P/C needs clean up

[hgw53t]

   I think my computer needs cleaning.  Recently, my hard drive free space has diminished from about 60% to 54%.  I cannot seem to increase free space.  I have used AOL Computer Check up in the past & clean up computer regularly without much increase in free space.  Is there anything you can recommend I try?  Do you think the free CCleaner Version would help?  What would you recommend I try if anything? 

 One other problem with computer is that recently it takes a LONG time to close out some websites like facebook.  It takes sometimes 30-minutes to stabilize the hard drive after I start computer the next day. 

[hazelnut]

You haven't mentioned what operating system you use.

 

Also what security type software you are running.

[hgw53t]

  I am using Windows Vista 32-bit system.  Browser I use is I.E.9 & a secondary brower on same computer- Mozilla Firefox.

  For Security, I am using Microsoft  Security Essentials & I do keep it up to date.

[Hav0c]

Well seeing you are running Vista, what is your CPU and RAM spec ?

 

Have you tried to uninstall all none essential software that you haven't used in the last two years or so ?

By going on your post it seems you are not running any Malware software for example Malwarebytes. Give it a try maybe there is something slowing your system down.

[hgw53t]

  No, I have not tried to uninstall any software that I do not use in the last year or two- I really don't know how other than uninstalling programs & I really don't know which ones are safe to uninstall.  I have 75- programs installed & uses 1.66GB total. All my Malware protection is Microsoft Security Essentials & I just checked & read that it is on & protecting my computer @ my Windows Security Center. 

  My CPU specs are AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor TK-53  1.7 GHz

  My RAM (memory)specs are 2.00 GB 

[mta]

Sounds like your PC could well do with a cleanup, and CC would certainly be one of the things to try.

 

As to the free space going from 60% to 54%, that's not a big jump and could be explained by a recent Windows Update or some other download; either software or user initiated.

 

It could also be scratch files from Photoshop, temp files from web browsers, log files from scans, pagefile, hibernation file, restore points, recycle bin etc etc.

 

Not only would running CC go a long way to remove junk, it'll hopefully reclaim a lot of space and maybe even eliminate some of your speed issues.

[hazelnut]

Vista is well known for system restore points eating up the space.

 

This would be a good thing to do (please excuse the site title..nothing personal, it's just they do a good write up on how to do it)

 

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-delete-system-restore-points-in-windows-vis.html

[Hav0c]

Cleaning a PC is like cleaning once house, you start with the obvious.

First uninstall all none essential software via Programs and Features or normal uninstallers.

Then you start removing files manually example music, photos, excreta (SIDE NOTE: just make 100% sure you backup the files, if you needed to)

Then you start with the "hard" hitting cleaners.
 CCleaner would do a good job, right click on a entry and just say Analyze if you get any results check it. After you analyzed all entries on both Windows and Applications tab and checked all that's needed run the Cleaner part.

After all the cleaning is done you can run Defraggler just to tidy up your hard drive for you.

 

On another side note:
By just running Microsoft Security Essentials you are most likely not 90% covered from Malware. It is strongly recommended that you get dedicated Malware software like Malwarebytes.

[hgw53t]

  In reply to "Vista is well known for system restore points eating up space".  I did try that recently.  I gained about 12% free space!  About a week later, free space had gone back to what is was before!  What in the world would have caused that?

[hazelnut]

There has been quite a lot written about free space on Vista.

 

Have  a read here

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/notebook-dummy-guide-articles/167983-where-s-all-my-disk-space-going-vista.html

 

and here

 

http://blog.superuser.com/2011/05/07/where-did-all-my-hard-drive-space-go/

 

If you feel like you can manage to follow instructions you could change the default space size for points kept.

 

 

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/76227-system-restore-disk-space.html

 

Or you might just decide to leave things as they are.

[Corona]

One thing I learned about 'cleaning up un-needed apps', make sure to not uninstall Microsoft or Windows related apps or (I have an Hewlett Packard PC) anything that came pre-installed with your PC via the particular brand of PC you bought. I have plenty of junk apps that sound third-party (or 4th party) that I never use like Cinema Now Media Manager, CyberLink DVD Suite Deluxe, LightScribe System Software, etc., blah blah blah.

It's all junk to me. But when I started uninstalling a few of them some very wonky stuff began happening to my display and audio and system. You know the massive Hive. And then there's shared dll's and common files, etc.

[hgw53t]

  I know what you mean.  If I could just find what programs I could uninstall without problems, I would do this to probably 20-programs that I am sure I never will use.

  Has anyone ever heard of www.shouldiremoveit.com?  It is a download that helps you decide which programs to remove.

[Hav0c]

One thing I learned about 'cleaning up un-needed apps', make sure to not uninstall Microsoft or Windows related apps or (I have an Hewlett Packard PC) anything that came pre-installed with your PC via the particular brand of PC you bought. I have plenty of junk apps that sound third-party (or 4th party) that I never use like Cinema Now Media Manager, CyberLink DVD Suite Deluxe, LightScribe System Software, etc., blah blah blah.

It's all junk to me. But when I started uninstalling a few of them some very wonky stuff began happening to my display and audio and system. You know the massive Hive. And then there's shared dll's and common files, etc.

 

Most of the times I uninstall any preinstalled software for example that Cinema Now Media Manager, CyberLink DVD Suite Deluxe, LightScribe System Software. HP loves to preinstall a lot of free applications with their laptops now.

 

Why do I do it some may ask, the answer is simple it's not a driver to make something work.

 

Most users run the installer for drivers and this install a lot of additional junk that most users will never use.

Example mother board drivers and their tune up utilities, if you only look for the .sys and .ini files on the DVD provided you can install 99% of your drivers you will ever need without any extra overhead.