How to clean a disk well. Cleaning the Windows XP System Disk

From clogging up your local disk, all processes on the computer can become slower, and there will be no room left for anything new. You can clean Disk C manually, sorting through folders one by one, but it is better to use special programs that will help you with this. Do not forget about the cache, cleaning the registry and timely removal of the contents of the basket. In this article, you will learn how to clean up the contents of a local disk as quickly and conveniently as possible, as well as how to format it completely. Formatting a hard drive may be necessary for various reasons, and this process will not take much time. Take advantage of all the tips in this article.

How to clean local disk C

Even if you don't have much information stored on your C hard drive, it can become clogged and inevitably cause problems while working on your computer. To complete the complete cleaning process, you need to follow these steps:

• Manually clear folders of unnecessary media.
• Erase downloads.
• Remove old unnecessary programs.
• Clear computer cache.
• Clean up the registry.

After that, you can free yourself from several gigabytes to hundreds, depending on how many unnecessary files you have accumulated.

Clean up media folders

You may have downloaded movies to watch, music, and lots of pictures. It's time to delete all these files, especially if you no longer use them.

Delete any files that may be in the Pictures, Videos, or Music folder. You can also have your own folders for these purposes.

Erase downloads

The Downloads or Downloads folder is always full of old files. You may not even remember the existence of such a folder if you changed the download settings, and now all downloads are saved on your desktop. Go to "Downloads" in the "Users" folder and clear it of old files, sort the ones you need, and simply delete the rest.

Empty your trash regularly

The Recycle Bin should be emptied regularly, and if you are deleting large files, immediately. After cleaning downloads, multimedia and other large files, immediately right-click on the trash icon and click on "Empty Trash".

The size of the files in the trash may surprise you. As you can see, in the screenshot below, 25 GB of files fit in the basket.

Download CCleaner and clear your cache

The most handy program to clean the computer of all possible - CCleaner. With it, you can not only clean the cache of the system and applications, but also delete files you do not need.

• Download the program from the link and install it on your computer.

• Once you open the utility, go to the "Tools" section. It displays a list of all programs that are installed on your computer. Select the one that you do not need for a long time and click on the "Run Uninstaller" button. Repeat for each program.

• Now go to the “Cleaner” tab and first clean up the contents of the “Windows” section by clicking on the “Run Cleaner” button.

• And then the "Applications" section, repeating the steps. So you not only uninstalled unnecessary programs, but also cleared the cache on your computer.

Clean up the registry

This is an important point, but it is also the most responsible. If you click on the wrong folder and delete it, the consequences can be dire. Follow the instructions exactly.

• Open Start and type Regedit in the search bar. A file will appear at the top that you need to click on.

• Wait until the Registry Editor window opens in front of you. Open the "HKEY_CURRENT_USER" folder. Look closely at the title.

• Here, in a long list, you will see the subsection “Software”, where all the residual files from uninstalling programs are located. The user does not always know that when deleting a program, he still leaves data about it on the computer. To get rid of them completely, you need to clean the registry. Find the folder with the name of the program you removed and delete it. Repeat this for all folders that bear the names of already uninstalled programs.

How to clean C drive completely

When it comes to completely formatting the system, everything is extremely simple:

• You need to log into your computer.
• Right click on the local drive.
• Select the "Format" line.

If you are doing this for a full system reinstall, then formatting can be done at the time of the reinstall, rather than beforehand. It is better to take a USB flash drive and first throw off the files you need on it.

While working at a computer, a large amount of unnecessary information accumulates on the hard drive. These are all kinds of temporary files downloaded from an Internet web page, as well as unused application files. The more programs you install and run, the more often you access the Internet, the more chances there are for various useless garbage to appear on your hard drive, which takes up precious free space. To maintain order on your PC, you need to periodically arrange cleaning. The Windows XP operating system provides the user with many useful utilities, among which there is a program called Disk Cleanup.

