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The Bar Room => The Bar (ON-TOPIC) => Tech Talk, or If Yer So Damn Smart, What The Hell You Doin' Teachin' English? => Topic started by: George on March 06, 2009, 07:52:23 AM

Title: Advice please....
Post by: George on March 06, 2009, 07:52:23 AM
...in simple, words-of-one-syllable, language.
My "C" drive constantly fills up. I know about "temporary Internet Files", "cache", but what about "temp"?? Can they be deleted? Where does all this shit come from. Using PaintShop causes space shortage, even though it is on another partition. I tried to move several programs, but they strongly resisted the move. What's a simple solution?
Title: Re: Advice please....
Post by: non-dave on March 06, 2009, 02:11:08 PM
What's a simple solution?

Don't use the computer.
Title: Re: Advice please....
Post by: George on March 06, 2009, 06:38:01 PM
 bibibibibi Never thought of that!
Title: Re: Advice please....
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 06, 2009, 07:49:23 PM
...in simple, words-of-one-syllable, language.
My "C" drive constantly fills up. I know about "temporary Internet Files", "cache", but what about "temp"?? Can they be deleted? Where does all this shit come from. Using PaintShop causes space shortage, even though it is on another partition. I tried to move several programs, but they strongly resisted the move. What's a simple solution?

How big is your C drive?  How much RAM do you have?  ("Constantly fills up" sounds like swap files--programs using the hard disk like a scratch pad--this is normal, WinXP does it by nature, but it does require space.  And less RAM means bigger swap files.)

Paintshop converts files to work with them, doesn't it?  Temporarily turns them into easier, bigger graphics formats, or something like that?  Somewhere in the program options, there'll be a setting for where to put the temporary files.  Change it to a different drive letter.

Also, I don't know all the possible uses for "temp" files, but they are meant to be temporary, and if they're hanging around after you've finished using programs, they're just taking up space.  Delete em all!

What about all those graphics files and mp3z and all that porn?  Stored on C?  Move em.
Title: Re: Advice please....
Post by: Raoul F. Duke on March 06, 2009, 07:50:38 PM
Windows likes to grab a lot of drive space as "temporary memory" and other functions. It might be possible to reset some things in Windows to limit this. I recommend having a real local IT person do this for you; I've seen you try to use pencil sharpeners and I'm not encouraged.  bibibibibi

Running Drive Cleanup often might help a little.

You may also have to consider the possibility of getting a bigger hard drive...
Title: Re: Advice please....
Post by: George on March 06, 2009, 08:56:54 PM
Lotsa things to think about!
"C" drive is 8 GB...free space currently is 754 MB Dunno about RAM. Where do I check that?
Can't find any options in Photoshop to change anything.
Deleted all the "Temp" files and gained about 20MB. Thanks Calach.
Yer right about pencil sharpeners, RD. The manual ones I'm OK with, but these new-fangled fellas with a handle thingy, have got me beat! cccccccccc
Title: Re: Advice please....
Post by: Nolefan on March 06, 2009, 09:37:35 PM
basically, your C drive is too small to accomodate everything you need on it, especially when running a memory hog like photoshop.

you could try and increase its size using a program called "partition magic" but it's been known to mess up once every blue moon.

to check how much RAM you got, go to:

Start > Control Panel > system

a window will pop up with info about your computer.

Title: Re: Advice please....
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 06, 2009, 09:41:37 PM
And...

oh, hey, what do you know, I just checked and I have Adobe Photoshop CS2 on my computer.

You want Edit > Preferences > Plug-Ins & Scratch Disks

You'll get a window that includes a list of four scratch disks.  Change any and all of them to something other than C:


