I need a disk cleaner tool...

[bakalhau]

What's the best tool out there to clean up my hard drive? I'm looking for something easy to use, free and that requires little space to install. Basically I've uninstalled everything I didn't need, I've cleared the Temp folder even though it's empty, but nothing seems to free up space in my C: drive. Right now I was streaming some Youtube videos and I saw the various warnings popping out saying the drive was very low on disk space. This is weird because the temporary folder has nothing on it... The Windows XP tool won't work, while checking the files it just hangs there.



So yeah... suggestions are welcom

 

[btk1w1]

Ccleaner is a very effective disk cleanup utility and hugely popular too.

www.ccleaner.com (3.02MB)

When you download and install Ccleaner remember to uncheck the installation of the yahoo toolbar if you don't want it (I personally prefer not to have it junking up my systems). While it has a larger installation file size I feel it is more effective than an alternative ATF cleaner. It has many more options also.

ATF cleaner:

http://majorgeeks.com/ATF_Cleaner_d4949.html (50KB)

 

[tcsenter]

Other places to look for temporary files are:

C:\Windows\Temp\
C:\Documents and Settings\{User Name}\Local Settings\Temp

You should have folder options set to show hidden and protected system files. Go to Control Panel > Folder Options > View Tab > Advanced Settings:

- Check the box for Display the contents of system folders
- Check the box for Show hidden files and folders
- Clear the box for Hide protected operating system files

There often can be up to a few hundred MB worth located in these folders, though I've seen a couple unusual cases with over 1GB. If you can't delete some files in these directories because they are currently in use, restart in Safe Mode then try again.

You aren't usually going to have gigabytes of temp files accumulate in Windows XP that Disk Cleanup won't touch. If you are still low on disk space after running Disk Cleanup and cleaning these directories, you should consider a larger hard disk.

 

[Zoron]

How much space is take up by media (audio, video, pictures) files? If you've cleaned everything else out... then this is your most likely culprit. Either that or you have a very small hard drive... anything smaller than 40GB should be immediately upgraded.

There is also a small chance you have a virus that is filling your hard drive with junk files.