Basic cleanup of a hard drive
A basic cleanup consists of two tasks: deleting the contents of your Temp directories and deleting your C:\Windows\Downloaded Program Files. Both tasks can be performed using Disk Cleanup.
Some programs store temporary information in a Temp folder. Such folders are usually safe to delete. Examples of Temp folders include:
C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
C:\Documents and Settings\your username\Local Settings\Temp
C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Local Settings\Temp
C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\Temp
C:\Documents and Settings\your username\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
C:\Documents and Settings\your username\Local Settings\History
C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Local Settings\History
C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\History
The contents of the C:\Windows\Downloaded Program Files folder are ActiveX controls and Java applets downloaded automatically from the Internet when you view certain pages. Feel free to delete them.
Removing disk space hogs from your hard drive
Disk space hogs include the pagefile, the hibernation file, the i386 folder and system restore points. Here's how to remove each one.
You can move pagefile.sys to another disk drive. Your computer most likely uses a pagefile (aka virtual memory or swap file). Windows automatically sets the pagefile to start at 1.5x the size of physical memory, and expand up to 3x physical memory if necessary. Getting it off of your system drive can normally save you at least 128 MB. To do this:
Control Panel | System | Advanced tab | Performance | Settings | Advanced tab. Under Virtual Memory, click Change.
Highlight the C: drive and set it to No Paging File (if you intend to move pagefile.sys to another drive).
Click Set. You'll get a warning about not getting a Stop message, but unless you're having issues with Blue Screens, it's safe to choose OK.
Select another drive and put a pagefile on it (or else your system will be running without one. . .which is not recommended for most systems). If you cannot move the file, you can always reduce its size from the recommendations set by Microsoft. But that's not always a good idea; doing so could cause errors such as "Your system is low on virtual memory" or "Your system is running without a properly sized paging file."
The hibernation file C:\HIBERFIL.SYS (hidden, as big as the main memory) is created by the hibernation option. This option, which is normally only found on laptops, lets you hibernate your computer. To find the option, click Control Panel, then Power Optilons, then tab Hibernate.
When your computer hibernates, it stores the main memory into the hiberfil.sys file on your C:\ partition before it shuts down. When you turn your computer back on, it returns to its previous state by reloading the main memory with the information in the hiberfil.sys. To turn off this disk-consuming option, disable the Enable hibernation option on this tab. After a reboot, the hiberfil.sys file will have disappeared.
Feel free to delete the C:\I386 folder (assuming it's present), since it is only used as a convenient place to access installation files. Note: Do not confuse this folder with C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles\I386, a folder that Windows might need to perform certain system-related tasks.
System Restore takes a snapshot of critical system files and some program files and stores this information as restore points.To clear off system restore points:
Go to Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk Cleanup.
Under 'More Options,' click the bottom button. This will remove all but the most recent restore point.
Cleaning up Service Pack and Windows Fix/Patch installations
You can delete the Service Pack uninstall files by navigating to C:\Windows\$NTServicePackUninstall. Once you do this, if you try to use the 'Remove' for Service Pack 2 in Add/Remove Programs, it will fail and will offer to delete the entry.
Note: Do not remove the ServicePackFiles folder (C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles), because it will be used in future by Windows File Protection. However, on an NTFS disk you can compress this folder. Doing this can save you about 200MB of disk space. Right-click on the folder, select Properties, click the Advanced button and select Compress.
You can also delete a Service Packs temporary folder. If it's still around, this folder will be on the drive where you downloaded the setup files (probably C:) and will have a long name of random letters.
Clean up other installation files. Navigate to C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download, and delete the contents of this directory as well.
Delete Windows patch/fix uninstall files. Navigate to C:\Windows and highlight any file that starts with "$NTUninstallKB." (You may also want to delete these files if your system has been running smoothly but you don't wish to uninstall any Windows fixes from Add/Remove Programs.)
Remove IE 7 Uninstall files. To do so, delete two folders: C:\WINDOWS\$NtServicePackUninstallIDNMitigationAPIs$ and C:\WINDOWS\$NtServicePackUninstallNLSDownlevelMapping$.
http://searchwindowsserver.techtarget.com/tip/Free-up-disk-space-on-your-C-drive
Freeup Disk Space on Windows Computer 02
This article will provide 40 ways to solve some common disk-space problems under Windows 9x and Windows NT.
A simple lack of disk space is the most common disk-space problem. If your hard disk drive's property sheet looks like the one shown in Figure A, you probably have more space than you might guess—it's just currently occupied by various sorts of Windows junk (and occasionally some junk of your own). Let's take a look at some of the debris clogging your system and how you can pare it away.
