Computer help forum: What is filling hard drive space?

After looking at my own hard drive; Program Files (x86) uses up about 45GB, Windows uses about 5GB, and System Restore uses up 12% every time it creates a restore point (whether it be after installing an update, (un)installing a program, and the daily restore points)...so after 5 years of never deleting a single restore point, guess where all the used space is. It's in System Restore.
To delete these points, go to:
Start--Control Panel--System and Maintenance--Administrative Tools--Free up disc space--Disc Cleanup--More Options--System Restore and Shadow Copies " Clean up "
Cleaning up System Restore will take a few minutes, but you'll be able to retrieve a great deal of space (after only a couple of weeks, I can usually retrieve about 15 to 20GB of space)

Have you considered the space that temporary (web and other) files can take up, if never cleaned out, this could amount to some serious space.

that might be of some help for you, it's called Disk Analyzer Pro.
" helps you locate unwanted, space-wasting files so you can delete or archive them and get your computer running faster and better. It displays detailed information about the files on your computer, so you can identify unwanted or rarely used files, which can be moved, removed or archived from within the application. "

i tired it just now, and it's able to locate all the files on the hard drive, and show you exactly what is taking up all the space. here is the download link (14 day trial) http://www.tech-pro.net/disk-analyzer-pro.html

Sorry, I did in fact delete all restore points when performing "Disk Cleanup", the other day. I had forgotten about it - however, it did not reduce used space. Maybe it was previously turned off. I'll have to talk with my grandson about it.

That's exactly what I used to defrag it - Auslogics. It made zero difference. Actually, I can't ever remember seeing any difference in disk space after defraging any HD.

I have this frustration with my wife and her HP desktop....Like a Car, you can't just keep driving it with out putting fuel in it, running diagnostics, making all he required maintenance 'to do's'....
You can't just keep logging on and logging off...and expect your unit to run like it was built to run.

-Photos and Video storage is a big item!, especially videos.

-Need to run 'Defragmentation' Utility at leas once a month.

-Need to run 'Delete Browser History' often, which includes History, Temprorary files (a big one), cookies, places visited, all of it. In Win 7 it's under 'Safety' in Internet Explorer 'SAFETY' put down. In XP, go to TOOLS, then 'INTERNET OPTIONS'...actually Win7 has access there also. RUN this utility at least once a week.

-There are other 'Disk Cleanup' programs, 'Driver Updates (aside from Windows Update).....to many of them to get into that now....as a knowledgeable friend for recommendations! But if you just ran the Windows Utilities fairly often, it will take care of WASTED SPACE.

How that helps...It's "Computer "101" stuff

Fatherstan

I have the s<a style="color: #000000;text-decoration: none; cursor: text;" href="http://www.ibm.com/">am</a>e problem

I have the same problem
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Yeah, I saved all his personal files and such to his external HD and strongly recommended that he not use it for anything before formatting it.
My purpose of asking about all the used space was to satisfy my curiosity plus my endless craving for computer knowledge.