# how do I compress



## Nelly22 (Jan 29, 2003)

Hi,
This is my first time here, so I'm hoping I'm doing this right..... I need to make more disk space...I go to Drive Space thru Start etc....want to compress C:......message says.."Drive cannot be compressed because it is a FAT32 drive"
If I go thru Compression Agent, it says I need to run Drive Space 3, I click 'yes' to run it, but nothing happens, it freezes for a few seconds, then goes back to the window asking me which drive I want to compress, but it won't because of that FAT 32 message......
I need to compress drive C because it shows it is almost full...there is a little sliver of the pie left....and I find this hard to believe that it is that full.....had the whole computer cleaned out at the computer shop one year ago..........just a month ago only about 1/4 of the pie was being used .This is a Pentium Pro; 64 RAM; Magitronic Intel Pentium MMX; Windows 95.
Hope this makes sense,

Thankyou


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## Byteman (Jan 24, 2002)

[tsg=welcome][/tsg]

Hi, You are running FAT 32 File system, so you cannot compress the hard disk. You had a lot more space a month ago- I have seen one computer running 95 that absolutely REVERSED the free and used disk space...could be what yours is doing...there may be a Microsoft fix for that. 
Do you scan with an updated antivirus program regularly?
You should....if not, you can try an online scan here:

www.housecall.antivirus.com

www.pandasoftware.com

The links will take you to the page to select a scan. For the Housecall site: You have to register, and then proceed....the update files will download after you give the ActiveX control permisssion to download to your system, the whole process may take awhile....but it will complete, it may seem to sit forever at about 95% but will eventually complete. Unclick the floppy A: and CD drive, put check in "My Computer" and scan the entire hard drive. This scanner can clean quite a few viruses....you also have to put a check in "Auto Clean" and to get the scan to run, click on "SCAN" when the download completes. This does not install the program on your computer...only online scan, which you can do any time.

For Panda site: Look carefully for the "Active Acan" box....click that open, follow prompts....basically the same, only you do not have to register.

Also cleans viruses and some worms. There may be nothing found- if anything is, post what it finds exactly....
NOTE::::::: FIRST, though, you will have to make some space for things to run right- open Windows Explorer
Under C: , open Windows folder

Find "Temporary Internet Files" >Edit> Select ALL>hit delet key.....if it doesnt delete files.....highlight the one under index.dat, hold shift key, scroll to end, highlight....so all the files are in dark blue, hit DELETE. Keep at it till all are gone.
Empty Recycle Bin....being sure that you have not thrown anything good away. 
Uninstall several programs you can replace easily, or any you do not use from their Uninstall button in Programs list, or from the Control Panel, Add/Remove programs. HINT:::GAMES that you install from CDs may be the culprit....some are very large files.
Look in C:\Windows\TEMP, delete all not dated this week.
That should free up some space for programs to work. 
Post back if the online scans find anything. You can try updating and using your own antivirus program as well.


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## Nelly22 (Jan 29, 2003)

Byteman

Thankyou so much for your response.....I do have up-dated Norton Anti-Virus run on a daily basis.....but I will try the ones you suggested too.....seems like I need to follow your instructions closely...probably will take me a while.....will let you know how I made out.....

I'm just a little afraid of deleting...did that once......messed up something in the computer.....computer said to reinstall Windows....but wouldn't install unless Explorer was reinstalled...but couldn't reinstall Explorer without Windows working properly...what a nightmare...that's why I had to take it in to have it completely emptied and started all over....

Thankyou again

(PS I'm hoping I'm not sending this twice):


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## Byteman (Jan 24, 2002)

Nelly22- You just need to delete Temp Internet Files and TEMP files....these are not needed and can build up over time.
You uninstall programs, games....using either the Add/Remove Programs feature, or the individual program's own built-in uninstaller- look through the Programs list for those you could remove, they may have an uninstaller....if not, use Add/Remove.
Scanned photos and documents are really big files.....they are usually saved as .tif files. If you use a scanner, you may have some docs that could go to floppy disks. Just don't delete anything unless you know you don't need it- only files you created, or temp files as above. After you are done- a good Scandisk and Defrag would probably help. If you know how, do them from Safe Mode, much easier. 
Safe Mode- diagnostic mode of Windows, runs the same except for some drivers, video in 16 color mode....hold the CTRL key at bootup to get a menu that will have "Safe Mode" as an option. Desktop comes up with "Safe Mode" in four corners of your screen. Using Safe Mode, you do have to disable your screensaver to use Scandisk/Defrag.


