For that bit of safety from the rd, I've added the errorlevel check. Sure, you could be a wuss and use del *.* /s but then those junk subdirectories would be left lying around. Shift-Delete any folders that are older than your comfort level.Įmptying your Recycle Bin doesn't get rid of all the junk lying around. Ī good way to clean out those old OS hotfixes and service packs is to use the Search tool from your Start menu in your %windir% folder (the Advanced option has to be set to search system folders), for $*$ and then sort the results by date. My favourite disk-space-usage tool is the free JDiskReport from. Then, it's just a matter of hitting a key and your machine can be clean while going to lunch.
Removing it forces you to find an XP install CD if you change some settings or install a new driver under XP but you get a lot of disk space back. Also, look for the i386 directory that contains the XP install files. Going through and deleting the unzipped versions of things can really free up a lot of space.ĭon't forget the recovery partition that a lot of manfacturers includes.
When I unzip whatever I downloaded, I keep the original ZIP file as well. I tend to keep around gigs of things I've downloaded from the net. Either burn em to DVD, or delete em, especially if they're for old beta software. I use cccleaner mostly and degragment regurlarly. How about you? How do you clean up a computer? Short answer - for a developer machine you can probably just set the recovery model for the database to Simple, then shrink the database from within SSMS. I had several database backups I'd been holding on to "just in case" for a year or so.
Also - if you're using VPC, look for Virtual PC Undo files (.vud) files. For VMWare, I believe you're looking for VMDK files. For Virtual PC and Virtual Server, you're looking for VHD files. Yeah, semi-obvious, but since this is a checklist of sorts I'd be remiss if I didn't mention them. Unneeded ISO and Virtual Machine hard drives.FolderShare keeps backups of shared files after you've deleted them from the share, so if you've used FolderShare to transfer any large files they're probably still hanging out in your trash. FolderShare Trash (C:\Documents and Settings\USER\Local Settings\Application Data\FolderShare\trash).If you'd like to post some specifics which are geared towards other user types, please do so in the comments. I'm a Microsoft.NET developer, so this list is tilted that way. I can't tell you what kind of files to look for, but I can tell you what I found on my system. By the way, the screenshot shows it working in Vista. The treemap really helps you zoom in on the large files or folders when you click on them they're automatically selected for you in the folder view above. Actually, I use FolderSize more for day to day stuff, but for clearing out the underbrush with a machete style work, you can't beat WinDirStat. I use FolderSize and WinDirStat for this. Start looking for big files to be removed.If you're scared to monkey with the registry, CCleaner will still help find unused temporary (permatemp?) files which can be removed. However, CCleaner is regularly updated and has always worked for me. Registry cleanup used to be simple until Office started stashing unused keys to indicate features which would be installed on first use, after which registry cleaners often did more harm than good. Run CCleaner to clean up temporary files and clear out orphaned registry keys.I've used (and recommend) Doug Knox's " XP Remove Hotfix Backup" program. A comment reminded of something here - XP Hotfix Files. I use SAFARP (Small and Fast Add Remove Programs), but Windows Add / Remove Programs works here. My criteria: If I can't remember what it is or haven't used it in 6 months, I don't need it. Uninstall any programs you don't need.
It clears out the useless bundled software the manufacturer included to cut costs through renewal kickbacks.
I just cleaned up my computer in preparation for an upgrade to Vista. Here's how I did it: General Software Development Tips - Tricks