HOWTO: Clean Up Your Hard Drive - Comments Page 1

Category: Hard-Drives




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Posted by:

steve zimmett
10 May 2013

Will the PC Decrapifier remove crap from my older PC? Short Answer: Probably not. Long Answer: The PC Decrapifier was designed to remove programs from new computers running Windows XP or Vista. If you have an older PC and have some of the programs installed that are in the What it Removes list, then it might remove them, but not very likely. If you are running Windows 2000, Windows 95, 98, ME, there is probably zero chance that the PC Decrapifier will be able to help.

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you are running Windows 2000, Windows 95, 98, or ME, you have bigger problems. Even Windows XP is getting close to end of life.

Posted by:

George
10 May 2013

Don't forget RidNacs - free - fast and simple. I used it to find the hidden page files Google Earth overloaded my C drive with.

Posted by:

Bob Dawes
10 May 2013

Hi Bob,

I have an external 300GB hard drive that reported it was full but when I checked it in Windows Explorer there was more than 100 GB free. I wracked my brain for a bit and then noticed that the FAT was FAT32. I changed the FAT to NTFS and now I can access the empty space.

Thanks for a great newsletter.

Bob Dawes

Posted by:

Mike
10 May 2013

I really like SpaceSniffer for a visual display of the files on a drive...especially for finding big ones...or worse yet, duplicated big ones.

Posted by:

EastSlopeCharlie
10 May 2013

I've found that the badly maligned assault rifle with a high-cap-mag does the trick of 'cleaning' your hard dive very well. AND it makes for nifty target practice to try to hit a swinging and spinning hard-drive suspended from a tree limb by wire. just make sure your background is absolutely clear - you don't want any witnesses.

For those really confidential records which need to be discretely and quickly dispatched, I use Mafia Disk Doctor(TM). Generally a few rounds of .45ACP Hollow Points does the job quite well, and the drives can be mounted in a picture frame and hung on your wall -- or sent to your client as evidence that the job was done. I have a friend who loves his Mossburg 500 with 8 rounds of 00 buck shot to 'skeet' his drives clean. He then frames them and puts them on his 'ego wall'.

NOTHING can read them, not even the NSA, CIA, DIA, UN, nor any other 'black chopper' organization has the means to read a warped disk with holes punched through it. No Brain, No Problem.

Posted by:

D A POTTS
10 May 2013

Don't forget to defragment, also.

Posted by:

Tim
11 May 2013

You and every other techie talks about deleting duplicate files on our hard drives but unfortunately no one explains which file to keep and which to delete. I've scanned my hd a few times and find lots of duplicates but I'm unsure as to which one to keep and which to delete.....can you please explain which one to keep?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Are you using a tool designed to find the dupes (like the ones I mentioned)? Those tools should give you guidance as to which files to nuke.

Posted by:

John
11 May 2013

Bob:

What about those thumbnail files that Windows creates for everything you look at on the internet. When I backup my files to a thumb drive, it seems to copy all of those useless files, too, and I think they are disguised as "hidden files." Can I delete them with a "name.*" type command from the old DOS days?

Later, John.

Posted by:

Ken Stauffer
12 May 2013

I use three programs every week Jet Clean-free
advanced system care pro and I've been using a new program,slim cleaner and also slim driver.both do a fine job and really fast

Posted by:

James Burgoyne
13 May 2013

BoB:)I tried the software DBAN to wipe my disc but could not get it to work for me. I didn't find the program user friendly. Once downloaded it wanted me to burn the program to disc but didn't inform me ahead of time. It took me two burn programs, Nero and Burn4Free to make a disc. 10.5MB 0 secs. All the reviews were xtremely positive. After looking around I found the negative reviews and my story was written in them already. I think I will stay away from dban. JimB

Posted by:

Dan
13 May 2013

I wish people would stop claiming that Revo Uninstaller is the be-all and end-all of removal tools - it's fine for amateurs who don't know better but I doubt there are any of those around here. It leaves behind useless files and a ton of registry entries. I use it but I also use Registrar Registry Manager to clean up the registry and Everything to clean up files that are left behind. So one might come to the, quite logical, conclusion that Revo is useless since I could accomplish the same results by using the program's uninstall routine. Revo Pro might be better.

Posted by:

Adin
20 May 2013

Hi Bob, great article!

I've tried PCDecrapifier and it worked really well. It's also a good program to run on a brand new laptop to get rid of the bloatware.

As for your recommended duplicate finders, I prefer Easy Duplicate Finder. It's more advanced than the ones you mention and it works on both Windows and Mac. I've been using it for the past year and it's been great.

Posted by:

Binary Man
20 May 2013

I use Directory Report
http://www.file-utilities.com

It does both:
Finds duplicate files and
Shows the size of every folder

I was able to quickly drill down to problem folders
I found many games my son installed which he no longer playes
Shaiya - over 1 gig
The Sims - over 2 gig

Posted by:

markbun
27 Jun 2013

I use DuplicateFilesDeleter.com a guaranteed fix for duplicate clean up.

Posted by:

Jack Dorsey
31 Jul 2013

All I need and use for a good FREE disk clean up are these two tools:

Duplicate File Finder - http://www.mindgems.com/products/Fast-Duplicate-File-Finder/Fast-Duplicate-File-Finder-About.htm

Folder Size - http://www.mindgems.com/products/Folder-Size/Folder-Size.html

Posted by:

Alan
21 Aug 2013

NoClone 2013 is more powerful to find not just duplicate files but duplicate folder and similar photos. NoClone is a true duplicate file finder.

Posted by:

UY
27 Aug 2013

Great article!
Welcome to try our NoClone: it can find not just duplicate files but duplicate folder and similar photos.
Similar photos take a large space of our hard disk, so it's necessary to clean them up.
know more from: http://noclone.net/
Cotact with me , I can provide you a free license.

Posted by:

Rob
11 Nov 2013

Bob, I am shocked that you would recommend pcdecrapifier. I downloaded it to my wife's new laptop, missed a decline - how cheeky of them to set it up like that, when we are all used to clicking next automatically - and now we have the eazel search infection. Any ideas to deal with that gratefully received. Freeware software which makes its living by tricking users into downloading unwanted software, especially a debloater for heaven's sake - why on earth do you recommend it - avast is no better, there were at least 6 or more software offers, two of which slipped thriugh, so hard was it to work out what was going on.

EDITOR'S NOTE: DId you see my note about the PCD download? (Don't be fooled by sneaky "Download" ads that sometimes appear on the PCDecrapifier.com website. Click the BLUE "Download Now" button, or you could end up with the wrong program.) See also http://askbobrankin.com/download_alert_foistware_warning.html

Posted by:

Robert
30 Dec 2013

Hi Bob, thanks for your great advice, and I notice that you recommend Revo uninstaller, which is a very strong program, unfortunately I don't think it is foolproof and I do think that you should recommend that Revo should be used with care as each time I have used its deepest clean function, my MBR has usually disappeared leaving some recovery work to be done. Regards Robert.

Posted by:

jsmith
15 Apr 2014

Ashisoft Duplicate File Finder got 5 star rating from cNet and its freeware too!

http://download.cnet.com/Duplicate-File-Finder/3000-2248_4-10300084.html

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