that is open. On windows there can be lots of hidden programs open. ctrl + alt + delete should let you get in to task manager where you can see what is running.