1GB free Mem on C

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geos

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Ok, i know that in first look at the title it might sound something connected with hardware, but it isn't, at least i think so..!

so here is whats happening. i ran into problems last week, pc won't turn on; so i removed one (512MB) memory stick, and left with 1.5GB RAM.
today i reinstalled Photoshop CS2, which worked perfectly before with 2GB RAM, and it appeared to be very slow. i went into My Computer, and what do i find?? i have only 1GB free on C
i quit the software and kept on using the computer for games and browsing the net. Not long ago, i tried to run the photoshop again, and here i get again only 1GB free on C, plus my computer frozen. so i restarted it manually, i turned on my msn, went to My Computer, and here i see only 895MB free on C.
originally, i'm supposed to have around the 18GB free, out of 80GB.
does anyone know why is this happening? i assume the softwares are using the HDD instead of RAM, is that possible? anybody has solution?
thanks in advance,
geos

edit: when i quit the MSN, i get one MB plus :S (896MB)
 
Maybe photoshop is always taking the max it can - 2Gb, which previously would have been maybe 1.Gb real memory and 0.5Gb pagefile. With one Gb less memory, the page file would then leap to as much as it was allowed. It is preferable to have page file as a fixed size, and between 1.5 and 2x the amount of real memory. If you need instructions how to do this, call back.

Meanwhile, any C: drive with 18Gb left of 80Gb is going to start slowing quite quickly. At 15% free space, defragmentation starts to take hours, if it ever finishes.

I am, however puzzled as to how quickly you seem to have lost 17+Gb on C:, so I think you should run chkdsk /f (this will run when next booted). Then hose around with a powerful cleaner - try CCleaner. Hose out the gunge in Internet cache, all temp files, clear and reset the pagefile, etc. Finally, and ONLY assuming no errors at all from chkdsk, perform a defragment.
 
thanks for the quick response :)
you are right about the 15% point, it did start going slow, but not as much as it is now!
i ran Tune Up Utitlities, and cleared around 0.7GB (including temp files etc.), now i have 1.63GB free. & running scan with NOD32 as i'm typing.
i will do the chkdsk when i'm done scanning. but there is something weird in what u typed.. run chkdsk /f ? is F the drive letter, or it doesn't matter?

thanks,
geos
 
Ok easy to do to free up a little disk space there may be System Restore eating a lot of HDD Space so if you do not use System Restore you can go to Tune Up Utilities and clean up old System Restore files to free up you space.
 
I did notice there is 1GB for the system restore, but i prefer to leave it. who knows, maybe it'll solve the problems i have now! ?
 
For disk space in XP figure:

4 Gb for the OS install.

Go to start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore, System Restore Settings, C: drive, Settings and see what space you have allocated for Restore. Me, I have 12% of a 34.4 GB = 4.234 GB.

Go to start, right click 'My Computer, Properties, Advanced and under Performance click Settings, advanced and look under Virtual memory. I have mine set at 4.096 GB. Yours is probably in the 'let Windows manage' state BUT that just means that Windows will use as much as it needs and you have no idea what that is. Set it for 2048 min and max and then check free space.
 
just to make sure, i will ask you to look at the picture:
kdsc3p.jpg

could you tell me exactly what to change?
thanks,
geos

ps: about the restore system, i have 12% as well, which is 9.6GB
 
Change the Initial to 2048 and the max to 2048 and click on set.

You will then be ask to restart then do it and when back on windows check space difference.

Also how many free space do you have on D? And how many did you make for the partition of C?
 
Ok, i will do it now.
About D, i have 34.9GB free out of 49.8GB.
C: 1.44 GB out of 78.1GB

ps: should i do the chkdsk now, or do another restart later? and my scan with NOD32 showed nothing
 
Ok,

When you have low disk space on the OS Drive it normally slows down the PC, so I would recommend you to move some files to Drive D if they aren't program files etc...

Also if you can't move the files then put it Initial and Max for drive C: 1024 and same for Drive D thus you will get it shared on both drive and sometimes it speeds up the PC too.

For Chkdsk wait you PC to load up and thus do it after, thats good if NOD32 results is positive.
 
Ok, si resterated the pc, as soon as i restarted it i got 790 MB on C.
Now, after 10 minutes, i have 1.07GB.
To amagnien: NOD32 didn't show me any files infected, now i'm running MalwreBytes' .
i also deleted and moved files from C to D.
To CCT i will change it to 5% now.
 
So you know - System Restore is a GOOD thing - having a smaller area just means it will cycle the 'older' restores out to install new ones. Usually you only need to go back 1-3 anyway.
 
Try to give practically equal free space to both of HDD. Because Windows needs space for its updates, etc and also sometimes for processing some big files, mainly when installing a program.
 
ok then, i shall do that after i finish the scan with Malwarebytes', not sure it will fix it though..
any other ideas what is the solution? could it be my external HDD?
 
I'm not sure what you mean. Let's just free up all the disk space you can, then reboot and check again.
 
ok, i shut all my system down last night, unplugged everything and this morning done System Restore to 3 days ago (when the pc was still ok!) yet the problem remains.
i'm going to do what CCT advised with the 256 MB, hopefully it works :S
i didn't notice something special except it makes the pc faster btw

edit:
ok, i changed to 256 MB and 2048 MB, i noticed a big change in the startup, faster than before.
i also got 2.15GB free on C and 32.8GB free on D.
whats next?
 
Now if you can move some files to drive D will be better for you. Also try to download the trial or buy Diskeeper to defrag your PC well or use the Windows Defragmentation program for speeding the processing of files on your PC that will fasten your startup.
 
i moved files as much as i can. all the rest are programs files.
its not about how fast the machine is, but where did my hard disk space go, thats what is pissing me off.
i'll defragment now
 
What you did exactly before you got that problem of space? I'm meaning one week before to the day you see that.
 
i'm not sure mate, but here is what i found; its very silly, but i still need your help!
i just got into Add or Remove Programs ok, and what do i find there ? Grand Theft Auto IV - 15GB.
that is what caused me all the problems. let me tell you why i didn't think of it before! i installed the game on my external HDD (500GB) !! it, somehow moved to C. now when i try to uninstall it, i can't seem to success.
Code:
Error Code:	-5005 : 0x80070002
Error Information:
>Kernel\KernelMedia.cpp (95)
>SetupNew\setup.cpp (851)
PAPP:Grand Theft Auto IV
PVENDOR:Rockstar Games (##ISD_STRING_WEBADDRESS##)
PGUID:579BA58C-F33D-4970-9953-B94B43768AC3
$15.0.0.498
@Windows XP Service Pack 3 (2600) 
IE Version: 7.0.5730.11
i get that error when i try to uninstall.
any idea how i remove it?

edit: for some reason, now it doesn't appear ! :S yet i still have the lack on the C
 
2 free alternatives are IObit Defrag and Ultimate Defrag. I have used both and on my own machine ,at least, they seem to be faster and I believe them to do a better job.
 
You still dont appear to have run chkdsk /f and this could easilty be the real problem.

My computer
right click c: chose properties
Tools panel
See error checking - click check now
do not click any check-boxes, just click start button
In the event of any errors, you go through the same process, but click the 'automatically fix file system errors'
when you do that, it is going to run chkdsk /f when you reboot.

(No the /f is not a drive, it is an option - fix errors)
 
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