Basically, if you're running WinXP out of an 8Gb C: drive, you'd better do some file management.  Whatever programs you're using need to NOT use the C drive for their temporary stuff.
Title: Re: Advice please....
Post by: George on March 06, 2009, 10:06:40 PM
HMMM this could be the problem..only 512MB RAM. Sorry, I have Paintshop, not Photoshop bibibibibi, but I have changed the temp file locations to another drive, so we will see whhat happens.
Title: Re: Advice please....
Post by: Bugalugs on March 06, 2009, 10:15:57 PM
Try downloading and running ccleaner, it clears your internet cache, and temp files. You can also use it to clean your registry:D
Title: Re: Advice please....
Post by: George on March 06, 2009, 10:38:43 PM
Yeah, I've got one of them. Now I've fucked everything up, fiddling! Fucking pencil sharpeners!! llllllllll llllllllll llllllllll
Title: Re: Advice please....
Post by: Spaghetti on March 06, 2009, 11:32:15 PM
George, invest about 100RMb and bring your PC up to at least 1GB RAM. You'll find a great deal of comfort after that fact. While you're at it, invest in an external hard drive and save information on that. That should free up space, speed things up and have you running happy. I also recommend investing 100 RMB on a decent bottle of imported Scotch, and sipping it as you do all of this. :alcoholic:
Title: Re: Advice please....
Post by: old34 on March 06, 2009, 11:48:50 PM
...But as noles said, 8G for the Windows drive is way too small. Windows needs a lot of acreage. Find Partition Magic if you can (DL or at the local e-market). Read the instructions carefully, but if you follow them, you can enlarge your C partition to maybe 15-20G without having to reformat or erase current files. Best solution is to buy a Mac, but that's just MHO.
Title: Re: Advice please....
Post by: George on March 06, 2009, 11:50:35 PM
Yeah. One day. One day I will switch to Ubuntu, clean the whole bloody mess, etc, etc....play merry hell with a big stick! I've got all my artwork and photos on an external hard drive.
Maybe a Mac might be nice, but so would a Nikon!
Title: Re: Advice please....
Post by: old34 on March 07, 2009, 01:48:36 AM
Sorry, didn't mean to turn your thread into a Mac chant. My main point was that on your Windows machine, you need more elbow room for Windows to flex. 8G is pretty tight. Partition Magic can do it, but you gotta follow it's instructions carefully.
Title: Re: Advice please....
Post by: JShep on April 14, 2009, 01:35:54 AM
Usually files/folders labeled "temp" can be removed safely. -> At your own risk.

You can change the amount of virtual memory by adjusting the settings found using start->settings->control panel->system. Select the "Performance" tab and then click the "Virtual Memory" button. (XP)

Lowering the amount of space Windows uses for swap memory may not be the best way to free up extra space and could cause other performance issues.

8GB of hard disk space? It's probably time to consider an upgrade.

Title: Re: Advice please....
Post by: Mr Nobody on April 14, 2009, 01:48:51 AM
Yeah, George, buy a new one. My new one is bloody great. I also got a new monitor, the Samsung Syncmaster T220P.

In general, the thing is a low flying space machine on steroids and meth.

BLoody wonderful computer. I now live in front of it. Movies have reduced my brain to the size of a pinhead, and games are destroying that.

My C drive, for example, is the smallest one and it's 80G. I already filled it up once, bloody utorrent defaulted to downloading in it. Fixed now, of course.

Cost a months pay, though. Both mine AND my wife's.
Title: Re: Advice please....
Post by: George on April 14, 2009, 01:51:54 AM
So, what did you get? I'll probably have to persist with this one until after summer holidays. I've got plenty of space on "G" and "F" drives, but a lot of programs refuse to be moved.
Title: Re: Advice please....
Post by: Nolefan on April 14, 2009, 02:15:45 AM

George,

how about the grunty solution of reinstalling some programs in a different partition if you don't want to delve into "PArtition Magic".

1- Uninstall said applications from C
2- see which one of you other partitions is the biggest/has the most free space
3- create a new folder in that partition called "my programs"
4- Install those program in this new folder.

5- (and more important) go get more RAM.. shouldn't cost ya more than 100 or 200 RMB for 1 or even 2GB of RAM depending on the type of RAM your motherboard can handle


Title: Re: Advice please....
Post by: George on April 14, 2009, 06:48:23 PM
Thanks Noles. I hate uninstalling and re-installing, but it's prolly the only way. Buying more RAM? Sounds like I'd have to get mechanical..open the bonnet, look for the RAM bit, figure out how to replace it and all....then I'd notice the dust!  bibibibibi
Title: Re: Advice please....
Post by: Nolefan on April 14, 2009, 07:09:22 PM

Don't even bother replacing the RAM yourself if you don't know what type you got in there.
unplug the unit, stick it in a taxi, get yourself to the computer shop and ask for 1 GB or 2 Gb of RAM. They'll put it in for you in under 5mn.
Title: Re: Advice please....
Post by: George on April 14, 2009, 07:20:14 PM
 bibibibibi TIFC! I forgot how simple these sorts of things can be. I'll have to do that. They'll probably do the dust for me too!. Ta, Noles.
Title: Re: Advice please....
Post by: spuglyfuglet on April 29, 2009, 08:30:45 PM
That old HD needs a nice scrub so
get

http://www.ccleaner.com/

run it and clean that old HD nice and spanky new
Title: Re: Advice please....
Post by: George on May 01, 2009, 10:45:18 PM
Thanks, Spugly. Workd like a charm.