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## Nelly22 (Jan 29, 2003)

Byteman,

Thanx again...Did as you suggested....deleted Temp Internet & older Temp files...wow, like you said, they build up....has freed up some space....can see about 1/6 of the pie now.....now I think I will get rid of some shareware programs, but some are not listed in the ADD\REMOVE....they must be taking up a lot of space....I can't just delete them,right? cause that only deletes the name and not the program off the hard drive? right?.....need to uninstall it? to be rid of it?.....

tried to use the housecall.antivirus as you suggested....but it said "Error: unable to load Virus Scan Engine" tried 3-4 times....before and after dumping temp. stuff.....don't really want to download it, right?..it'll only put more stuff on the C: drive, right?...also,need to try to figure out how to uninstall something when it's not in the ADD\REMOVE....need to figure out if the other stuff in the ADD\REMOVE are things needed.....and then, how come, when I do uninstall something, I go to Find, type it in, and it's still listed??Oh well, will work on it again in the next ay or so....

Thankyou Byteman, for helping me get some extra free space...oh, I was a bit disappointed that I could not compress C: Drive, but is it true that although compressing frees up disk space, it also slows computer speed??


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## Byteman (Jan 24, 2002)

Nelly22- Good going on freeing some space up. 
If you have shareware programs and have paid for them, wait just a bit before uninstalling them. There may be alternatives- generally, you cannot reinstall them, for free. If they were demo versions- some cannot be removed after they expire. They have to be manually dealt with. 
What you need to do is to go to Start>Programs>look at each program you have installed- if there are any that you know you do not need, like a game or something like PrintMaster Gold that you have on a CD and only used once....there may be an uninstall button in the menu next to the program. It's either there or in Add/Remove. Yes, these two ways are how you remove a program and all it's files from the hard drive. If you just delete their folders, you will leave a mess behind and in the system Registry. You can also free space by temporarily removing some unneeded Windows components....like Destop Themes, screensavers, Windows Games, Calculator, Wallpaper, Multimedia Sound Themes- now, there are some you do NOT want to remove....like Dial Up Networking. 
You do this from Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs>Windows Setup. Each category has a Details button- it will show the size of the separate components. Try the Multimedia Sound Themes, you do not need this, and odds and ends like Accessibility, unless you need the magnifyer....Remove Calculator, Desktop Themes, Wallpaper.....all this stuff can be reinstalled...from the same location. You might need your Windows CD to reinstall them, unless the Windows .CAB files are on the hard drive. 
Unless there is someone doing a lot of installing/downloading, or you have a very small capacity hard drive, your disk should not be filling itself up. You have to keep track of free space if you DO have like a 1 or 2 gigabyte hard drive. Very easy to fill one. Some games on CDs are almost 1 gigabyte-. 
One older friend of mine joined a club, that sends her demo programs, free programs on Cds- had her drive filled up and useless in no time! Of course, one solution is a larger capacity hard drive. For the compression question: Yes, what it does is create more space- but, you cannot compress your drive if you use the FAT 32 file system. I would venture to say that compression can slow things down- it's a matter of how you do it, there are different ratios of compression, and that's all I know, I can't use it, either with win98se.


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## Nelly22 (Jan 29, 2003)

Thankyou, again, Byteman, for your last response. Seeing that I can not compress, I've been getting rid of some stuff and has freed up a little more space. How can I tell what capacity hard drive this is?.....I lost or mis-placed info re: computer....I have recently downloaded some shareware/freeware stuff,(eg: accounting programs)...I needed them temporarily, ....(I'm back in school)...but some of them are not in the add/remove, so don't know how to get rid of them completely.....
Also, when I am in the Add/Remove, how do I know that what is listed there, that it is something that is important to run windows?.....don't want to uninstall stuff that will mess up Windows.........Is everything that starts off with the word Microsoft important...an absolute no to the delete button? 
When I do unistall something, it says, "Uninstalled completed. Some elements could not be removed. You should manually remove items related to the application."
Are there certain things that should most definitely not be done away with?...such as something ending in exe.? but OK to remove endings with txt. ?
I would like to free up some space because my present school courses require graphics, how do I know this computer will accomodate this?
Too bad someone couldn't just look at my hard-drive and tell me what to get rid of. 
Thanx


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## Byteman (Jan 24, 2002)

