I have XP on Laptop and need to clean hard drive

I got down to just several hundred KB left out of 16 GB. I purchased an external hard drive, moved all my files to the new drive, but still didn't gain a lot of memory back on the C Drive. Properties gives me this information:

Used space: 16,221,167,616 bytes or 15.1 GB
Free space: 1,429,282,816 or 1.33 GB
Capacity: 17.650,450,432 or 16.4 GB

I have several icons on the desk top and the only thing I can figure out is I have files I need to delete; files I am not familiar with that may not be necessary and is taking up a lot of space.

I can't defrag the hard drive because I need 15% free space whereas I only have 8% space.

Any and all suggestions would be appreciated. I am not the most computer sauve person, so whatever you can do to help me, I need your help.

Thanks.

Are you going to install Windows 7?
I see you backed up all your files. Insert Windows 7 CD, custom install, choose format/delete C and install.

Thanks. I will give it a try.

NosferatuX said:

Hi enimary and welcome to the forum!

Please download, install, configure and run this small nifty program - CCleaner
That should free up some massive bytes for yah

Now for what CCleaner couldn't do, you can do the following steps;

Press Win+R, type cleanmgr /sageset:50
Read the choices. No real harm can come if you choose all though :) then click OK when you're done.
Now press Win+R again and this time, type cleanmgr /sagerun:50

That should give more extra spaces.

Cheers

Thank you. I will give it a try. It has been so frustrating, especially purchasing the external drive with lots of space. Now maybe I can get the computer to run faster.

Thanks again.

Not planning on Windows 7 at this time. Thanks.

i dont know your level of experience, but.....

run disk cleanup wizard
uninstall any unused programs
uninstall any unneeded windows features
reduce the amount of space reserved for the recycle bin and IE cache
compress the C: drive
and this little program freed up over a gig for me:

http://raproducts.org/click/click.php?id=7

I was able to get a little more space, but still not enough to defrag. I think I am going to take most of the icons off the desktop, see if that will help. Then defrag and put back on the ones I need daily.

Again, thanks for all your help.

removing icons from the desktop will not free up any space. they are only shortcuts. you must uninstall the programs that the shortcuts point to in order to free up space. if you need more implicit instruction for my previous suggestions, let me know