Figure A: Having no available disk space is a sad situation.
On This Page
What junk to go after
Manually deleting unwanted programs
Manually deleting unwanted files
Manual file compression
Controlling application parameters
Disk compression
Cleanup
Defragmentation
Conclusion
What junk to go after
You have several means of gaining back disk space on a Windows system. The basic methods are:
• Manual deletion of unwanted programs
• Manual deletion of unwanted files
• Manual file compression
• Application parameter control
• Disk compression
• Defragmentation
I'll detail each of these topics more thoroughly as we go along. Our basic approach will be to first remove and compress as many files as possible, and then (maybe) to compress the disk and run a defragmenter to gain back the greatest possible amount of space.
Caution: Use these procedures only if you're comfortable with them and only after backing up your system. Several of these steps fully remove files, and there will be no way to retrieve them without a backup.
Manually deleting unwanted programs
(1) The biggest area of waste on the average Windows PC lies in unused programs. To address this issue, begin by opening Control Panel and double-clicking the Add/Remove icon. Then, remove everything you don't use. Review the programs that you use infrequently, to see if you can move them to a zip drive or similar removable device. When I talk about moving unused programs to a zip drive, you must of course uninstall them and reinstall them onto the removable device. (It's sad that we simply can't copy applications anymore, isn't it?) Make sure you copy to tape or disk any data files from these applications that you might need again later.
Next, use Windows Explorer to (2) visually check your disk for the programs you've just uninstalled. In many cases, uninstall programs won't remove all the directories associated with the applications on the disk—especially if they contain user-generated data files. Sometimes, uninstallers remove only the core application executable files and their keys from the registry, leaving all the other files behind. As you manually inspect the disk with Windows Explorer, you can delete these directories.
The Add/Remove Programs utility doesn't contain information about all the programs installed on your PC. (3) So, double-click the My Computer icon, double-click each hard drive, and inspect the application folders, searching for useful uninstall programs or any additional files you'd like to get rid of. You might want to use Windows Explorer again here, to (4) tool through the disk directories directly.
Perform this removal process in the order I've described. Doing so will ensure that you take advantage of any uninstall programs that will also remove the respective application keys from the registry—otherwise, the registry might behave as though programs you've deleted still exist.
Manually deleting unwanted files
The next biggest area of waste is user- or system-generated files that are no longer important. The following file types are ripe for deletion (once you've agreed you don't need them):
• (5) *.bak—Backup files.
• (6) *.tmp—Temporary application files.
• (7) *.~*—Temporary application files.
• (8) ~*.*—Usually Microsoft work files.
• (9) *.old—Needs no explanation.
• (10) *.bkp—Backup files.
• (11) *.$$$—Work files.
• (12) *.diz—Marketing files that come with shareware programs.
• (13) Readme.txt—Startup files that accompany most packages.
• (14) MSCreate.dir—Small control files Windows places into directories you create.
• (15) *.gid—Hidden index files created when you first access Windows 95 help files. These can really eat up space, as Figure B shows. If you haven't used the associated help file for a while, you can consider deleting the GID files. Windows will re-create them the next time you access the help file.
Figure B: GID files can consume lots of space.
To delete these files, open the Find Programs dialog box by choosing Find from the Start menu and then selecting Files Or Folders from the submenu. Search for the file types in the order I've listed them.
Don't overlook the chance to get rid of small files when you can. Small files consume at least one full disk sector, which means that a one-byte file will use up 16 KB (or even 32 KB on a large disk).
(16) You might want to peek at the C:\Windows\Temp directory, where many programs deposit junk or work files. Delete whatever you can verify as unnecessary. (17) Also, many applications set up and use a \Temp directory or another user-defined directory on the C drive to store the temporary files from Windows. To determine where a user is storing temporary files, open an MS-DOS prompt window, type set, and press [Enter]. The Set command's resulting output will indicate the location of \Temp directories where you can look for and delete junk.
Also get rid of the basic fluff that comes with Windows itself. These unnecessary items include (18) AVI files in the C:\Windows\Help directory, (19) unwanted screen savers, (20) wallpaper bitmaps, (21) themes, and (22) sound files.
Manual file compression
(23) Under Windows 9x, you can compress an entire hard disk drive (as we'll explain later). However, this feature occasionally runs into corruption problems and isn't available "out-of-the-box" on Windows NT systems. A more time-honored tradition is to use a third-party compression utility to gather smaller files into one larger archive file. You can open this archive and break it down into the smaller component files as necessary. (The Web sites http://www.pkware.com (of PKZIP fame) and http://www.winzip.com both offer nice Windows compression programs._
Controlling application parameters
Empty the cache areas of your Internet browsers. The cache stores local copies of Internet Web pages you've browsed, for rapid retrieval the next time you visit the same site. You'll find graphic files (.gif,.jpg) here, as well as cookies and actual Web pages.