Nelly22- To check the free, used, and total capacity of the hard drive....Right click My Computer, Open, Right click Disk C:>Properties again....the pie chart shows the space used, free and it tells you the two added togehter=capacity in MBs or Gigabytes...if you are going to be doing graphix work, you may indeed need something like a 30 Gig hard drive....it depends on what you are going to be doing. Editing video files, like movies or digital video recordings YOU WILL need tons of space, a good processor, good memory and lots of it, a well trimmed startup profile, (less things running at startup of Windows)....
As far as uninstalling things from Add/Remove:
Some drivers, maybe modem, sound, video or others might be in there, your antivirus would be, Windows components are, and of course your games and programs. 
You need oh, maybe 300 megabytes at a minimum of free space to just operate, uninstall, do work. Having less than that can seriously slow you down.....
Might be the time to get a larger hard drive and reinstall just Windows, do the Internet Explorer updates and Windows Updates, put on just programs you need, drivers, antivirus, upgrade RAM memory.... and use it that way. 
Perhaps you know a good tech type who could handle this for you? A brand new large hard drive is anywhere from $50 up. 
For your system, you might not be able to use the whole drive as just one entire partition....but, drives come with software that will allow you to use it all. 
You can also partition a new drive using fdisk that is part of Windows bootdisks.....provided your system BIOS can recognize the drive....if not, use drive overlay that comes with the drive.
If putting money into this machine is not an option, and you are NOT going to be working with large video files, just ordinary pics.....well, as I said, you can pare down Windows itself, from Add/Remove, Windows Setup.....things like Desktop Themes, Multimedia Sound Schemes, take up large amounts of space and are usually not neccessary. You might need Media Player, though, but not Themes.....You have to look through the categories, see what is installed, most installs are Typical, and a lot of things are not needed.....Virtual Private networking, unless the school requires that as a connection....have a look in there.
Other than that....you are right, you have to know what you can remove. Perhaps, post a list of programs from Add/Remove Programs and let us see what is there? 
you could also post what Windows Setup has in each category.
My advice would be to find out exactly what type of work you are doing, post that, and the basic specs of your computer....use the Belarc Advisor, post the whole thing in a reply, but please edit out your Windows Product Key first! 
The Advisor will show us enough to help you. Here:
www.belarc.com 
You want the Free Download link, put it on desktop, its a very small program...2 click to install it, then start the program from the new icon on your desktop that it creates....


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## Nelly22 (Jan 29, 2003)

Thankyou, Byteman, for referring me to belarc. Never new something like that existed...It sure is neat

>My advice would be to find out exactly what type of work you >are doing, post that, and the basic specs of your >computer....use the Belarc Advisor, post the whole thing in a >reply, but please edit out your Windows Product Key first! 
>The Advisor will show us enough to help you. Here: 
<www.belarc.com

Sorry, but I am not sure of how to post the basic specs to the list, and do not know what you mean by editing Windows Product Key. I certainly do not want to send a long, long post to the list. I know that is probably annoying to others. Now, here is a stupid question....is it possible to install the same program twice, maybe a different version? or would the computer know enough not to install if it already has it? Can you see why I went back to school???


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## Byteman (Jan 24, 2002)

Hi Nelly- There is no need to be reluctant to post a somewhat longer post than usual....if it has to be, it has to be.
We need, from the Belarc program, the specs like this:
CPU or Processor speed, it's in megahertz
An example: Intel 266mhz 
System or Main Memory (RAM) 
An example: 128megabtyes or MB's
System or Main Board=
that's the motherboard, it does not show all of them.
Operating System= (an example, Windows 95B
Internet Explorer version
an example: IE 5.5 SP1
System Model=
Local Drive Volumes=

And that does it. I intended to have you just copy and paste the whole page into a reply, we do that all the time....the Windows Product Key is your ID code, 25 letter and number thingy that you must have to reinstall Windows....it's the same as your driver's license, just for Windows.....if you have it safe someplace, such as on the cover of the Windows booklet, that is fine....I like to write it down just in case. Did not want you pasting that "in public"- it's just a precaution some of us take. 
Relax, answer when you can. The specs are just to see what the machine might or might not be capable of...compared to what type of video work you are going to be doing....if you can, answer that, too- if it is a lot of heavy duty film type work, video editing, where you need a very large capacity drive for storage, we can easily tell if you are "short" something from the drive volume answer you will provide. Disk space, for short! 
Free space vs. used vs. total size of your drive(s)....