This utility first appeared in Windows Millennium and became very popular among users due to its convenience and simplicity. Subsequently, the program was included in the utilities of newer versions of operating systems of the Windows family. Thus, the Disk Cleanup Wizard migrated to Windows XP. Let's move on to an example of the Disk Cleanup Wizard in order to appreciate all the advantages of this utility, and at the same time learn how to use it effectively.

The Disk Cleanup utility is located in the standard set of utilities in Windows XP. To run it, activate Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Cleanup. Otherwise, the program can be run from the command line by typing its name: cleanmgr. After starting the utility, the working window of the program will appear on the screen.

To continue, select logical drive, which will be subjected to a cleaning procedure. By default, the drive (C:) is always selected. You can also start the cleanup wizard by going to "My Computer", selecting the appropriate disk, and right-clicking on it, activate the "Disk Cleanup" tab. Then the cleaning procedure will be immediately launched specifically for the selected disk. Once you have identified the drive you wish to clean, you can click OK. This will move the Disk Cleanup Wizard to check the status of the files on the this disk. You need to show a little patience, as this procedure, as a rule, takes quite a long time.

After completing the analysis of the current state of the disk, the utility will present a report on the work done, indicating how much space can be freed. In addition, the wizard will display a summary of what can be done to free up disk space. Let's try to understand this report by analyzing the information provided by the Disk Cleanup Wizard line by line.

The wizard displays a list of categories of files that can be deleted or compressed without compromising system performance. However, the user is encouraged to determine for himself what is to be deleted and what should not be deleted. Groups of files to be deleted are marked with a tick. At the end of each line, the amount in kilobytes that can be freed up by deleting this category of files is displayed.

In order to confidently make their choice, the user needs to understand what the listed filegroups are. So, the disk cleanup wizard suggests that you subject the following to the removal procedure:

• downloaded and installed program files (Downloaded Program Files);
• temporary files from the Internet (Temporary Internet Files);
• files in the Recycled Bin
• temporary application files (Temporary Files);
• temporary offline files;
• offline files;
• offline Web pages (WebClient/Publisher);
• setup log files;
• compressed files that have not been accessed for a long time;
• content indexer directory files used by the OS during the last indexing.

Let's look at each group in a little more detail. The "Downloaded Program Files" folder is for temporary storage of ActiveX controls and Java application automatically downloaded from the Internet when you download and browse various web pages. The folder can be safely cleaned up at any time.

The "Temporary Internet Files" directory contains web pages that are automatically saved to your hard drive while browsing the Internet, for quick viewing when you re-access them. With a good connection, the loading time of pages in a new way is not very long, and therefore it makes no sense to protect the contents of this folder. Since a fairly large number of files accumulate in it, you should try to clean it regularly enough.

Files are placed in the Recycle Bin after they are deleted from the disk. This is the last frontier, when the files are not yet permanently deleted, and they can be restored until the Recycle Bin is emptied. A distracted user who accidentally deleted the files they need can easily find them here. The name of the Recycle Bin speaks for itself - it is intended for garbage, and you need to monitor its overflow. Emptying the Recycle Bin will rid the disk of previously deleted files.

Some programs very often store temporary information in files, in a specially designated TEMP folder. As a rule, before closing such programs, these files are usually deleted. However, this does not always happen, and therefore a lot of unnecessary information can accumulate in the folder. Temporary files that are stored for more than a week can be safely deleted.

Temporary Offline Files are local copies of recently accessed network files automatically cached. This makes it possible to access them in an offline state.

Offline files are essentially the same as temporary offline files, with the only difference being that they are local copies of network files that have been explicitly requested to be accessed offline. Both of them can be safely removed without negative consequences for the system.

The WebClient/WebPublisher service stores files on disk that have been accessed appropriately. They are necessary to increase performance, and therefore can be painlessly removed.

