Disk Cleanup: deleting unnecessary files

To free some space on your hard disk for better purposes, you have to do a disk cleanup. With the Disk Cleanup utility (Start Menu, All Programs, Accessories, System tools) you have a build in tool to remove many unnecessary files from your hard disk. Select the C: drive and on the first tab check all items to delete.

However, the cleaning is not thorough, especially the 'temporary (internet) files' folders (used files from the last few days will not be cleaned)! It is better to clean them yourself as well, as shown below. Most files are system files and/or hidden, so make sure you can see those type of files in the Windows Explorer (Tools, Folder Options, tab View, enable Display the content of system folders, enable Show hidden files and folders, disable Hide extensions for known file types and disable Hide protected operating system files).

C:\HIBERFIL.SYS (hidden, as big as the main memory)

This file is created by the hibernation option (Control Panel, Power Options, tab Hibernate). With this option you are able to hibernate your computer. When your computer hibernates, it stores the main memory into the hiberfil.sys file on your C: partition before it shuts down. When you turn on the computer, it returns to its previous state by reloading the main memory with the information in the hiberfil.sys. To turn off this heavy disk consuming option, disable the Enable hibernation option on this tab.

C:\System Volume Information (hidden, also on other partitions)

These hidden system folders contain information for the Windows XP System Restore function. When you are finished with the setup of your Windows system and everything is working error free, I advise to turn off the system restore (Control Panel, System, tab System Restore). Enabling the option Turn off System Restore on all drives will empty all System Volume Information folders. It's difficult to remove the empty system folders from NTFS partitions (FAT32 partitions are no problem).

C:\PAGEFILE.SYS (Virtual memory)

The pagefile is only used when your main memory has been consumed by the running applications and more memory is needed. The use of the pagefile is temporary. Disabling the pagefile is only a wise thing to do if the available memory exceeds 512 MB (the use of the pagefile depends on the demand for memory of the running applications). You can also move the pagefile to another (faster) partition (as suggested on the page Windows XP settings part I) to make a quicker system backup/recovery possible.

C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch

This folder contains information about the regular started applications. Without any problem, you are allowed to delete the files in this folder (the files in the prefetch folder will be rebuild after a restart of Windows). The prefetch files in this folder are used for 'preloading' applications to start them quicker. At first you will probably notice a slower start of your favorite applications, but this will quickly be restored.

C:\Windows\$NtUninstall...... folders (hidden)

Those hidden "$" folders are waiting (and waiting.....) for a Windows update-uninstall. Of course, this will probably never happen! If Windows is working properly and stable after the latest Windows updates, you can delete those folders. The folder $hf_mig$ is the only exception to this rule. It is advised to keep this folder as it is, although removing it doesn't result in problems.

C:\I386\
C:\Windows\Driver Cache\I386\
C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles\I386\

Do you really want to save space? Delete above folders (or burn them on CD), but at your own risk! The I386 folder contains setup files (including hardware drivers). If everything is working properly, you won't need them, but if your system needs a change you might!

C:\Windows\Downloaded Installations\
C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download\

These folders contain the setup files of downloaded and installed applications and Windows updates. The last one contains the downloaded Windows updates, which are there in strange names without any extension. With most of those files you can add MSI or EXE and run them separately. Saving these files makes it possible to patch them on another Windows system or Windows setup files.

Other temporary files (if still present, including the index.dat file):

C:\Documents and Settings\your username\Local Settings\Temp
C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Local Settings\Temp
C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\Temp
C:\WINDOWS\TEMP

C:\Documents and Settings\your username\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files

C:\Documents and Settings\your username\Local Settings\History
C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Local Settings\History
C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\History

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