cleaning up my hard drive

Would like some advice on how to keep this pc running as I can't afford a new one any time soon.

Recently removed a lot of games and old files we did not use from my pc and defragged in order to add new printer/scanner. Although, I got back a large chunk of memory, the hd seems to run a whole LOT slower ! I expected a little bit due to the addition of printer/scanner, but this is ridiculus!
Occasionally, I get a message that says I can run a program because "there is not enough free memory" and I have to shut down things running in the background. I cannot defrag without having to go through ALT_CRTL_DEL to shut down background programs.

Also, seems to be a lot more freezing. I really am afraid of hd failure since I have had this pc since '97 or '98.

Am running P3 128 mB, 500 plus mH, WIN98SE and HP PSC 1610. Upgraded the video card a few years ago to GeForce2 MX 200 or 400 (not sure which) with no problems.

Would really appreciate your opinion as to my next step.

 

This is what I recommend for a good cleaning of temp files. Restart in Dos Mode and do these commands. Two of these commands will appear to do nothing. the 1st and 8th. If any others appear to do nothing, nothing was there to delete for that particular command.
smartdrv
deltree c:\*.chk
deltree c:\*.tmp
deltree c:\windows\cookies
deltree c:\windows\history
deltree c:\windows\temp
deltree c:\windows\tempor~1
scanreg /opt
scanreg /fix
Type a Y that you want to delete, check for typos at this time.
When you get the message that 'windows has repaired the registry' reboot. Windows will rebuild the folders that was deleted from it upon startup.
Freezing could come about due to the system waiting for data or trying to put data on the drive, but so can a number of other things.
About a new HD for this computer, it is doubtful your system will recognize the full capacity of any drive larger than 10 gb, or maybe 8.5 gb. They'll work, but you will have wasted space, unless you install a drive overlay available on the CD that comes with the drive. This would require your system's ability to boot from a CD to work good.

 

After you have run mark62 cleanup ... if problems continue, could you let us know which printer/scanner you installed. Many printer installs include additional services / programs which load at bootup. Some of these processes can be removed from startup, only loaded if or when needed. Last fall I installed a Hp 2610 network printer on my lan. I disabled all HPxxxxxx type running processing from TaskList. Their are two HP tasks commingled with other processes under "scvhost.exe ", I left them alone. "Clicking normal install" would have dumped approximately 500MB on the HD. Some Googling and browsing through the install CD reduce it to less than half. Unfortunately when "printer updates" become available, their buried in the same load of "extras ".

 

If you really do have a 8.4gig drive limit, I would prefer a hardware solution to a drive overlay. I prefer the Startech PCI2IDE card because it supports CD-ROMs when you boot to command line only or from a floppy. You can get a used Promise Ultra66 pretty cheap, but optical drives are supported only in a regular Windows boot. Either way, you can go up to 126 gigs.

Another way is an external USB2 or Firewire hard drive, though it can only be used within a regular Windows boot.

 

HP PSC 1610 All-in-One

 

HP PSC 1610 All-In-One
Installing all 780MB of the included HP Image Zone software can take ...

It would appear a big chunk of your drive has been devoured. Could do a uninstall -- and an minimal reinstall and get some of that space back. A larger drive would be another solution.
Also, take a look in Tasklist and provide any running process that starts with the letters "HP. "

 

OUCH!!!!!!!

Yeah, cleaned up my hard drive, it did! (Really, regained 1/3 of my hd back, not sure if its all files I lost or what.)

Lost windows and IE, OE etc.....Had to reinstall windows via startup disk. When I got windows back up all my program files were missing, all my desktop stuff. Finally, got IE back up, had to reinstall my dsl modem etc. etc.
Still can't get OE working, something about missing files?????????????

Found my program files under C:/, but can't access them without reinstalling all of them. (Waiting till later) Just getting the essentials first.

NAV seems to be hanging up my installation on my printer, keeps crashing every time I try to reinstall. Will be downloading AGV shortly and trashing NAV 2005! Piece of junk!

Let you know how it turns out.......if it does..............

 

To save HD space and prevent added startup programs you could try the following... I'm throwing out an idea here, can't say for sure if all aspects of the all in one printer will function this way.

1) Remove ALL reference to the printer from add/remove prograns and uninstall the printer through device manager.

2) reboot. New hardware should be found.

3) use the hardware wizard and point it to the drivers on the install CD. It's possible that you may have to do this more than once for the different asspects of the printer.

As I wouldn't think that the amount of space taken by the install on your HD would cause the extreme slowdown I would look at the startup programs it is installing. IF it works as I'm guessing it would the above method would leave you with a working printer without the startup programs associated with it.

 

Guess what?

I deleted ALL Symantec/Norton products and .....Outlook Reappeared!

A problem remaining, that I could use help on....upon bootup, I get a message that the windows registry or system.ini refers to 2 files that are no longer in use. I have to "press any key to continue ". I have looked in system.ini and don't see the problem.

Any way to keep this from popping up every time?

Still haven't been able to retrieve lost files in My Briefcase, or saved email in OE.

Jay, haven't had time to reload HP. Since I have gotten rid of NAV & friends, things have speeded up considerably. Thanks for the idea.

 

I'm guessing that the missing files are likely to be caused by software that was removed but not properly. If you can figure out what software would relate to the missing files you might try re-installing that software even if just to remove it properly.

You might also try going through the .ini files and look for references to the files that are stated as missing. Remove these references. Before doing this make a backup of the .ini files!!!!

 

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/pfdocs/2001092114452606
Go to the above link. I believe your missing files belonged to Norton, and you have their files listed in the regsitry. You can find the instructions there.

 

Thanks, will try that. Got rid of the 2 files in question. But, now I get a blue screen during bootup that refers to Symantec AV Auto Protect. It states ...unable to determine the location of configuration files.

Going round in circles here!!!!

 

Just finished using Symantec removal program. Seems to have cleared up blue screen and everything else.

Somebody kick me if I ever use NAV again!!

Only Norton/Symantec product I ever had a use for was Crashguard.

Thanks again.