One way to save space is to compress files that have not been accessed for a long time. At the same time, Windows retains the ability to access these files at any time, and no information is deleted. True, the information about the freed space in this case will be approximate, since the files are compressed with varying degrees.

The indexing service is designed to speed up the search for files on disks. By creating indexes of existing files on the disk, this service greatly enhances the ability to find the necessary information. However, old indexes may still exist from the time of the last index operation and must be deleted.

Thus, by reading the report of the Disk Cleanup Wizard, you can determine which of the detected files you need to delete. If necessary, by selecting any group of files from the proposed list, you can view its contents. To do this, just click the "View Files" button. This is convenient when only a few files need to be saved from the entire group. They can be rewritten to another directory, and the rest of the files can be mercilessly deleted. It is also worth noting that the composition of the components proposed for removal depends on the type of disk. For example, for non-bootable logical drives, the report typically only lists the contents of the Recycle Bin and files in the Content Indexer directory.

Using the More Options tab, you can free up additional disk space by removing unused Windows components or installed programs. Each user should try to decide which applications he uses when working at a computer. Everything else can be removed.

Once all the information to be deleted has been determined, you can safely click OK in the report window of the Cleanup Wizard. All selected files will be deleted and Disk Cleanup will automatically exit.

In conclusion, I would like to note that there are many different utilities that allow you to perform the disk cleaning procedure. Some developers offer comprehensive solutions to optimize Windows (Norton Utilites, Fix-It Utilites, System Mechanic, etc.). There are programs specially designed for this purpose. Nevertheless, it makes no sense to dwell on their descriptions in detail, since the differences in the operation of such programs are not significant. Experience shows that the standard "Disk Cleanup" utility is the most convenient and safe tool for freeing up disk space. In addition, it is far from always possible to free up enough space by deleting only useless information. In this case, no utilities will be able to help, and you will have to figure out how to get additional free space. Over time, each user gains enough experience to get rid of unnecessary and useless information on their own, so to speak "by hand", simply by deleting junk files without fear of damaging the system. This is the most efficient way to keep your computer in order. And at the initial stage, the Disk Cleanup Wizard will always help to cope with this problem. Moreover, he is always at hand. Happy cleaning!

Additional tips for using the Disk Cleanup utility:

1. The System Volume Information folder is used by System Restore. The so-called restore points are stored here. By default, the size of this folder is 12% of the disk space - that is, quite a lot. You can change the size of the reserved space, disable monitoring of one of the disks, or disable the restore feature altogether. The size of the reserved space is changed in the control panel on the "System Restore" / "System" tab. Restore checkpoints can be deleted by running Disk Cleanup. After selecting the disk, you must go to the "Advanced" tab, then "System Restore" and click the "Clean" button. The operation allows you to very significantly free up disk space.
2. It is possible to configure the Disk Cleanup Wizard in advance.

   To do this, you need to run the cleanup wizard from the command line using the "Run" procedure in the start menu. In this case, the line will look like this:

   cleanmgr /sageset:<числовое значение от 0 до 65535>

   The /d switch specifies the disk to clean up. If this parameter is absent, all disks in the system will be cleaned up. The /sageset switch describes the set of parameters in the cleanup wizard's report dialog box. The numeric value of this key describes different sets of parameters.

   Unfortunately, after launching the wizard from the command line, an annoying window will still appear on the screen, demonstrating the cleaning process.

3. If for some reason the Disk Cleanup Wizard did not please you, you can add another utility to the system instead. To do this, you need to start the Windows Registry Editor using the Run procedure by typing in command line regedit. Then you need to open the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWAREMicrosoft WindowsCurrentVersion ExplorerMyComputer key. This section contains subsections dedicated to disk utilities. A CleanupPath subkey must be created for the Disk Cleanup Wizard. By default, the following value is used: "%SystemRoot% system32cleanmgr.exe /D %c" This line can be changed by specifying the path to another, proprietary disk cleanup utility, with its own parameters. In addition, you can enter the launch parameters of the Disk Cleanup Wizard itself, described in the paragraph above, in this line.

