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Anyway to reduce XP's size?

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by dtanis, 2006/05/18.

  1. 2006/05/18
    dtanis

    dtanis Inactive Thread Starter

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    Does anyone know of an easy way to reclaim a gig or two from XP? I am using XP Media Center Edition. Maybe deleting fonts, languages, etc.? Any links to articles or recalled expereinces (good or not-so-good) would be welcome. I am slowly running out of hard drive space, and I will buy an external...but if there is a fairly simply (and stable) way to reduce the OS footrpint, I would be curious to learn more about it.
    Thanks
     
    dtanis,
    #1
  2. 2006/05/18
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    Hello dtanis,
    welcome to WindowsBBS ... :) ... !

    How much has XP put on? What was the size when the installation was fresh and what is it now?

    When I installed XP pro in september 2004, the size was ~3 GB. Now it is ~4 GB. Of the 1 GB increase, ~400 MB are uninstall files for updates to Windows. The balancing ~600 MB are updates to Norton and installed programs since fresh.

    Being a Ghost user, I have disabled System Restore which can use up to 12.5 % of the disk space. Check the System Volume Information folder for its size. If very large, it can be reduced by limiting the space it can use.

    Christer
     
    Christer,
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  4. 2006/05/18
    Dennis L Lifetime Subscription

    Dennis L Inactive Alumni

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    Could you provide us with the size of your current drive.
    The first 20 to 30GB just keeps XP operating system happy and allows the majority of your most used "User files" available. After that it is generally "media" type files (music / video / pic's) that devour the space on a drive. If it is the latter, should be no problem freeing up some space (move / burn some music / video files onto CD / DVD).
     
    Last edited: 2006/05/18
    Dennis L,
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  5. 2006/05/18
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    I forgot to mention that I have a separate data partition. Only the operating system and programs are on C:.

    Christer
     
    Christer,
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  6. 2006/05/18
    dtanis

    dtanis Inactive Thread Starter

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    A little more info

    I am working with a "60" gig hard drive. I realize that quite a bit is lost to formatting and the OS. With my current apps, media, etc. I have 28gb left. Nothing to be immediately alarmed with...just was thinking about it. I thought there might be some stuff buried in there some where that I will never use, or least could live without for now.

    Another question for you folks...I originally set up the OS with two logins, lets call them "Husband" and "Wife "...then I deleted "Wife "...and renamed "Husband" as "Husband_Wife "...

    Well, now I have this issue...
    When I look in C:\Documents and Settings\xxxx...I see "Husband "...the folder did not seem to get the name change ( "Wife" is gone).
    But...when I look at "My Computer "...it lists "Husband_Wife's Documents "....
    The two seem to be in sync...so there is no immediate cause for concern. Maybe the orignal profile name just sticks...but I would rather have the two with the same name. I have now loaded enough stuff...and customized settings...that I would rather not...create a new profile...delete the one that is not quite in sync...and then recreate...

    Think there is a trouble ahead with these two folders not having the same name? I assume it would probably upset things if I just change the name...

    Again, any help would be welcome.
    Thank you!
     
    dtanis,
    #5
  7. 2006/05/19
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    That's how Windows works. It will keep the original profile name, but 'expose' you to the new name in the GUI.
     
    Arie,
    #6
  8. 2006/05/19
    charlesvar

    charlesvar Inactive Alumni

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    charlesvar,
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