Netscape users can set aside a physical percentage of the disk drive in which to store these cache files—usually 5 MB. To erase this cache, look at the Net3\cache or Net4\cache folder. (24)To change the options, choose Network Preferences from the Options menu to open the Cache dialog box and make the necessary adjustments.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) uses a less desirable mechanism to determine cache size: a percentage of disk space. One percent is the minimum. So, if you're low on space and need to browse the Web, you can be sure IE will help finish you off by loading up the cache. IE places these cache files in the \Windows \Temporary Internet Files folder. You can view files in this directory but not delete them directly. (IE hides dated directories in this folder as well, which are hidden by default.) (25) The best way to remove these files is to choose Internet Options from the View menu to open the Internet Options dialog box, shown in Figure C. Then, click Delete Files to clear the cache. Not all the files are cleared from the cache, including cookie files (which, admittedly, are fairly small). (26) Now, click Clear History to remove the URL history list of past sites you've visited. If you browse a lot, this list can be quite large.
Figure C: Change cache settings in the Internet Options dialog box.
(27) Click Settings in the Internet Options dialog box to verify the percentage of disk space set aside for the cache. Set it to one percent, or whatever percentage you'd like.
Disk compression
(28) The Windows DriveSpace disk-compression tool will effectively set up your disk as a massive PKZIP archive. To start this utility, choose Programs from the Start menu, and then select Accessories | System Tools | DriveSpace from the submenu. DriveSpace can return a large percentage of space to your system, but it may make the files inaccessible to other systems on your network. Use this option with caution.
Cleanup
You can use a small program to empty the Recycle Bin (29) (it's really just a special directory on the root of the C drive). The C header code to do so looks like this:
SHEmptyRecycleBin
SHSTDAPI SHEmptyRecycleBin(
HWND hwnd,
LPCTSTR pszRootPath,
DWORD dwFlags
);
However, you must install the Explorer 4.0x extensions (such as channels) to get the required version 4.71 of the Shell32.dll file to make the call. I, for one, am not interested in installing tons (read that, megabytes) of glut just to be able to delete files from one directory.
So, let's look at a batch file that does the same thing. Note that the recycle directory contains two special, hidden files. Info maps the names of files in the Recycle Bin to their original filenames; you should delete this file. The shell uses Desktop.ini to recognize that the Recycle Bin is a special folder; don't remove this file.
(30) Place the following lines within a batch file called, perhaps, Dump.bat:
C:
CD\RECYCLED
ATTRIB -h *.*
ATTRIB +h desktop.ini
ECHO Y | DEL *.* > NUL:
You can now empty the Recycle Bin by calling this file.
ScanDisk
Files can become corrupted on a Windows PC for many reasons: A program may stop responding while it's trying to create a printer spool file, a user might turn off the PC while it's trying to process a chunk of data, and so on. Fortunately, a temporary (or copy of) file usually goes bad in these situations, so the most you're losing is space. You can correct many such file problems by running ScanDisk (31).
To access this utility, double-click My Computer, right-click the desired drive, choose Properties from the shortcut menu, and click the Tools tab. Click Check Now to run ScanDisk. I've seen PCs with as much as 45 MB of space tucked away in corrupted files—and some fairly happy users when they get all this space back.
One of the ScanDisk options lets you convert lost file fragments to files. Instead of directly freeing the bad file space, the system will save the data in the corrupted files to files on the root of the drive being scanned. These saved files are named sequentially as File0000.chk, File0001.chk, and so on. Afterward, if you're skilled at picking through binary files, you can recover data—or at least verify the original contents of the corrupted file. If you aren't so skilled, or if you're ready to delete these files, be sure to (32) remove the File*.chk files from the roots of all your drives. Otherwise, you'll have saved the space in the corrupted files rather than releasing it.
Spool files
(33) Use Windows Explorer to check the C:\Windows\Spool directory, where previously faxed or printed documents may have left behind some junk files. In some cases, these files can be fairly large.
Mail files
(34) Check your mail files and remove any large attachments. Delete any unused mail messages. Make sure your mail system doesn't use a two-stage deletion process, like Internet Mail. If it does, empty the deleted mail files receptacle, as well. Compress your mail file to return the unused space. (I've seen this technique return as much as 67 MB to a user system.)
