Windows folder is 365 GB

[karlsnooks]

looking forward to the joyous report.
karl

 

[whs]

Yeah, run CCleaner often. I run it appr. once per week.

 

[FuturDreamz]

I still would like to know what application was creating the files...

I can't guarentee it, but if you run Process Monitor for a while then the next time a large file shows up, you should be able to trace it back to the creator.

 

[gregrocker]

If you'd run CCleaner when I suggested it then you'd know by now if those files would have been cleaned up by it. It regularly finds 3-5 gb of schmutz when I clean up computers. It is perhaps the most highly respected little app in all of the tech world. Disk Cleanup isn't.

Did you miss my post or was I wasting my time typing out my careful thoughts for you?

 

[FuturDreamz]

If you'd run CCleaner when I suggested it then you'd know by now if those files would have been cleaned up by it. It regularly finds 3-5 gb of schmutz when I clean up computers. It is perhaps the most highly respected little app in all of the tech world. Disk Cleanup isn't.

Did you miss my post or was I wasting my time typing out my careful thoughts for you?

CClean won't do anything if the files are not where it's expecting, iirc.

That being said, I wouldn't trust anything that deletes random stuff out of my C:\Windows folder, no matter how good it is supposed to be at figuring out what not to delete.

 

[gregrocker]

CCleaner is calibrated flawlessly to know which are disposable temp files. I watched it being done over 15 years. It doesn't make mistakes. There are no worries with running it. I'm growing weary of the ankle-biting.

 

[mickiedev]

"I still would like to know what application was creating the files...

I can't guarentee it, but if you run Process Monitor for a while then the next time a large file shows up, you should be able to trace it back to the creator. "

These files that I'm concerned about are all from 2010 so I don't think running process monitor now will probably help for those . . .


"If you'd run CCleaner when I suggested it then you'd know by now if those files would have been cleaned up by it. It regularly finds 3-5 gb of schmutz when I clean up computers. It is perhaps the most highly respected little app in all of the tech world. Disk Cleanup isn't.

Did you miss my post or was I wasting my time typing out my careful thoughts for you? "

gregrocker - I do very much appreciate all the help I have gotten on this forum, however I'm not a computer genius just a mom that is trying to fix her computer and trying to sift through what I should and shouldn't do. Since there were other comments warning me about this I choose to go another route, your way may have been the best way, but I have no way of knowing this. And personally regarding the ankle biting comment you seem to be the only one getting offended by differing opinions. Thank you for your input.

 

[Sir George]

CCleaner is calibrated flawlessly to know which are disposable temp files. I watched it being done over 15 years. It doesn't make mistakes. There are no worries with running it. I'm growing weary of the ankle-biting.

I am a fan of CClener as well. I have used the "Cleaner" portion for years after seeing it recommended on GRC by some of my peers. It now includes a "Registry" function. Since Windows 7 has a good reputation for maintaining the registry, do you suggest it as a viable tool or better to ignore it? My opinion is to advise against its use, so that newbies don't get themselves in trouble with it.

 

[mickiedev]

I deleted those files and restarted my computer and so far no problems and I freed up a lot of space. Thank you everyone for your help!

 

[whs]

CCleaner is an excellent tool to get rid of temporary files. In the years I have used it I never had a problem. But as a principle I do not use registry cleaners - even not the CCleaner version although I have never heard of a problem that would relate to it.

However, there are a lot of files on the system that do not fit the traditional decription of "Temporary files". The sum of those can add up to a big number. Many are in the users own folders (genuine user files that are no more needed or were generated by some program at some time) and others hide all over the system. Appdata is a good place to start checking. There are also a lot of log files that the system seems to keep longer than needed - especially for people who never look into a log file.

So as the French say:" Il y a du pain sur la planche". - There is work to do.

 

[whs]

I deleted those files and restarted my computer and so far no problems and I freed up a lot of space. Thank you everyone for your help!

That's good to hear. I am glad you followed "bold advice".