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## Nelly22 (Jan 29, 2003)

Hi Byteman,

I am hoping that this is what you are referring to. If not, sorry for such a large post ....anyways, notice that Winzip & Norton is in there twice and a couple others, does that mean they are taking up twice the space if I don't get rid of any?.....I bought this computer, 5 - 7 yrs. ago, and I know that by todays standards, it is old.....but was told back then I would never run out of space....

I will not be doing anything like video work, but will be installing CorelDraw, which you are probably familiar with, and whatever Corel is capable of, is what I will be working in(CorelDraw8, not the latest). But, will I have the room to install and work in it?....What can I get rid of to make room for it? I will find out tomorrow how much space Corel takes...We use CorelDraw10 in school....would be helpful to have it at home too.

Don't want to sound like a broken record, but thankyou so much.

Operating System System Model 
Windows 95 B (OSR2) (build 4.0.1111) Niagara Electronics Inc. Magitronic Intel Pentium MMX 
Processor a Main Circuit Board b 
233 megahertz Intel Pentium II
32 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache Board: Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. i440LX-8661 
Bus Clock: 66 megahertz
BIOS: Award Software International, Inc. 4.51 PG 11/23/00 
Drives Memory Modules c 
6.43 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
850 Megabytes Hard Drive Free Space

MAT****A CD-ROM CR-585
Generic floppy disk drive (3.5")
MAT****A LS-120 COSM 04 (3.5") [Floppy drive]

ST36451A (6.45 GB) [Hard drive] -- drive 0 64 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot '0' has 32 MB
Slot '1' has 32 MB
Slot '2' is Empty
Slot '3' is Empty 
Local Drive Volumes

c: (on drive 0) 6.43 GB 850 MB free

Logins Network Drives 
No details available

Installed Microsoft Hotfixes Printers 
UPD001 (OLE 32 update) 
UPD002 (Shell update) 
UPD003 (Common dialog update for Windows 3.1 print drivers) 
UPD004 (File and printer sharing update for Microsoft Networks) 
UPD005 (File and printer sharing update for Netware Networks) 
UPD006 (Vredir update for Samba UNIX servers) 
UPD007 (Enhanced password cache security update) 
UPD008 (System Agent update) 
UPD010 (Printer Port update) 
UPD256015 (details...) 
UPD971126B2 (Windows TCP Driver Update for Winsock2) 
Y2K.W95.DUN (Windows 95 DUN 1.3/WS2 Update) 
Internet Explorer 
SP2 (SP2) 
OSR2 
UPD273991 (details...) 
W95 
UPD168115 (details...) 
UPD238453 (details...) 
UPD245729 (details...) 
UPD259728 (details...) Reinstall!

Click here to see all available security Hotfixes.

Marks a HotFix that verifies correctly 
Marks a HotFix that fails verification 
(Failing hotfixes need to be reinstalled) 
An unmarked HotFix lacks the data to allow verification HP DeskJet 720C Series on LPT1:

Controllers Display 
Standard Floppy Disk Controller
Intel(r) 82371AB/EB/MB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo) RAGE PRO TURBO AGP 2X (English) [Display adapter]
Plug and Play Monitor 
Bus Adapters Multimedia 
Intel(r) 82371AB/EB/MB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller Creative AWE64 16-bit Audio (SB16 compatible)
Creative AWE64 Wavetable MIDI (AWE32 compatible)
Creative Gameport Joystick 
Communications Other Devices 
Standard Modem
Microsoft Virtual Private Networking Adapter
WAN Miniport (ATW)
Network IP Address: 172.141.59.97 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard
Standard PS/2 Port Mouse 
Software Licenses

ACCPAC International - Simply Accounting Pro v9.0 Trial Version TrialVersion 
Microsoft - Internet Explorer 
Microsoft - Windows 95 B (OSR2)