Database files
(35) Compact any large, locally stored databases. In Microsoft Access 2.0, choose Compact Database from the File menu for details. In Access 7.0, choose Database Utilities from the Tools menu and then select Compact Database from the submenu.
In Visual Basic, you can do the same thing by using a program:
DBEngine.CompactDatabase _
olddatabase, _
newdatabase [, locale [, options]]
Vendor installation files
(36-37) Remove the AVI files, help files, and backup installation programs left over on new machines. Once the system has been running for a while, you won't need the 12 MB of hardware-vendor-specific marketing often provided with a new PC.
Defragmentation
Defragmentation "shuffles" files on the hard drive to regain space lost through the daily creation and removal of files. When you create a small file, it uses a full disk sector (between 2 KB and 32 KB, depending on the size of your disk drive) to store itself. If you're low on disk space and Windows doesn't have enough room to store a large file, it may break the file into small enough chunks to fit the available space (or you may simply run out of disk space). Breaking up files in this way slows down the access time of the files (your PC runs slower) and wastes a lot of disk space.
(38) Defragmentation will reorder the files on the disk, placing large files into adjacent pieces and reducing the consumption of sectors by smaller files. I've seen savings of as much as 12 MB on a 4-GB drive, which had been previously cleaned using all the steps I've listed so far, simply by defragmenting the disk. You access this utility as you do ScanDisk: Double-click My Computer, right-click the desired drive, choose Properties from the shortcut menu, and click the Tools tab. To start defragmentation, click Defragment Now.
Note that this utility will work around hidden files and, as a result, won't be able to fully optimize the space around or in them. And, Windows hides a lot of files during the normal course of its business. (39) If you're truly feeling industrious, you can unhide certain files so that Windows can defragment them as well. Of course, you do not want to unhide system files, such as the registry files (System.dat, User.dat, and *.dat). However, you can unhide GID files or anything else that resembles junk, as defined earlier.
To unhide files, simply enter the following lines in a batch file named something like Hidden.bat:
CD\
DIR /AH /S /B
You can also unhide a file by right-clicking the file in Explorer, choosing Properties, and clearing the Read-Only, System, and Hidden check boxes in the resulting dialog box.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc750370.aspx
A simple lack of disk space is the most common disk-space problem. If your hard disk drive's property sheet looks like the one shown in Figure A, you probably have more space than you might guess—it's just currently occupied by various sorts of Windows junk (and occasionally some junk of your own). Let's take a look at some of the debris clogging your system and how you can pare it away.
Figure A: Having no available disk space is a sad situation.
On This Page
What junk to go after
Manually deleting unwanted programs
Manually deleting unwanted files
Manual file compression
Controlling application parameters
Disk compression
Cleanup
Defragmentation
Conclusion
What junk to go after
You have several means of gaining back disk space on a Windows system. The basic methods are:
• Manual deletion of unwanted programs
• Manual deletion of unwanted files
• Manual file compression
• Application parameter control
• Disk compression
• Defragmentation
I'll detail each of these topics more thoroughly as we go along. Our basic approach will be to first remove and compress as many files as possible, and then (maybe) to compress the disk and run a defragmenter to gain back the greatest possible amount of space.
Caution: Use these procedures only if you're comfortable with them and only after backing up your system. Several of these steps fully remove files, and there will be no way to retrieve them without a backup.
Manually deleting unwanted programs
(1) The biggest area of waste on the average Windows PC lies in unused programs. To address this issue, begin by opening Control Panel and double-clicking the Add/Remove icon. Then, remove everything you don't use. Review the programs that you use infrequently, to see if you can move them to a zip drive or similar removable device. When I talk about moving unused programs to a zip drive, you must of course uninstall them and reinstall them onto the removable device. (It's sad that we simply can't copy applications anymore, isn't it?) Make sure you copy to tape or disk any data files from these applications that you might need again later.
Next, use Windows Explorer to (2) visually check your disk for the programs you've just uninstalled. In many cases, uninstall programs won't remove all the directories associated with the applications on the disk—especially if they contain user-generated data files. Sometimes, uninstallers remove only the core application executable files and their keys from the registry, leaving all the other files behind. As you manually inspect the disk with Windows Explorer, you can delete these directories.
The Add/Remove Programs utility doesn't contain information about all the programs installed on your PC. (3) So, double-click the My Computer icon, double-click each hard drive, and inspect the application folders, searching for useful uninstall programs or any additional files you'd like to get rid of. You might want to use Windows Explorer again here, to (4) tool through the disk directories directly.
Perform this removal process in the order I've described. Doing so will ensure that you take advantage of any uninstall programs that will also remove the respective application keys from the registry—otherwise, the registry might behave as though programs you've deleted still exist.