 

[gregrocker]

CCleaner is calibrated flawlessly to know which are disposable temp files. I watched it being done over 15 years. It doesn't make mistakes. There are no worries with running it. I'm growing weary of the ankle-biting.

I am a fan of CClener as well. I have used the "Cleaner" portion for years after seeing it recommended on GRC by some of my peers. It now includes a "Registry" function. Since Windows 7 has a good reputation for maintaining the registry, do you suggest it as a viable tool or better to ignore it? My opinion is to advise against its use, so that newbies don't get themselves in trouble with it.

Sorry for my exasperation but for three years there has almost always been a thread going which trashes CCleaner as though it's Registry cleaner function is suspect or even in the same league with the Reg Cleaner sales scams seen in ads which always ruin Win7.

Yet no one has ever provided a single documented case of CCleaner causing problems, and my own experience is installing it over 15+ years on hundreds of installs representing thousands of uses without a single complaint.

I don't necessarily disagree with those who maintain that Win7 in its perfection doesn't need cleaning or defragging, however I regularly clean up dirty machines which have 1-5 gb of schmutz, hundreds of registry shells, and improve performance and startup (one by a full minute) substantially using Puran free boot-time defragger. This has kept me at it without much deviation.

So I have my favorites which I feel are worth defending in spite of ridicule. I dont like to see genius trashed, and have witnessed from beta that CCleaner is a work of genius. It has earned its place at the top just as Seven Forums has.

 

[windude99]

CCleaner is calibrated flawlessly to know which are disposable temp files. I watched it being done over 15 years. It doesn't make mistakes. There are no worries with running it. I'm growing weary of the ankle-biting.

I am a fan of CClener as well. I have used the "Cleaner" portion for years after seeing it recommended on GRC by some of my peers. It now includes a "Registry" function. Since Windows 7 has a good reputation for maintaining the registry, do you suggest it as a viable tool or better to ignore it? My opinion is to advise against its use, so that newbies don't get themselves in trouble with it.

Sorry for my exasperation but for three years there has almost always been a thread going which trashes CCleaner as though it's Registry cleaner function is suspect or even in the same league with the Reg Cleaner sales scams seen in ads which always ruin Win7.

Yet no one has ever provided a single documented case of CCleaner causing problems, and my own experience is installing it over 15+ years on hundreds of installs representing thousands of uses without a single complaint.

I don't necessarily disagree with those who maintain that Win7 in its perfection doesn't need cleaning or defragging, however I regularly clean up dirty machines which have 1-5 gb of schmutz, hundreds of registry shells, and improve performance and startup (one by a full minute) substantially using Puran free boot-time defragger. This has kept me at it without much deviation.

So I have my favorites which I feel are worth defending in spite of ridicule. I dont like to see genius trashed, and have witnessed from beta that CCleaner is a work of genius. It has earned its place at the top just as Seven Forums has.

I'm not one to completely trash ccleaner. I use it when I repair Windwos XP computers, but only as a last resort. Windows 7 can manage itself just fine. I have read so many horror stories with thesse third party cleaners, and ccleaner doesn't even speed up the computers, most of the time, so why risk it. Microsoft knows Windows way better than any third party.

 

[F5ing]

Yet no one has ever provided a single documented case of CCleaner causing problems, and my own experience is installing it over 15+ years on hundreds of installs representing thousands of uses without a single complaint.
I don't necessarily disagree with those who maintain that Win7 in its perfection doesn't need cleaning or defragging, however I regularly clean up dirty machines which have 1-5 gb of schmutz, hundreds of registry shells, and improve performance and startup (one by a full minute) substantially using Puran free boot-time defragger. This has kept me at it without much deviation.
So I have my favorites which I feel are worth defending in spite of ridicule. I dont like to see genius trashed, and have witnessed from beta that CCleaner is a work of genius. It has earned its place at the top just as Seven Forums has.