Many are familiar with the situation when a recently purchased HDD, as it seemed, just an unrealistic size, quickly turned out to be packed to the eyeballs, which the OS persistently reminded of. It's a shame when you don't even have a clue where the disk space goes, as if it's being eaten.

All kinds of caches, temporary files, settings files have a good goal: to make the user's work as convenient and fast as possible. Unfortunately, in many cases, the program does not delete these files after the program ends. It is believed that they will be needed in the future, due to which some process will be accelerated, but sometime you need to put things in order.

OS temporary files

To begin with, by logging into the system with administrator rights, check the disk for errors (“My Computer” → “Tools” → “Check”), since it is quite possible that there is simply an error in the record of the amount of free space.

Now you can use the built-in disk cleanup utility (Start → Programs → Accessories → System Tools → Disk Cleanup). Here you should pay attention to two sections: "Temporary files" and "Temporary Internet files" (Did you forget to empty the Recycle Bin?). The remaining menu items are best left untouched - for example, clearing Downloaded Program Files may result in the need to re-download large ActiveX and Java applets, such as Shockwave. However, click the View button and make sure that nothing extra is lying around on your PC. Do the same with the remaining sections.

Next, you need to manually clear the Temp and Temporary Internet Files folders (you can also clear History , but its volume is small). The problem is that even if only one person works on the computer, "garbage" can also appear in such profiles as Administrator , Default User , All Users . In addition, the disk cleanup utility does not remove all temporary files, but only those that are older than a week. This is done for greater reliability, so as not to inadvertently delete something necessary. Therefore, we turn on the display of hidden and system files and go to the C:\Documents and Settings folder, where we see a list of all users. In the folder of each user, go to the Local Settings directory and find the Temp and Temporary Internet Files we need. They can be safely cleared after completing the execution of all programs. The exception is cookies in Temporary Internet Files - some of them are needed to visit some sites and deleting them will entail minor problems, for example, you will have to remember the username and password for the forum in which you are registered. Do not forget about the "system" folder Temp , it is usually located in the C:\Windows directory.

One of the features of Windows XP is the ability to view graphic files directly from Explorer without opening them. You just see thumbnails of the images. These copies are called thumbnails and are stored in a hidden temporary thumbs.db file that is created in each thumbnail folder. The size of this file depends on the number of photos that are in this folder. “Overgrown” thumbs.db files can be periodically deleted manually, which is rather tedious, since the next time you open a directory with images, the OS will create a similar file again, or you can completely disable thumbnail caching (“Folder Options” → “View”).

The built-in Windows disc burner can also leave its cache in the C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\CD Burning folder - and this is as much as 700 "meters" for a CD!

It should only be noted that the folders with temporary files will be filled again shortly after your inspection, so they will have to be cleared again after some period. Therefore, it is much more convenient to clean them using a special bat file. You just need to type a few lines in Notepad, taking into account the features of your system and save the file with the .bat extension:

Erase /S /Q "C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\History"

Erase /S /Q "C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Temp"
Erase /S /Q "C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Local Settings\History"

Accordingly, instead of USERNAME, you need to substitute the username on your computer. Nobody forbids prescribing other ways to clean up any directories on the computer.

Temporary application files

Pay attention to the Application Data folder in the Local Settings directory and to the folder of the same name in the root section of each user. This is where many programs like to store their temporary files, which often remain even after uninstalling the program itself. By the way, Opera and Mozilla browsers store their cache in them - if you use them, you should clean not only Temporary Internet Files, but also look for a similar directory in Application Data.

In particular, in the folder C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\Microsoft\Office\Recent Files, shortcuts to recently opened Microsoft Office files are stored - the volume of each is small, but the number is sometimes simply huge.

