This seems to be more of a hard drive question, however I will share my "cleansing" process with you in hope maybe that will help.
First off, I turn off the restore points function. If my computer goes that wrong, I'd rather just reformat. However remember that if something gets messed up, you will not be able to go back to a safe restore point and may likely have to reformat the entire hard drive and do a Windows re-installation. Use at your own caution!
You do not specify an operating system, but I just assume you are using Windows 7 like many, here is how you turn off restore points:
(This literally racks up GBs like no other!)
* Click START menu
* Right click COMPUTER
* Click PROPERTIES
* On left side, click SYSTEM PROTECTION
* Go to SYSTEM PROTECTION tab at top
* Under "protection Settings" highlight LOCAL DISK C:
* Click CONFIGURE
* Check off TURN OFF SYSTEM PROTECTION
* At bottom, slide slider all the way to left and click DELETE
*** THIS WILL DELETE ALL RESTORE POINTS ***
*** USE AT YOUR OWN CAUTION ***
I do this and saves me time, memory (from Windows constantly creating restore points) and space.
Now to clear up all your temp files...
This process works on Windows 7 but is similar for at least Windows XP I believe (been long since I used that one!)
WARNING: THIS WILL CLEAR ALL TEMP FILES AND INTERNET CACHE INCLUDING SAVED PASSWORDS AND INTERNET HISTORY.
(I do this on a regular basis)
1) Click START menu
2) Go to CONTROL PANEL
3) Go to "INTERNET OPTIONS"
4) Go to GENERAL tab
5) Under "Browsing History", click DELETE
6) Check all boxes, click DELETE
7) Click OK and go back to CONTROL PANEL
8) If you have Java, click JAVA
9) Under "Temporary Internet Files" click SETTINGS
10) I personally un-check the box that says "Keep temporary files on this computer"
11) At bottom, click DELETE FILES
12) Select all boxes, click OK, then OK, then OK
13) Go back to CONTROL PANEL
14) If you have Flash Player, click FLASH PLAYER
15) On "Storage" tab, click DELETE ALL
16) Check both boxes, then DELETE DATA, then close Flash windows
17) Close CONTROL PANEL
This is where your TEMP folders are:
1) Click START menu
2) Go to COMPUTER
3) Go to LOCAL DISK C:
4) Go to USERS folder, then find your USER NAME FOLDER, then APPDATA folder, then LOCAL folder, then TEMP folder.
5) You can delete all files in the TEMP folder
Windows TEMP folder:
1) Click START menu
2) Go to COMPUTER
3) Go to LOCAL DISK C:
4) Go to WINDOWS folder, then go to TEMP folder
5) You can delete all files in the TEMP folder
Clear up Windows / hard drive:
1) Click START menu
2) Go to COMPUTER
3) Right-click LOCAL DISK C:, click PROPERTIES
4) On GENERAL tab, click DISK CLEANUP
5) Let it calculate files to be deleted, then check all boxes and Click OK
Get a program called CCLEANER:
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner
Now you can run CCLEANER, analyze your system then click RUN CLEANER
DONE!
Your computer will be officially cleared of MOST Windows / internet temp files and should run "a little" better!
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