10+ years of using CCleaner for me on a few hundred machines and never a problem. I guess folks see so many negative posts about reg cleaners, especially on Win7 machines (as it handles the registry so much better to begin with), that they simply tend to lump CCleaner with the rest of the rotten bunch. Guess it doesn't help if they also remember its original name was "Crap Cleaner".

Microsoft knows Windows way better than any third party.

I can understand why someone would have a tendency think that's probably true, and I'm sure overall it is true.

You would be amazed how much Microsoft learns about their own OS's and apps from users, especially considering input from huge corporate IT groups.

Ever heard of Mark Russinovich? There have been others, too. But he's one of the more well known (for good reason).

 

[karlsnooks]

I am also a strong support of each and every function of CCleaner and a long time user of CCleaner.

CCleaner is absolutely safe.

There are other cleaning software which is not even worthy of the name, but CCleaner is in class by itself.

For any of you skeptics:
I refer you to this Microsoft link:
Windows 7 Compatibility for CCleaner: Drivers, Updates, Downloads

I too am tired of hearing people bad mouth products which are 100% sound.

 

[wanchoo]

You are dead right, karlsnooks. It happens so frequently and the reason is that most of us don't want to think out of the box and are very conservative.

CCleaner is not the only application that is very good and is being bad mouthed. There are several others.

I too am tired of hearing people bad mouth products which are 100% sound.

 

[FuturDreamz]

I deleted those files and restarted my computer and so far no problems and I freed up a lot of space. Thank you everyone for your help!

Good to hear. I'm still wondering what was the cause, but if all the files were created in 2010 then whatever the cause was; it is long gone.

 

[UsernameIssues]

~~~
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Microsoft knows Windows way better than any third party.

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Ever heard of Mark Russinovich? There have been others, too. But he's one of the more well known (for good reason).

Mark's name is the first one that I thought of too when I read that comment - ironically, his warning against using automated registry cleaners has been quoted a lot.. Mark says that there would not be much of a performance gain from such a cleaning.

So, gregrocker - you and others have mentioned boot time & performance gains - but the comments always mention doing several things to the system. There should be a way to benchmark the gains due only to cleaning the registry via CCleaner. I would love to see some numbers. I would think that there should be something to gain by clearing out the stuff that a few dozen crappy uninstalls left behind. But who am I to argue with Mark

 

[karlsnooks]

mark is just another smart kid who attended UT for awhile. OK, that's a little harsh and I have a high respect for his performance.

Mark could have made some of his diagnostic efforts shorter if he had taken advantage of the info gained from running a registry cleaner. I've seem him so stuck on using Autoruns that he missed the obvious simple answer he could have gained from msconfig's startup tab.

 

[F5ing]

~~~
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Microsoft knows Windows way better than any third party.

~~~
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Ever heard of Mark Russinovich? There have been others, too. But he's one of the more well known (for good reason).

Mark's name is the first one that I thought of too when I read that comment - ironically, his warning against using automated registry cleaners has been quoted a lot.. Mark says that there would not be much of a performance gain from such a cleaning.

So, gregrocker - you and others have mentioned boot time & performance gains - but the comments always mention doing several things to the system. There should be a way to benchmark the gains due only to cleaning the registry via CCleaner. I would love to see some numbers. I would think that there should be something to gain by clearing out the stuff that a few dozen crappy uninstalls left behind. But who am I to argue with Mark

I don't claim any performance increase (since 95/98/Me days). My only point was that using CCleaner for registry cleanup has never caused any issues when I've used it; it has never selected for deletion any registry entry it shouldn't have.

I realize Mark has spoken about registry cleaners over the years, but I've always taken it as referring to the routine use of registry cleaners, in general. Nothing really specific regarding actual products (which I wouldn't really expect).

I think after MS discontinued the "consumer only" lineup and all new OS's were built based on the NT4 business OS, registry cleanup became just that: cleaning up the junk for the sake of a "clean" registry (and/or space). I don't think 95/98/ME handled the registry database very efficiently, and therefore pruning was prudent (especially on machines that saw slews of installs/uninstalls). But that's just my opinion.