If you are using the Messenger2 internet pager, then look in C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Messenger2\Profiles - there are folders whose names match the numbers of ICQ accounts, in each of which you can find the files directory - it contains files transferred to you via a pager (unless you specified a different path when receiving the file). The logs folder with the history of all dialogs is also located here. So look here more often, it will not only help save disk space, but also protect the meaning of your negotiations from prying eyes. A similar ICQ directory is C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\ICQLite .

AT latest versions popular program ACDSee has a database with a cache of icons. It can grow up to several hundred megabytes, and it contains temporary files that can be safely deleted, so do not go past the C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\ACD Systems\Catalogs\80\Default and C folders :\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\Application Data\ACD Systems\Catalogs\80Pro\Default - all their contents can be safely deleted. Picasa 2 stores its files in C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Picasa2 - there you will find a db folder containing the program's database files and a tmp folder containing temporary files.

Notice the My Documents folders. Many programs save their temporary files in them. For example, the popular AquaMark test package places the results of each test in the C:\Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\AquaMark3 folder. After prolonged use, the size of this folder can be hundreds of megabytes.

The well-known game Need For Speed ​​Underground saves its files in the folder C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data , there are files for profiles, settings and "saves". Subsequent versions of the game save their files to the C:\Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\NFS Underground 2 and C:\Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\NFS Most Wanted folders, respectively.

Thus, cleaning Application Data from all unnecessary will free up a significant amount, but you need to act very carefully.

Do not forget, however, to look directly into Program Files - after deleting programs, there is also a lot of garbage left here. If you find a folder with the name of the program that was deleted, or its developer, you can delete it, just look inside before that, maybe there is really something you need there. Study C:\Program Files\Common Files as well - the remnants of the removed software can be found here as well. However, there are examples of another kind, for example, the WhereIsIt cataloging program creates a backup copy of it every time the directory is changed, which, like the directory itself, can reach hundreds of megabytes. Such files are stored in the C:\Program Files\WhereIsIt\Catalogs folder.

System Restore

Embedded Recovery Service Checkpoints Windows systems XP take up a lot of space - by default, 12% of the hard drive is reserved. In fact, such a service is needed only during the initial system configuration and driver installation. When the OS is configured, it is enough to have only one - the last rollback point. Run the Disk Cleanup utility again - on the "Advanced" tab in the "System Restore" section, you can easily remove all checkpoints except the last one. A good option would be to disable the recovery service on all drives, except for where Windows is installed.

If you use more reliable software, for example, Acronis TrueImage, then it is better to disable the recovery system altogether. To do this, go to the "Properties" of "My Computer" and on the "System Restore" tab, check the "Disable System Restore on all drives" box. Now you can delete already existing checkpoints. The easiest way is directly in Explorer, in the context menu of the System Volume Information folder, select "Properties" → "Security", add your account to the list, give it full access rights and then delete the contents of this directory in the usual way.

Deleting a memory dump

The developers of Windows XP provided the ability to find out the cause of a system failure, for which, with each fatal error, a dump (contents) of RAM is saved to the hard disk. Typically, each crash will save 64 KB of RAM (small memory dump), but depending on the settings, another option is possible: saving a full dump, which can take hundreds of megabytes.

For any normal user, this feature is best disabled altogether. Open "Control Panel" → "System" → "Advanced" → "Startup and Recovery" → "Settings" and in the "Write debug information" section, select "(Missing)" in the drop-down list. Now delete the existing memory dumps - they are saved to the C:\Windows\Minidump folder (if the small memory dump mode was selected) or to the C:\Windows\Memory.dmp file (when saving a full RAM dump).

Deleting the driver cache

When installing Windows XP, a set of standard drivers supplied with the OS is also copied to the hard drive. In most cases, the need for them disappears after the full installation and configuration of the system. Such drivers can be removed with peace of mind and free up another 80-100 MB. If you need a standard driver to install any device later, nothing bad will happen, because the OS will ask you to insert an installation CD - if it is at hand, then you can safely clear the C:\Windows\Driver Cache\i386\ folder.

