[EmmaE]

Hi, Geeks to Go!

 

It's been a long time since I've needed you, but I'm here with a mess of a problem that I hope you can shed some light on.  Here's what's happening:  First off, I work on my PC from home.  I use Eclipse CAT software, which is an editing software for court docs, transcripts, etc., (wav and text files).  All of a sudden a couple weeks ago, Dropbox wouldn't let me download files; still won't.  The holidays came and went, and when I was trying to pick up a job the other day, it still wouldn't let me.  Even through another file transfer site, it wouldn't let me.  After trying to figure this out for days, a window finally popped up that said my storage was full.  So I go to see just how full, and I'm down to lower than 20 percent.  So I take it to Office Depot for them to run a diagnostic on my PC, and they say that everything came back looking good as far as operation and that they can't see why what I have on my PC is taking up that kind of space; that I need to defrag, copy pics and videos, music, docs, etc., on to a flash drive, which I had already been in the process of doing.  After the defrag with 9 passes and 2 disk cleanups yesterday, I only have 50.6 GBs.  There are no other large programs that I have on my PC that should take up a lot of space.  I've always kept it pretty clean, mainly for work.  And I thought that Win 7 was supposed to automatically degrag.  I set it up that way in the beginning.  My PC is a little over 7 years old, FYI, a Toshiba Satellite, one tough little PC here. 

 

So how can I tell what else is going on?  Is it possible to free up any more space?  The last thing I need to do right now is buy a new PC.  This is my work PC.  I don't want another one!  I like this one.  :-)  Any advice or suggestions would be most appreciated.  Keep in mind that I am NOT tech savvy.  I await your response before I head out to purchase a new PC.  I have to get income in and can't wait on my own understanding of these things; I will rely on yours.  Thanks so, so much!  Emma     

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Hello EmmaE,

 

Can you take a couple of expanded screenshots of Disk Manager and upload them for us;

 

1. Click on the Start button and then choose Control Panel.

2. Click on the System and Security link.

Note: If you're viewing the Large icons or Small iconsview of Control Panel, you won't see this link so just click on the Administrative Tools icon and skip to Step 4.

3. In the System and Security window, click on the Administrative Tools heading located near the bottom of the window.

4. In the Administrative Tools window, double-click on the Computer Management icon.

5. When Computer Management opens, click on Disk Management on the left side of the window, located under Storage.

After a brief loading period, Disk Management should now appear on the right side of the Computer Management window.

Note: If you don't see Disk Management listed, you may need to click on the |> icon to the left of the Storage icon.

 

To capture and post a screenshot;

 

Click on the ALT key + PRT SCR key..its on the top row..right hand side..now click on start...all programs...accessories...paint....left click in the white area ...press CTRL + V...click on file...click on save...save it to your desktop...name it something related to the screen your capturing... BE SURE TO SAVE IT AS A .JPG ...otherwise it may be to big to upload... then after typing in any response you have... click on browse...desktop...find the screenshot..select it and click on the upload button...then on the lower left...after it says upload successful...click on add reply like you normally would.

 

Screenshot instructions are provided to assist those that may read this topic but are not yet aware of the “how to”.

[phillpower2]

Hello EmmaE,

 

Can you take a couple of expanded screenshots of Disk Manager and upload them for us;

 

1. Click on the Start button and then choose Control Panel.

2. Click on the System and Security link.

Note: If you're viewing the Large icons or Small iconsview of Control Panel, you won't see this link so just click on the Administrative Tools icon and skip to Step 4.

3. In the System and Security window, click on the Administrative Tools heading located near the bottom of the window.

4. In the Administrative Tools window, double-click on the Computer Management icon.

5. When Computer Management opens, click on Disk Management on the left side of the window, located under Storage.

After a brief loading period, Disk Management should now appear on the right side of the Computer Management window.

Note: If you don't see Disk Management listed, you may need to click on the |> icon to the left of the Storage icon.

 

To capture and post a screenshot;

 

Click on the ALT key + PRT SCR key..its on the top row..right hand side..now click on start...all programs...accessories...paint....left click in the white area ...press CTRL + V...click on file...click on save...save it to your desktop...name it something related to the screen your capturing... BE SURE TO SAVE IT AS A .JPG ...otherwise it may be to big to upload... then after typing in any response you have... click on browse...desktop...find the screenshot..select it and click on the upload button...then on the lower left...after it says upload successful...click on add reply like you normally would.