Software Versions 
ACCPAC International, Inc. - CustRep Version 1.00 * 
ACCPAC International, Inc. - Simply Accounting Pro Version 9.0 * 
ACCPAC International, Inc. - Simply Accounting Version 9.0 * 
Adobe Acrobat Reader Version 5.0.0.0 * 
America Online Version 7.00.000 * 
America Online, Inc. Sinf Application Version 7.00.000 * 
Apple Computer, Inc. - QuickTime QuickTime 6.0.2 * 
AWS, Inc.WeatherBug Version 5, 0, 0, 1 * 
Belarc, Inc. - BelManage Client Version 5.1m * 
Buzz-Catalog Version 2.04 * 
Convert * 
Demo Version of Typing Pal 3.0 Version 3, 0, 0, 0 * 
Des * 
F Ut * 
Hewlett-Packard Co. - HP DeskJet 720C Series A.03.01.03 * 
HobbyWare, Inc. - Pattern Maker Viewer Version 3.1.0.0 * 
L&E * 
Les Logiciels de Marque inc. - Typing Pal Spy Version 3, 0, 0, 0 * 
Macromedia Director Version 6.0.1 * 
Micrografx ABC FlowCharter Version 6.0 * 
Micrografx ABC Graphics Suite Version 6.00.001 * 
Micrografx Designer Version 6.0 * 
Micrografx, Inc. Picture Publisher Version 6.00a * Microsoft (r) Windows Script Host Version 5.1.0.4615 * 
Microsoft Backup Version 4.0.952 * 
Microsoft Corporation - DirectShow Version 6.4.07.1112 * 
Microsoft Corporation - Internet Explorer Version 5.51.4807.2300 * 
Microsoft Encarta 1998 World Atlas Version 03.00.08.1600 * 
Microsoft® FrontPage(TM) Version 2.0.2.1118 * 
Nullsoft - Winamp Version 2.75 * 
Order Version 1, 0, 0, 1 * 
p s c * 
RealNetworks, Inc. - RealPlayer (32-bit) Version 6.0.9.584 * 
Symantec Core Technology Version 8.5.0.170 * 
Symantec Corporation - Norton AntiVirus Version 4.5.0.114 * 
Symantec Corporation - Norton AntiVirus Version 4.5.1.129 * 
The Microsoft® Network Version 1.60.0 * 
The Microsoft® Network Version 4.2.5799 * 
Ulead - iPhoto Plus Version 4.0 * 
Ulead Systems, Inc. - iPhoto Plus 4 * 
Ulead Systems, Inc. - iPhoto Plus 4 Explorer * 
WATCHDOG Version 1.0.001 * 
Wilson WindowWare, Inc. - WinBatch Version 97d * 
WinZip Version 8.1 (4319) * 
WinZip Version 8.1 SR-1 (5266) *

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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## Byteman (Jan 24, 2002)

Hi Holly, Excellent job with the info....

If you have to use the Encarta Encyclopoedia, leave it installed, if not, it can go....I believe you can run this from the CD....at least most of these programs allow it....you can check the CD, if you have it...just put it in, browse any directions, Help, may tell you at start of the CD. Like I said, if you absolutely need it, leave it....check the size of the program folder (Right click it's main folder in Program Files, Properties) 
What does Add/Remove Programs show you far as how many separate versions of Norton AV? If it shows two exactly alike names, wait a bit on trying to uninstall any. Sometimes old entries remain in the list....
Windows Explorer> Disk C: Program Files
Are there two NAV folders, and do their Properties show about the same size? With sub-folders, and are there two Live Updates entries? 
From Start>Programs>Are there two NAV programs shown?
(Sorry about the real basic stuff, just trying to be thorough)
Usually, NAV shows what year it was issued, like NAV 2000...on desktop icons, or in Program menu...
did you upgrade at some point? I don't think NAV will install without telling you that it found an earlier version...but I may be wrong...a good search from Windows Explorer is about the only way to tell, if someone installed a newer version into a custom folder, instead of the default C:\Program Files, it could well be a second copy, but might be a program update from Symantec??
WinZip= mine I thought was pretty new, it's ver. 4331. 
As before, look for second main program folder on hard drive.
And, in Add/Remove. The SR-1 is the newer download, but still a free one. 
Only other thing I see is that you are using MS Backup- if you are making full system backups, they eat space like crazy. It could be just an installed component, and you are not using it....if not, it can be uninstalled from the Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs>>Windows Setup applet...
Given your situation I think I will advise you install a used or new second hard drive-- you have only 850 odd megs of free space. Considering today's programs, and possibly a lot of graphics work, that is as yet unknown, you may end up filling your drive to the point that you cannot uninstall anything, or do much...at least not without VERY careful monitoring, which can be pretty time consuming, etc. A second drive will give you plenty of breathing room, place to keep valuable work files, or second copies of them, without taxing your C: drive and driving you crazy with space checking, deleting stuff....and, if anything happened to your main drive, which is 5-7 yrs old, where would you be??
An added hard drive does not require reinstalling everything, it just goes in and is simply a big empty space. It does not need to have Windows installed on it. Given the age of your system, there might be a problem installing a large hard drive, but no trouble or very little from anything like another 6, 7, 8 gig drive-IF you can find one. You might even be able to use a large one, if it was partitioned into two or more drives. Your system's BIOS is the determining factor...what it can "see" or use as one drive- Win95 has limitations, also. (You have a 6.45 gig now, so it is not the old 2 gig limit....might go up to 8.4 gigs with no hassle) You can find used drives in computer stores, from techs, family and friends....most people just heave them with their old computers, here the stores give small drives away)
I checked out Corel Draw 8....the program itself uses 80 megabytes to install it's files, without anything you create/store as part of school. That's a fairly large suite, about as big as Win95 itself. Here is a good link to check the system requirements, features, demos of it, etc, by the way, your computer exceeds all the req's. 
http://www.corel.com/products/graphicsandpublishing/draw8/inthebox.htm