Deleting the cache of protected system files

Another OS crash prevention feature is backing up protected system files. In case of damage to the original files, the system replaces them with files from the backup (which is about 200-400 MB on disk). The thing is very useful, but after the full setup of the OS, with the proper level of its operation (if you install few programs, use only proven software and certified drivers), this function is unlikely to be needed, so if you really want to, you can turn it off. At the command line, type sfc /cachesize=N , where N is the maximum allowed cache size, if this size is set to 0, the cache will be disabled. Now you can delete (or better - copy to CD) an existing backup copy of system files - folder C:\Windows\system32\dllcache . But once again we pay attention - do it only in case of urgent need, this function is very, very useful. If you decide to do this, then the logical continuation of deleting the cache will be to disable the entire protection service Windows files XP SP2. Copy the file %SystemRoot%\System32\SFC_OS.DLL to a temporary folder, open it in hex editor, and at offset 0xECE9 change 33C040 to 909090 . From under the recovery console or another OS, replace this file with the version you patched wherever you find it on the disk. To the registry key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

add parameter (if not present) "SFCDisable" of type REG_DWORD with value "FFFFFF9D". Restart your PC.

OS update files

In the Windows folder, you can find directories with names like $NtUninstallQnnnnnn$, $NtUninstallKBnnnnnn$. They store the information necessary to return the OS to the state before the update was installed. Usually a couple of weeks after installing the update is enough to identify possible problems that arose after installation. If there are none, then these folders can be deleted. To do this, it is convenient to use the Remove Hotfix Backup utility, although in some cases it does not remove all such folders, in which case the matter can be completed manually. But delete not only the folder on the disk, but also in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Uninstall delete all parameters except Default in the section corresponding to this update, otherwise the "Add or Remove Programs" dialog will remain inoperative team.

In addition, after installing hotfixes, another folder Windows\$hf_mig$ appears. In addition to copying new files to system folders, they are copied to the $hf_mig$ folder. This is done to ensure the correctness of future updates. For example, if in the future you install an update that contains some files of earlier versions than those that were already installed, then the installation will take the files of new versions from the $hf_mig$ folder. That is, this folder can be deleted (or better, copied to a CD) if you do not regularly update the OS from the Windows Update site.

Swap File Optimization

It is generally undesirable to limit the size of the swap file. An exception may be cases when there is more than 1 GB of RAM - Windows XP can reserve more than a gigabyte of disk space for the swap file. In such a situation, it is permissible to set hard limits on the size of the paging file - by specifying, for example, 600-800 MB. Just keep in mind that everything depends on what programs you work with, so the best solution is still to transfer the swap file (without setting restrictions on its size) to a hard disk specially allocated for it or a two to three GB hard disk partition. In extreme cases, even just another data partition is fine - the main thing is that the swap is not on the same partition as the Windows folder. This placement is recommended by Microsoft Support because it improves system performance. To configure virtual memory, look in "Control Panel" → "System" → "Advanced" → "Performance" → "Settings" → "Advanced" → "Virtual Memory".

hibernation file

Consider how often you use hibernate - Hibernate? And do you really need it? The fact is that when you turn on support for Sleep mode, the contents of RAM are copied to a special file on your hard drive - hyberfil.sys. This file is almost equal in terms of the amount of RAM installed in the computer and is located on the system disk, even if you have never transferred the PC to Hybernate. This file cannot be moved to another partition. Therefore, if disk space is more important to you, then you can turn off sleep mode through the menu "Control Panel" → "Power Options" → "Sleep Mode".

