Tom AZ Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Just wondering what the pros and cons are of using the Windows (XP) built-in "Disk Cleanup" Utility? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted July 11, 2008 Moderators Share Posted July 11, 2008 Pros: * The number one thing in my views has to be to: Quickly and very easily remove old restore points, only leaving the most current one. All without having to first disable and re-enable System Restore. * Ability to remove Offline Files, and Temporary Offline Files. * Won't get you into any trouble as it doesn't look in too many places to cleanup. Cons: * Doesn't even come close to the functionality of freeware third-party cleaning applications like CCleaner. * The ability to remove Office setup files like the CABs which makes requests for the install CDs a royal nuisance if merely one file is missing, or if a Microsoft Update needs the discs for an update to install. * You get to upgrade to the next version, if you buy a new version of Windows (ok not really a con, just me being silly) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay3800 Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 I definitely would not use the "compress old files" function. When I did that, it freed up a lot of disk space, but really seemed to slow my system down. It's just not worth the added disk space. Dell Latitude D600 Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit SP1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoKenny Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 I definitely would not use the "compress old files" function. When I did that, it freed up a lot of disk space, but really seemed to slow my system down. It's just not worth the added disk space. I have not seen that happen on my XP Home nor Pro systems. I don't use Defragler though as it does exhibit the symptoms you have experienced. "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." - Albert Einstein IE7Pro user Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted July 11, 2008 Moderators Share Posted July 11, 2008 I definitely would not use the "compress old files" function. I've removed that ability, along with the ability to remove the Office setup files. Even messing with compress old files is a total waste of time as Windows will just gradually compress the files again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom AZ Posted July 19, 2008 Author Share Posted July 19, 2008 Pros:* The number one thing in my views has to be to: Quickly and very easily remove old restore points, only leaving the most current one. All without having to first disable and re-enable System Restore. Speaking of old restore points . . . does Windows hold on to them forever, or is there some automatic purging process in place when you reach a certain number of them -- or they're older than a certain date? In other words, is manually deleting them they only way to get rid of the old ones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeeCee Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 I definitely would not use the "compress old files" function. I have used that function once on my C (OS) drive. I think it was back in 2005 or something like that. Guess i was kinda out of space then. I have bought more drives after that though. Path Copy TeraCopy Unlocker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Augeas Posted July 19, 2008 Moderators Share Posted July 19, 2008 Speaking of old restore points . . . does Windows hold on to them forever, or is there some automatic purging process in place when you reach a certain number of them -- or they're older than a certain date? According to my XP how to do it book, by default Sys Restore creates restore points until it has used 12% of disk space available, at which point it begins to remove old entries. However looking at my setup (r/click My Computer, Properties, Sys Restore) I only have 1% allocated which is just under 2 gb. I can't remember changing this but I may well have done at some point in the past. I've never used it (sys res) and I'm not too fussed about restore points. But then my setup is fairly static and I do take data backups - which sys restore doesn't 'restore' anyway. My book also says that sys restore deletes restore points after 90 days. That setting is in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Currentversion\Systemrestore\rplifeinterval (7,776,000 seconds, 90 days). Restorepoint interval is in .....\rpglobalinterval, at 86,400 seconds, 24 hrs. I've just checked my registry and these settings are correct. So I assume 90 days unless the disk space allocated is used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom AZ Posted July 19, 2008 Author Share Posted July 19, 2008 According to my XP how to do it book, by default Sys Restore creates restore points until it has used 12% of disk space available, at which point it begins to remove old entries. However looking at my setup (r/click My Computer, Properties, Sys Restore) I only have 1% allocated which is just under 2 gb. I can't remember changing this but I may well have done at some point in the past. I've never used it (sys res) and I'm not too fussed about restore points. But then my setup is fairly static and I do take data backups - which sys restore doesn't 'restore' anyway. My book also says that sys restore deletes restore points after 90 days. That setting is in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Currentversion\Systemrestore\rplifeinterval (7,776,000 seconds, 90 days). Restorepoint interval is in .....