 

Screenshot instructions are provided to assist those that may read this topic but are not yet aware of the “how to”.

[EmmaE]

phillpower2, I had an issue with the prt/sc key not working correctly.  It doesn't do anything when I click it.  When I go to paint, it doesn't paste it.  So I took a screenshot with my phone and then downloaded it.  Is there a way to upload that screenshot to you?  Any other suggestions?  Thank you.  And I can type what it says if you need me to.  It's not all that much. 

[phillpower2]

No worries, we can get the info another way and at some point I was going to ask for the following in any event;

 

Download then run Speccy (free) and post the resultant url for us, details here,  this will provide us with information about your computer hardware + any software that you have installed that may explain the present issue/s. 

[EmmaE]

Phillpower2, here's the url. Thank you so much! http://speccy.pirifo...JXQr5yX7TIYR7jV

[phillpower2]

Looks like we have found the problem, it was what I was checking for by asking for screenshots of Disk Manager.

 

You are low on free storage space on the HDD which is preventing Windows from working properly, from installing major updates but is putting you at risk of malware attack, you need to free up space on the HDD so that you have at least 116GB, see your HDD info and storage space info/explanation below;

 

Partition 1

Partition ID: Disk #0, Partition #1

Disk Letter: C:

File System: NTFS

Volume Serial Number: 4686EA20

Size: 465 GB

Used Space: 422 GB (90%)

Free Space: 43 GB (10%)

Please note that in order to avoid data corruption and/or mechanical HDD failure you must always have a minimum of 20 to 25% of the HDDs or partitions overall storage capacity available as free space where Windows is installed and between 10 and 15% of a HDDs overall storage capacity available as free space if there is data only on it, the free space allows for information to be copied to and from the drive efficiently particularly important for Windows file swapping and the installation of OS and AV updates.

Not having the above can render a computer inoperable if the HDD concerned has the OS on it due to the MBR (Master Boot Record) becoming damaged/corrupt, please see information here and here

 

 

Uninstall any old games, programs, music, videos etc any data that you wish to keep you need to copy to an external storage device or burn to disk, please note that you cannot copy games or programs from the drive as they will not work.

[phillpower2]

Not heard back from you EmmaE, do you still require assistance or is the issue now resolved, an update would be appreciated.

[EmmaE]

phillpower2, I apologize.  I did reply, but it was from my phone.  I guess it didn't take.  I was waiting to hear back from you.  :-)  Again, my apologies.  I have already done the things you suggest I do.  Like I said in the beginning post, I've defragged, cleaned up disks, put all videos, pics, documents on a flash drive.  I didn't have that many.  In the software I use, which is Advantage software, a CAT software for editing files), I have deleted the wav files that hadn't been deleted yet.  I keep that cleaned up as I go.  So I don't know of anything else.  I read somewhere that old windows update files could be lagging around and taking up space, that windows should delete them when finished, but they don't always get deleted.  What are your thoughts?  There's got to be a way to figure this out.  It's a perfectly good PC that I can still use if I have space.  

 

I did find my recovery disks from the Toshiba last night.  Should I start from scratch?  Is that what I would need?  I'm scared to death to every try it.  

 

Thanks again, phillpower2!

[phillpower2]

No worries, I always check back with folk if I don`t hear back from them after three days just in case a reply has gone amiss somewhere 

 

Set your system restore point limit to 5GB "how to" here this allows around 1GB per system restore point which is fine as some could be a lot smaller than 1GB.

 

Like I said in the beginning post, I've defragged, cleaned up disks, put all videos, pics, documents on a flash drive. 

 

 

With this being a work computer you will obviously do a lot more file swapping than the average user but you should still not overdo defragging the HDD, the average user depending on use every month or two and power users perhaps once every one to two weeks, again depending on use, defragging puts a HDD under stress and overdoing defrags can actually fragment the data on the HDD and start causing problems.