User files

Not only the OS and programs are capable of clogging the system partition to failure in a couple of months of active operation. Users themselves have succeeded quite well in this. Take a look at the Add/Remove Programs list first. You will find a lot of interesting things: programs whose names have not even been heard, utilities that were installed “in order to see” and “in order to be”, a dozen games that no one plays anymore. Remove what you don't need, and then, as mentioned at the beginning, take a look at the folders in which these programs were installed, as well as in the Application Data directory. By the way, if you use not a regular tool to remove programs, but the Ashampoo Uninstaller uninstaller, then there will be practically no garbage on the disk.

Next, look at the hard drive for duplicate files - for this you can use the free Duplicate File Finder utility. Just do not delete duplicates in system folders - most of them are needed, scan only folders with user files in order to identify erroneously left and forgotten copies of documents. If in your search you find an "unremovable" file occupied by some mysterious application, try the Unlocker utility.

Understand media files. This applies to both your own collection and multimedia files that appear as a result of the work of various programs. For example, many converters, grabbers, peer-to-peer exchange programs by default save to disk not only finished files, but also temporary ones, and in the folder or its subdirectory where the program is installed.

Of course, you will have to look at many folders and files of various types, so to speed up and simplify this process, use the Scanner utility, it will graphically display the sizes of each folder and file, allowing you to identify the largest disk space leaks. After carrying out this set of events, you will free up several hundred more megabytes.

Finish cleaning

At the end of cleaning the hard drive, it is advisable to perform a few more operations. First of all, you need to repeat the procedure for checking the hard drive, and then defragment it. You can defragment the disk using a standard utility, but it is better to use more powerful programs, or at least defragment the paging file with the free FileDeframenter utility.

Order has been achieved, now it is necessary to maintain it. To do this, you need to occasionally clear all "temporary" directories. Manually repeating such operations is quite tedious, so it makes sense to use the special WinTools utility. It will help you correctly uninstall programs, find and delete temporary files on the entire hard drive, or completely clear certain directories. In this case, you yourself can make a list of temporary file extensions (all kinds of .tmp , .bak , .gid and so on), or use a ready-made list, which, it should be noted, is quite sensibly compiled.

For advanced

Of course, this is not all the possibilities for cleaning the disk. For example, you can remove Windows components that are not initially listed in the "Add or Remove Programs" - " Windows installation". To do this, in the file C:\Windows\INF\SYSOC.INF , having previously saved its backup copy, remove the words HIDE , wherever they occur. After that, all OS components will appear in the “Windows Components” menu and unnecessary ones can be removed, including MSN Explorer and Windows Messenger. Delete only what you understand the purpose of and are sure that you will not need it! Windows Messenger can also be uninstalled with this direct command:

RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Messenger\Client
"PreventRun"=dword:00000001
"PreventAutoRun"=dword:00000001
"PreventAutoUpdate"=dword:00000001
"PreventBackgroundDownload"=dword:00000001
"Disabled"=dword:00000001

After removing the excess, return the original sysoc.inf file to its place.

You can also (not forgetting about the backup copy) clear the C:\Windows\SERVICEPACKFILES\ and C:\Windows\$NTSERVICEPACKUNINSTALL$ folders - the first one stores the service pack files, and if you have its distribution kit, then there is no need for it, and the second allows you to uninstall an already installed service pack.

You will find quite a lot of temporary files in C:\WINDOWS\Installer , where distributions of some programs are saved. However, if you clean it, then when you try to reinstall, update or remove one of these programs, an error will be generated. Therefore, it is also necessary to delete the subkey corresponding to this program in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Installer \ Products. If you uninstall programs through Ashampoo Uninstaller, then there will be no problems. You will find a similar dump of distributions of ever installed programs in the C:\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information folder - it is created by a different type of installer. But here the special utility InstallShield Installation Information Manager will help - it will take care of the correct removal of unnecessary distributions.

