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Mist01
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05 Jul 2009, 4:14 pm

I keep getting those low disk space messages and its very annoying. Every other day, I am doing spyware scans, disk defragmenting, and disk cleanups. It still doesnt solve the problem im having. One day, I managed to get my C: drive up to 2 GB. That quickly dropped to 600 something MB in a matter of a week or two and soon after that, the low disk space message came up. I did all the scans and whatnot, only to have to go back to around 685 MB. Where is all of that data I am missing?

Here is what I do to clear up as much space as I can:
AusLogics Disk Defrag
Windows XP Disk Cleanup
System Restore cleanup through Disk Cleanup
Webroot Spy Sweeper with AntiVirus

What else do I need to do besides getting a huge hard drive and starting over? My C: drive has a max of 30GB and my D: drive has a max of 111GB, with 47GB left.

I am getting a complete computer upgrade soon, and that includes a 750-1000 GB HD, but I am worried I will eventually run out of space due to these mysterious files getting in my computer. The only thing I can think of is some sort of virus that is rapidly replicating itself and I cant get rid of it because after I do the spyware/virus scan, it cant eliminate all of them due to its fast replication. ...can this even happen? So yeah...I need some solutions.

As a side question, I was wondering how good of an upgrade ill be getting. Ill list the hardware im planning on buying if you guys want to give your input on them. Using Crysis as a benchmark, id like to be able to play with 30+ FPS.

Intel Motherboard, DDR3, 2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813121348

MSI GeForce 9800 GT 512 MB GDDR3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814127406

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115037

Kingston 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820134718

Western Digital Caviar Green 750GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136359

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro CPU Fan
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835186134

SIGMA SHARK SP-635 635W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817226002

Oh and are there any white monitors, keyboards, mice, and cases with blue LEDs? Id like to change my computer theme from black with blue lights to white with blue lights. I cant find any decent ones anywhere.


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gbollard
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05 Jul 2009, 5:36 pm

Chances are that all the windows updates are cluttering up your system.

You can delete these files manually or if you're feeling squeamish, use a utility

http://www.tech-pro.net/windows-update-remover.html



Mist01
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05 Jul 2009, 5:53 pm

Yeah, I dont want to screw something up. Will deleting these files effect my computer in any way? I mean, if they are updates to my operating system, arent they kind of...needed?


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gbollard
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05 Jul 2009, 6:04 pm

Windows downloads these files and then when the downloads are complete, it copies them from that location over the top of the files in your windows directory (and I think it backs up the old files there).

The updates files are only needed if you intend to rollback an update. For the record, I've perhaps rolled back updates twice ever in my windows career from windows /286 to today.
Even then, I was a bit worried about deleting them on our file server the first time but now, I do it whenever they start to consume too much space - and I've never had ill effects from it.



Mist01
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05 Jul 2009, 6:33 pm

Ill give it a try then. Ill be upgrading in a couple months anyway, so I dont see myself having to rollback in between then and now. Thanks for the help.

If anyone else has a different solution, ill concider that as well.

EDIT:
Wow, I deleted about half of them and it didnt help much at all. I probably only have about 250MB of the files, total. Thats not going to bring me back to that 2GB.


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Floyd
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06 Jul 2009, 10:16 am

you have a virus that keeps on creating files to eventually prevent your system from booting,

MUST REINSTALL OS AT ALL COST



Mist01
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06 Jul 2009, 2:24 pm

Oh well that sounds lovely. Thats what I figured though. I have been noticing some bad lag even when doing very low labor tasks like opening a new tab on IE, even after ive overclocked my video card.

I already have enough money to get my computer upgrade, the only problem now is deciding what video card, motherboard, and CPU to go for. What are your recommendations?

For a video card, my limit is $150, CPU my limit is $200, and motherboard my limit is $150.
For CPUs, im torn between an Intel Core 2 Duo e8400 and an AMD Phenom x4. Both are at 3GHz, but the Intel has 2 cores whereas the AMD has 4. However, ive heard the e8400 is better than any of AMD's chips, so im confused. These hardware wars are rediculous and unreliable.
For a GPU, ive chosen the MSI GeForce 9800 GT, but if there are better cards within my price range ill look at those.


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gbollard
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06 Jul 2009, 4:24 pm

Floyd wrote:
you have a virus that keeps on creating files to eventually prevent your system from booting,
MUST REINSTALL OS AT ALL COST


While this is a possibility, I haven't seen any evidence to suggest that it's the only reason.
Other things that happen include - anti-virus downloading tons of huge updates
Windows temporary files
Downloaded files from the internet / internet temporary files

You could try clearing these.

I presume that you have an up to date virus scanner and that you've used it?

2GB on Windows XP or above isn't much these days.



Mist01
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06 Jul 2009, 4:32 pm

I completely forgot about internet files. I clearned that up and it gave me back about 350MB. My virus scanner updates a lot, but every time I scan, the same viruses show up.


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Keith
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06 Jul 2009, 5:01 pm

I would check the user temporary files. Cleaning caches, files, etc can help. If you have Vista and have a hibernate file, you can delete it. Are you installing EVERYTHING onto your primary hard drive? It could be worth moving all of the "My documents" to your larger hard drive.

I don't see how the

Quote:
"you have a virus that keeps on creating files to eventually prevent your system from booting,

MUST REINSTALL OS AT ALL COST"


This comment is funny. I make a habit of disabling System Restore as it just eats hard drive space and use a better backup system anyway. Close to a reinstall, but in a couple hours I can be back where I was.

As for the CPU wars. I would recommend the AMD Phenom2. The first batch of Phenom's aren't that great. Usually anything is good if it's better than your current one, but not by a single step, ie 2.1GHz to 2.2GHz It's usually better to go better, or a new core