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## Nelly22 (Jan 29, 2003)

Hi Byteman,

I was still trying to make more room in drive C.....uninstalled Encyclopedia, got rid of some shareware/freeware stuff, deleted some files/folders/games etc, other items that I didn't use too much, but it was only freeing up a bit of MB at a time....about 100MB....not much left to take out..
......but what was really nagging me was that, I had always checked the free space, when installing or adding something, and always had plenty of space left, and then all of a sudden, all the free space was gone, I couldn't figure out what it was that would take up this space so quickly.......
Whenever I rebooted, for whatever reason, the scan disk would come on....scanned the drives..... and said it fixed whatever needed fixing, so I thought all was well in that area.....because I couldn't compress, I thought I would run the Disk Defragment.....wouldn't work....said I needed to run scan disk first.....scan disk kept restarting over and over...couldn't do that either.....It was not really fixing a file error that said it was fixed when the scan ran after a reboot.......finally, I found one little file that had an error.....deleted it.....ran the Defragment thing....this time it took....when all was done I regained over 3/4 of the hard drive...looking at the pie in Drive C properties, the used space and free space is completely reversed, looks the way it did a little while ago....If you look below, I now have 5.37 Gigs of free space, compared to 850 MB free space, as you saw in my previous post.....and all I did was delete a little file....somehow, it must of messed up the space or it made the computer think it had only a little space left.....I don't get it....took me long enough, ......just glad I didn't give up...I don't mean to sound hokey, but I also have you to thank for, you were right there giving me suggestions, and referring me to Belarc etc. I learned a lot from you ....... now I feel comfortable installing CorelDraw/Clipart....or for that matter, anything else too......just glad to have my space back...but, like I said, I just don't get it.....from around 900 MB free space to 5.37 Gig free space????just from deleting a file??? Go figure



Drives Memory 
6.43 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
5.37 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

Local Drive Volumes 

c: (on drive 0) 6.43 GB 5.37 GB free


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## Byteman (Jan 24, 2002)

Holly22- Good work! Never pays to quit unless you want to quit getting paid....I forgot who said that, but maybe it was me! Windows (and some other apps) are really famous for mis-representing free and used space. As I wrote in my first reply, I have seen exactly the same situation with Win95B....complete reversal of free vs. used space. I think it may have been your swapfile that it was seeing as "used" space....eventually, something registered it back to normal. We hope....? Scandisk sometimes takes a few tries to get things straightened out....a Thorough scandisk once in awhile will alert you to bad sectors on your hard drive. Hard drives can last a long time, more than 10 years, but failure is sometimes quick, with little warning. Not too much you can do- be prepared, back things up well and maintain the system.
Windows itself on most systems needs to be reinstalled freshly every few years....that is a reccommendation, not a requirement, though. The reinstall with a full format of the hard drive is not normal maintainence, (but a look in the forums might make you think it was....) it has a learning curve and a half! 
The scandisk can run from Safe Mode as well as Normal.
If you have problems with stopping, try it from Safe Mode- press and hold the CTRL key at startup, select "Safe Mode" from the menu you see. It will look greyed out due to video drivers and others, not running....the CD drive is not usable in Safe Mode, too. Screensavers are one cause of scandisk or defrag not running straight through....there are other things that do this. 
You should have plenty of space for whatever you want to do with Corel Draw. Hope you checked the info page on that. 
When it comes right down to it....you the owner know the machine you use the best....you KNEW there had to be more space on that hard drive....glad you found it! Stop by anytime.
YOU'RE
[tsg=welcome][/tsg]


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