For the most advanced users, we also suggest that you think about such issues as the indexes of the system search service and other search programs - they can remain on the disk even after disabling and removing these utilities. Kaspersky Anti-Virus creates an alternative stream for each scanned file, in which it writes its checksum - after the program is uninstalled, this data may also remain on the disk. In this case, it is advisable to reinstall the antivirus and uninstall it already using the option to remove these threads. all sorts of hidden files, alternate streams and rootkits can be detected using the Streams and RootkitRevealer utilities. For example, some programs (for example, from Symantec) create a Recycle Bin hidden from the user, where all deleted files are placed.

Finally, you can make more active use of the system's compression feature for rarely used folders on NTFS volumes.

Cleaning the registry

It is equally important to put in order the main OS database - the system registry. After deleting so many files, many registry keys simply refer to nowhere. The registry can be cleaned using utilities such as Norton WinDoctor or WinTools - there are quite a few programs for detecting invalid keys in the registry. There are even programs for experimenters - RegDelNull. Defragmentation and a slight decrease in the size of the registry can be done with the RegCompact utility.

1. www.dougknox.com
2. www.ashampoo.com
3. www.brooksyounce.com
4. www.collomb.free.fr/unlocker
5. www.steffengerlach.de/freeware
6. www.sysinternals.com
7. www.wintools.net
8. loonies.narod.ru/releasesr.htm
9. www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/RegDelNull.html
10. www.experimentalscene.com

We clean the system Windows disk XP

Whatever the size of your hard drive, as a rule, sooner or later the place on it runs out. If the disk is a system disk, then lack of space can lead to partial or complete inoperability of the computer, because in the process of work operating system and most programs actively use it to create temporary files.
To avoid such problems, you need to monitor the availability of free disk space and periodically delete temporary files.

To delete temporary files in Windows XP there is a special tool − Disk Cleanup. To run it, right-click on drive C and select from the drop down menu Properties

On the tab General click on the button Disk Cleanup and wait a few minutes while the system makes a list of files to delete

Then we are given a list of what, according to the system, is superfluous and can be deleted

If you wish, you can see in more detail what exactly we are invited to remove. I usually just mark all the items, the system will not delete the extra. It is worth mentioning separately Compressing old files. Here, files that have not been used for some time are not deleted, but placed in an archive. This way you can free up quite a lot of disk space, but I mark this item only as a last resort, because. archiving procedure is very long.

We can go to tab Additionally and remove unused Windows programs and features and system restore checkpoints, although I prefer to do this separately from the control panel

Then click OK and watch the process

If there is enough space freed up as a result of cleaning, you can finish it, if not, then move on.

Right click on the icon My computer and select the properties item, then go to the tab System Restore

Here we can reduce the space occupied by restore points or disable System Restore altogether.

Then we turn off the possibility of hibernation, since disk space is reserved for it. For this we go to Start-Control Panel-Power Options and on the tab Sleep mode uncheck the box that allows it to be used

And finally, we manually delete everything that still remains undeleted. To do this, we need to enable the display of hidden and system files in the folder properties. Let's go to My Computer - Tools - Folder Options and select the tab View

Then we walk the path C:\Documents and settings\Username\Local Settings

In folder Temp the user's temporary files are located, and in the Temporary Internet Files folder stores temporary files Internet Explorer, so we delete all the contents from them, it is better to leave the folders themselves. If several users work on the computer, then the procedure is repeated for each of them. Sometimes it happens that the system displays a message stating that the file is in use and cannot be deleted. In this case, you need to reboot, after which everything will be deleted perfectly.

Then we go to the folder c:\windows\temp, the operating system stores its temporary files here. We remove everything from it too. Also in the Windows folder, you can notice many folders of the following type

These folders are created when updates are installed as insurance so that changes can be rolled back in case of problems. If the updates are already installed and there are no problems with them, then these folders can also be deleted, especially since they take up quite a lot of space. Well, there you can also delete the installation log files and free up some more space.

Now we have removed everything that is possible (and even a little more) and our system disk is clean. Well, as a final touch in the properties of the disk, select the tab Service and start defragmentation. This procedure will not add free disk space, but it can significantly speed up its work.