\rpglobalinterval, at 86,400 seconds, 24 hrs. I've just checked my registry and these settings are correct. So I assume 90 days unless the disk space allocated is used. This is very interesting and VERY helpful. Thanks so much for sharing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davey Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 Speaking of old restore points . . . does Windows hold on to them forever, or is there some automatic purging process in place when you reach a certain number of them -- or they're older than a certain date? In other words, is manually deleting them they only way to get rid of the old ones? Hi Tom, Just a refresher from one of your posts. http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?s=&...st&p=108633 However, I would never want to delete all my system restores at one time. P.S. I find 5% on WinXP very sufficient for at least the last 30 days,even if you create 3 or 4 manual restore points a day. davey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom AZ Posted July 19, 2008 Author Share Posted July 19, 2008 P.S. I find 5% on WinXP very sufficient for at least the last 30 days,even if you create 3 or 4 manual restore points a day. davey Davey, I'm certainly not challenging you on this because I absolutely do not know myself, but are you relatively confident that a 5% setting will yield 30 days of auto-created restore points and that many manually created restore points per day? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators DennisD Posted July 19, 2008 Moderators Share Posted July 19, 2008 I think there are so many variables involved with System Restore it's kinda difficult to predict how many Restore Points each individual will actually get. I've got mine set at 5%, which is 1116mb of my System Partition. That has given me 7 restore points going back to the 8th July. Not a lot, and not very far back. In my case, I have a lot of software installed, which I assume means a lot of System Volume Information for each restore point. If you have a relatively small amount of software, then your System Volume Information is gonna take up that much less space because you've that much less to restore. That's how I interpret it, and if I'm wrong I'm sure someone will put me right. And of course, how far back do you want your Restore Points to go? In my case, I wouldn't want to restore any further back than a couple of weeks, so I've played around with the % allocation until I've got it more or less the way I want it. My humble suggestion is to adjust the % disk allocation until you have the number of restore points you want, going back to a length of time that makes you feel comfortable. Just my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom AZ Posted July 19, 2008 Author Share Posted July 19, 2008 My humble suggestion is to adjust the % disk allocation until you have the number of restore points you want, going back to a length of time that makes you feel comfortable. Suggestion well taken . . . thanks, Dennis. I, too, am not terribly anxious to reach too far back into the past for a restore point. Too many things changing too fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davey Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 (edited) I think there are so many variables involved with System Restore it's kinda difficult to predict how many Restore Points each individual will actually get. I've got mine set at 5%, which is 1116mb of my System Partition. That has given me 7 restore points going back to the 8th July. Not a lot, and not very far back. In my case, I have a lot of software installed, which I assume means a lot of System Volume Information for each restore point. If you have a relatively small amount of software, then your System Volume Information is gonna take up that much less space because you've that much less to restore. That's how I interpret it, and if I'm wrong I'm sure someone will put me right. And of course, how far back do you want your Restore Points to go? In my case, I wouldn't want to restore any further back than a couple of weeks, so I've played around with the % allocation until I've got it more or less the way I want it. My humble suggestion is to adjust the % disk allocation until you have the number of restore points you want, going back to a length of time that makes you feel comfortable. Just my opinion. And you told me you weren't a "techie",Techie !!! A very appropos posting Dennis. I am not surprised. Best wishes, davey P.S. Like every other user out there, "I want my PC like it was before - I - something screwed it up". Edited July 20, 2008 by davey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Augeas Posted July 20, 2008 Moderators Share Posted July 20, 2008 Are we supposed to see anything is the System Restore folder? Mine is displayed (I have show system and hidden files ticked) but shows empty. I'm on XP2 Home. Yes, sys restore is on and monitoring - apparently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted July 20, 2008 Moderators Share Posted July 20, 2008 I, too, am not terribly anxious to reach too far back into the past for a restore point. Too many things changing too fast. That's why I rely upon ERUNT to undo registry changes and allow Total Uninstall (Last Freeware Version) to fully remove any newly installed software. I only use System Restore to undo something that ERUNT and Total Uninstall alone can't fully deal with, which doesn't happen all that often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom AZ Posted July 20, 2008 Author Share Posted July 20, 2008 That's why I rely upon ERUNT to undo registry changes I just read this on the ERUNT site in the FAQ section: Question: Should I disable Windows XP?s System Restore function when using ERUNT? Answer: Yes! Though System Restore backs up more than just the registry, the registry is essentially all you need to revert your system to a previous state. I would feel a little uncomfortable disabling the System Restore function. Is there a problem with running them concurrently? