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incessant "low disk space" warnings

6K views 39 replies 8 participants last post by  TerryNet 
#1 ·
I am getting this window popping up every 2 or 3 minutes despite clicking on it and ticking the usual boxes to remove the unwanted files - 3 minutes later back pops the warning

its as if the pc doesnt know I'm actually doing it

I have followed this advice given to someone else on another site

"Insure the temp files in the hidden Local Settings folder are deleted.
Start>My Computer> Local Disk C> Computer user name> Then go to tools (at the top)> Folder Options>View and put a dot in show Hidden Files and Folders Click OK> Open the Local Setting Folder>Temp> Delete all the files you can in the temp folder.
3. Run Disk Clean from the Start>All Programs> Accessories> System Tools>Disk Clean Insure you remove all the compress old files.
4. Get Rid of the Restore points and Lesson the amount of disk space System Restore uses.
Right click on My Computer>Properties>System Restore and put a check in turn off system restore now click on the Settings Button Choose a setting of 1 - 5% click apply and OK
Go back and TURN ON system restore, insure the amount of disk space for system restore did not default to the Max amount."


but it hasn't made any difference whatsoever

could this be a virus? I ran malaware and then 'search and destroy' but that made no difference either

I have an Acer Aspire T1 2OE
 
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#3 ·
Could it be that the system partition on your hard drive is legitimately full? What size is it and how much free space? Can you account for most of the used space?
It could be full - how would I find out and empty it? (Isnt that what ticking the boxes to remove unwanted files after the disk warning is supposed to do? I havent added anything of any size recently and never had this happen before)
 
#8 ·
there's C, E, F G, H, but no D drive

when I right click on the C drive and go into properties the blue colour showing up "used space" is totally blue! so it looks like its full!

under that there's "disk clean-up"

I'm scared to click on any of this because if I wipe something basic and can't use the computer I don't have the skills to get it back again

also I have been looking at the files and don't know what the hell they are - "MP ministigStub" for example - what the hell is that?? If I randomly delete this stuff without knowing what I'm doing and hope for the best it will probably end in tears and I'll be back on here and you'll be saying to me

"you deleted WHAT?? what did you delete THAT for???"

I'm just working blind but I DO have enough experience to know that messing with stuff and hoping for the best is always a big mistake

having said that I did come across a lot of stuff that is just weird copies of family photographs that somehow replicated themselves and got into a file for no good reason about 3 years ago (why do computers do this?)

so thats all been deleted

Having said that this circle of "used space" is STILL full - so wiping what seems like tons of music and pictures has had no effect on freeing up space

even as I was deleteing as tho my life depended on it I was getting the "low disk space" warning popping up incessantly! which was very annoying

is it straightforward if I click on "disk clean-up" ?

or would you reccommend I carry on just deleting things that I can work out are just pictures and junk and leave anything that reads like gobbedy-**** ("MP ministigStub" for example)

my fear is that deleting things that I'm guessing at will eventually mean I screw the PC altogether - its just takes one little CLICK!

the good news is that the disk space really is full which is why I'm getting the "low disk space" warning and not from some bug or virus

the bad news is I have no clue how to clear it so any advice will be greatly appreciated
 
#12 ·
The capacity of the C drive is 37.2 GB and there's only 176 MB of free space, so you definitely need to reclaim a sizeable amount of free space.

Right-click RECYCLE BIN, then click Properties, then move the slider from its default value of 10% to 3%, then click Apply - OK.

Right-click MY COMPUTER, then click Properties - System Restore, then move the slider from its default value of 12% to 3%, then click Apply - OK.

Click Start - Run, then type in %temp% and then click OK. When that temp folder appears, select and delete EVERYTHING from inside it.

After all of the above is done, empty the Recycle Bin and then restart the computer.

-----------------------------------------------

You didn't advise what the names are for the

E
F
G
H

drives, so I'm going to assume that they're CD/DVD and card reader drives.

-----------------------------------------------

Do you know how to submit a HiJackThis log here?

-----------------------------------------------
 
#13 ·
When you delete stuff are you really deleting, or moving them to the Recycle Bin? If the latter, you don't really gain any space until you empty the Recycle Bin. Disk Cleanup will empty it, but only if it is selected. When I run Disk Cleanup I select everything but 'compress files.'

I have no idea what "MP ministigStub" is. If you mistyped and mean MPminisigStub,exe that is probably an important operating system file (if it comes from Microsoft).
 
#17 ·
"Run, then type in %temp% and then click OK. When that temp folder appears, select and delete EVERYTHING from inside it."

I got as far as "doy you want to delete these 112 files?" and clicked YES

theb box after box appeared saying something along the lines of "this is a so-and-so file which could mean certain things will not work - are you SURE you want to delete it?"

then under that "YES OR NO"

this is where I freak out and lose my nerve! ( I clicked out of it - I dont understand the question let alone the answer!)

are these confirmations normal? should I just click YES to all of them that pop up? Or have I got into completely the wrong part of the computer!!
 
#20 ·
I deleted 109 but the last 2 are bringing up a sign saying "cannot delete access denied Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use"

Means nothing to me - shall I leave these files where they are?
 
#23 ·
Right-click the C: drive icon in MY COMPUTER, then click Properties.

What is it showing now for free space?

---------------------------------------------------------
used space 39,479,541,760 so still quite high

free space 526,614,528 so a lot has been freed up

do you think its enough to stop the "low disk space" warnings? or should I delete something else

they seem to have stopped
 
#24 ·
The %temp% temporary folder will always contain a few files that are in use, and cannot be deleted. Don't worry about them, as they can be deleted any time after your next boot. As already stated you need not worry about deleting anything in that folder, as they are all temporary files. I run a batch job to clear the folder every boot.

Half a gigabyte (526,614,528 bytes) can fill very quickly. You've cleared the Recycle Bin, right?

Use that treesize program to see which are the large folders/files (ignoring Windows' files). See if there are any of your data files that you no longer need.

You can delete all the folders at the beginning of the Windows folder that start with the dollar sign ($). Deleting them means that you will no longer be able to uninstall the Windows updates that you have installed over the years. I figure I'm never going to do that unless I have trouble within a day or two of updating Windows, so I get rid of those $ files whenever I happen to think of it.
 
#25 ·
You can delete all the folders at the beginning of the Windows folder that start with the dollar sign ($). Deleting them means that you will no longer be able to uninstall the Windows updates that you have installed over the years. I figure I'm never going to do that unless I have trouble within a day or two of updating Windows, so I get rid of those $ files whenever I happen to think of it.
:eek: With the exception of $hf_mig$. DO NOT delete that one.
 
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