 

I read somewhere that old windows update files could be lagging around and taking up space, that windows should delete them when finished, 

 

 

Depending on how good with Windows folk are dictates as to what they should and should not tinker with, setting system restore capacity limits is normally fine but anything else should be off limits, please be careful what you delete.

 

You can check for any old unneeded updates using a Windows 7 add on which you can download from here not sure that it will free up much space tbh.

 

There's got to be a way to figure this out.  It's a perfectly good PC that I can still use if I have space.  

 

 

There is 

 

Get yourself an external USB HDD for backing up to, a 500GB HDD is relatively unheard of on home computers these days with 1TB tending to be the norm, fwiw, any computer that I put together for folk these days either has a minimum of a 256GB SSD just for Windows and a 1TB HDD for storing their data on or alternatively a 1TB HDD that has been partitioned so that Windows is on its own separate 250GB+ partition.

 

I did find my recovery disks from the Toshiba last night.  Should I start from scratch?  Is that what I would need?  I'm scared to death to every try it.  

 

 

Good that you have them but don`t panic, there is nothing to suggest that they will be needed atm.

 

 

For you to do, run the disc clean up add on, post an expanded screenshot of Disk Manager "how to" below and post an updates Speccy url for us.

 

 

Disk Manager steps;

 

1. Click on the Start button and then choose Control Panel.

2. Click on the System and Security link.

Note: If you're viewing the Large icons or Small iconsview of Control Panel, you won't see this link so just click on the Administrative Tools icon and skip to Step 4.

3. In the System and Security window, click on the Administrative Tools heading located near the bottom of the window.

4. In the Administrative Tools window, double-click on the Computer Management icon.

5. When Computer Management opens, click on Disk Management on the left side of the window, located under Storage.

After a brief loading period, Disk Management should now appear on the right side of the Computer Management window.

Note: If you don't see Disk Management listed, you may need to click on the |> icon to the left of the Storage icon.

 

To capture and post a screenshot;

 

Click on the ALT key + PRT SCR key..its on the top row..right hand side..now click on start...all programs...accessories...paint....left click in the white area ...press CTRL + V...click on file...click on save...save it to your desktop...name it something related to the screen your capturing... BE SURE TO SAVE IT AS A .JPG ...otherwise it may be to big to upload... then after typing in any response you have... click on browse...desktop...find the screenshot..select it and click on the upload button...then on the lower left...after it says upload successful...click on add reply like you normally would.

 

Screenshot instructions are provided to assist those that may read this topic but are not yet aware of the “how to”.

[EmmaE]

Thanks so much phillpower2.  I will begin with the disk cleanup add on first.  Bear with me as I also take care of my mom.  I'm trying to do many things at once.  As soon as I get to this, I'll reply back to you again.  I really, really appreciate this help!

[EmmaE]

phillpower2, I tried to go ahead and run the add on after I posted the last message. Here's what I'm running into. The only options that are checked are the following on disk cleanup: downloaded program files, temporary Internet files, offline webpages, recycle bin, service pack backup files, temporary files, thumbnails, per user archived windows error repo, system archived windows error reporting. *the only one that wasn't checked was system queued windows error reporting.

The instructions say I need the option of Windows Update Cleanup, but it's not an option. I'll wait to hear back from you before going forward.

Emma

[phillpower2]

After you downloaded and installed the disk clean up add on, did you restart the computer first before trying to run the tool.

 

No worries about any delay between replies, family always comes first 

[EmmaE]

Phillpower2, I went through the same steps twice more logged in as administrator, and I see the same results. And I was sure to restart each time. Not what we're looking for. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[phillpower2]

Could be down to lack of free storage space on the HDD, it is related to the Windows OS after all, to do instead;

 

Please download MINITOOLBOX and run it.

Checkmark the following boxes:

Flush DNS
Reset FF proxy Settings
Reset Ie Proxy Settings
Report IE Proxy Settings
Report FF Proxy Settings
List content of Hosts
List IP configuration
List Winsock Entries
List last 10 Event Viewer log
List Installed Programs
List Users, Partitions and Memory size
List Devices (problems only)

 Attach the results to your next reply for us please.

[phillpower2]

Not heard back from you EMMaE, do you still require assistance or is the issue now resolved, an update would be appreciated.