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted July 21, 2008 Moderators Share Posted July 21, 2008 I would feel a little uncomfortable disabling the System Restore function. Is there a problem with running them concurrently? Don't disable System Restore, it's very bad advice! They work fine together. I wish the ERUNT developer would pack the backups in a renamed extension for ZIP or 7z files, say .erb for ERUNT Backup which it could unpack when wanting to restore a backup. I only think that would be a useful feature because the backups start to pile up and compressing them would save a ton of space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davey Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 I just read this on the ERUNT site in the FAQ section: Question: Should I disable Windows XP?s System Restore function when using ERUNT? Answer: Yes! Though System Restore backs up more than just the registry, the registry is essentially all you need to revert your system to a previous state. I would feel a little uncomfortable disabling the System Restore function. Is there a problem with running them concurrently? Hi Tom, The author wrote that statement when System Restore was totally unreliable.Things have changed and If you read further you will see that he refers to the best Website that we know of to handle any System Restore complications.Sometimes System Restore has just the right amount of information accumulated to get you running again.Unfortunately for XP users that is not always the case. His answer to that question is misleading itself in that ERUNT backs up the Registry but also other important system files also. Experienced users want all the backup data and opportunities to recover as easily as possible from a bad situation.You will find that they value their backups as much as the data they are backing-up. If I thought it would benefit me to allocate more space than I currently allocate for System Restore I would do it. I would never turn it off unless I "absolutely" had to do it to correct a problem. I have a months supply of System Restore Points and I still have more space allocated than I need. I manually delete them when they get that old. Now that SP3 is safely in place I may cut that time frame in half. Best wishes on your system set-up, davey I am still working on mine. I finally got my external hard drive. Yippee!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoKenny Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 finally got my external hard drive. Yippee!!! I am thinking of buying one so I'm curious what you bought and what application you are going to use with it. "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." - Albert Einstein IE7Pro user Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators hazelnut Posted July 21, 2008 Moderators Share Posted July 21, 2008 I am sure you will find one useful Kenny. I have a Lacie 80gig and I keep copies of all my installers, pictures music, in fact all 'my docs' folder. I use Karens replicator to do this. I also keep an archive of a copy of my c drive on it (for disasters!) Support contact https://support.ccleaner.com/s/contact-form?language=en_US&form=general or support@ccleaner.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davey Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 (edited) I am thinking of buying one so I'm curious what you bought and what application you are going to use with it. It is a WDH1B5000N. The "PC Fairy" left it for me. http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.as...amp;language=en http://www.wdc.com/en/flash/index.asp?fami...yBook_Office_1B The only application I have in mind right now is "Karen's Replicator". http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptreplicator.asp I can backup the whole neighborhood. davey http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/banana Now,I wonder if the "PC Fairy" might drop off a bit of RAM. (Or like the Verizon commercial says "lotsa sheep") Edited July 22, 2008 by davey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan_B Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 I wish the ERUNT developer would pack the backups in a renamed extension for ZIP or 7z files, say .erb for ERUNT Backup which it could unpack when wanting to restore a backup. I only think that would be a useful feature because the backups start to pile up and compressing them would save a ton of space. If they were 7z compressed, would they be accessible in the emergency disaster "Recovery Console" ? For myself, every new day start-up ERUNT backs up to C:\WINDOWS\ERDNT\AutoBackup and this folder contains 3 backups totalling "Size 134 MB (140,699,578 bytes)" "Size on Disk 64.3 MB (67,504,640 bytes)" That is normal NTFS compression - I set the folder properties for the folder and its contents to be compressed, and they are automatically compressed upon creation. Regards Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted March 1, 2009 Moderators Share Posted March 1, 2009 If they were 7z compressed, would they be accessible in the emergency disaster "Recovery Console" ? I don't know. I do however know using a recover boot CD in particular BartPE allows installed software like 7-Zip to be ran manually which can extract files, actually better to just put 7-Zip Portable on the BartPE boot cd so it's always available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amtrak7 Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 I use Disk Cleanup once in a while. It's analysis is slow, but it can clean restore points and offline files. Also, I use ATF-Cleaner on the Vista admin account once in a while. It cleaned 40MB on a machine that CCleaner just ran on. ATF Cleaner download: http://www.atribune.org/index.php?option=c...5&Itemid=25 It is a standalone executable file. Thanks to the spyware mods for finding it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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