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[gregor]

i'll try to move page file. i dont' think i can resize it much unless i want it to affect the WinXP (apparently there are some consequences).

edit: i still can not find where to change the location of the pagefile. i can see only the size can be changed. but i also see other disks there and they do not have any pagefile on them. do i simply reduce the C one to 0 and increase it on one of the disks?

While my documents take up only 20 MB so that's not it.

[SlowCoder]

I never worry about System Restore. While it's good for driver failures, etc. malware often infiltrates and infects it along with the rest of the system. The most common antivirus solutions still can't keep up with the latest malware out there for Windows. Windows itself can at times appear to be its own enemy. Chewing up hard drive space, corrupting its registry, etc.

In my humble opinion, the best practice is to keep very recent backups of your important data.

When your computer goes haywire, wipe the hard drive and reinstall the OS. If you're feeling particularly crafty, perform a base install with all the latest updates and applications you know you'll be using. Then use a ghosting program such as g4l (Ghost for Linux) to create a baseline image that can be reinstalled next time the computer goes crappy.

[The Fifth Horseman]

Originally Posted by gregor

do i simply reduce the C one to 0 and increase it on one of the disks.

Exactly so.

[jg007]

try this -

http://windirstat.info/

[Playbahnosh]

@gregor

You should also disable the hibernation mode. Just right-click on the desktop -> properties -> screen saver tab, and on the bottom you'll find the power saving menu. Just go to hibernation and uncheck the box.

Note, that in many cases you must delete the hibernation file(hibfil.sys or something similar) and if you move the pagefile to another drive, after reboot, you should delete the old pagefile.sys too, manually.

Those files will not be visible in plain explorer, even with the hidden files turned on, so you'll need Total Commander for that. Hope this helps.

[SlowCoder]

Originally Posted by Playbahnosh

Those files will not be visible in plain explorer, even with the hidden files turned on, so you'll need Total Commander for that. Hope this helps.

... Or you should be able to use the command prompt.

[gregor]

Originally Posted by Playbahnosh

@gregor
Note, that in many cases you must delete the hibernation file(hibfil.sys or something similar) and if you move the pagefile to another drive, after reboot, you should delete the old pagefile.sys too, manually.

well i switched the pagefile (switched it of on C drive and enabled it in one of other partitions with more than enough space left. computer restarted and C had a comfortable 1.4GB free space. but not more than a few seconds because MS automatic updates started up again downloading the SP3 update.

it upsets me the way these work. why can't they first ask you what you want and then start to download. because a week or so i downloaded the CD version of this update to update my wifes computer.

anyway the free space started to slowly dissapear. untill it came down to about 850 MB free. then install started and eventhough the SOB said it is performing cleanup in the end when the computer restarted the disk had only 200 MB free space left. can you believe this?

now i moved that uninstall data (like many others) to backup disk. today i think i will move the softwaredistribution folder.

but i am still puzzled where all the space went. i checked and it seems that i already have system restore points also on another partition. i mean surely the update didn't take up 1.2Gb of space. at leats it shouldnt' according to M$. :wallbash:

[Playbahnosh]

Actually, you CAN set windows update so it will ask what to download first. Just get into the live update settings and you'll see. Chose the option to alert you when updates are avalible but don't download, it will be more managable.

on the other hand, yea, SP 3 sucks. I tried to install it, and it says I don't have enough disk space. Well, bummer...

[gregor]

Do the manual install. then you can only go for security updates. Because plenty really large updates are for explorer and media player (i don't use it anyway...). I htink they improved on performance besides from security. at least i think i saw it written somewhere.

[Maxor127]

Are you using XP or Vista? I know with my Vista, ShadowCopy and the built in backup system seems to use a lot of disk space.