Manually deleting unwanted files
The next biggest area of waste is user- or system-generated files that are no longer important. The following file types are ripe for deletion (once you've agreed you don't need them):
• (5) *.bak—Backup files.
• (6) *.tmp—Temporary application files.
• (7) *.~*—Temporary application files.
• (8) ~*.*—Usually Microsoft work files.
• (9) *.old—Needs no explanation.
• (10) *.bkp—Backup files.
• (11) *.$$$—Work files.
• (12) *.diz—Marketing files that come with shareware programs.
• (13) Readme.txt—Startup files that accompany most packages.
• (14) MSCreate.dir—Small control files Windows places into directories you create.
• (15) *.gid—Hidden index files created when you first access Windows 95 help files. These can really eat up space, as Figure B shows. If you haven't used the associated help file for a while, you can consider deleting the GID files. Windows will re-create them the next time you access the help file.
Figure B: GID files can consume lots of space.
To delete these files, open the Find Programs dialog box by choosing Find from the Start menu and then selecting Files Or Folders from the submenu. Search for the file types in the order I've listed them.
Don't overlook the chance to get rid of small files when you can. Small files consume at least one full disk sector, which means that a one-byte file will use up 16 KB (or even 32 KB on a large disk).
(16) You might want to peek at the C:\Windows\Temp directory, where many programs deposit junk or work files. Delete whatever you can verify as unnecessary. (17) Also, many applications set up and use a \Temp directory or another user-defined directory on the C drive to store the temporary files from Windows. To determine where a user is storing temporary files, open an MS-DOS prompt window, type set, and press [Enter]. The Set command's resulting output will indicate the location of \Temp directories where you can look for and delete junk.
Also get rid of the basic fluff that comes with Windows itself. These unnecessary items include (18) AVI files in the C:\Windows\Help directory, (19) unwanted screen savers, (20) wallpaper bitmaps, (21) themes, and (22) sound files.
Manual file compression
(23) Under Windows 9x, you can compress an entire hard disk drive (as we'll explain later). However, this feature occasionally runs into corruption problems and isn't available "out-of-the-box" on Windows NT systems. A more time-honored tradition is to use a third-party compression utility to gather smaller files into one larger archive file. You can open this archive and break it down into the smaller component files as necessary. (The Web sites http://www.pkware.com (of PKZIP fame) and http://www.winzip.com both offer nice Windows compression programs._
Controlling application parameters
Empty the cache areas of your Internet browsers. The cache stores local copies of Internet Web pages you've browsed, for rapid retrieval the next time you visit the same site. You'll find graphic files (.gif,.jpg) here, as well as cookies and actual Web pages.
Netscape users can set aside a physical percentage of the disk drive in which to store these cache files—usually 5 MB. To erase this cache, look at the Net3\cache or Net4\cache folder. (24)To change the options, choose Network Preferences from the Options menu to open the Cache dialog box and make the necessary adjustments.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) uses a less desirable mechanism to determine cache size: a percentage of disk space. One percent is the minimum. So, if you're low on space and need to browse the Web, you can be sure IE will help finish you off by loading up the cache. IE places these cache files in the \Windows \Temporary Internet Files folder. You can view files in this directory but not delete them directly. (IE hides dated directories in this folder as well, which are hidden by default.) (25) The best way to remove these files is to choose Internet Options from the View menu to open the Internet Options dialog box, shown in Figure C. Then, click Delete Files to clear the cache. Not all the files are cleared from the cache, including cookie files (which, admittedly, are fairly small). (26) Now, click Clear History to remove the URL history list of past sites you've visited. If you browse a lot, this list can be quite large.
Figure C: Change cache settings in the Internet Options dialog box.
(27) Click Settings in the Internet Options dialog box to verify the percentage of disk space set aside for the cache. Set it to one percent, or whatever percentage you'd like.
Disk compression
(28) The Windows DriveSpace disk-compression tool will effectively set up your disk as a massive PKZIP archive. To start this utility, choose Programs from the Start menu, and then select Accessories | System Tools | DriveSpace from the submenu. DriveSpace can return a large percentage of space to your system, but it may make the files inaccessible to other systems on your network. Use this option with caution.
Cleanup
You can use a small program to empty the Recycle Bin (29) (it's really just a special directory on the root of the C drive). The C header code to do so looks like this:
SHEmptyRecycleBin
SHSTDAPI SHEmptyRecycleBin(
HWND hwnd,
LPCTSTR pszRootPath,
DWORD dwFlags
);
However, you must install the Explorer 4.0x extensions (such as channels) to get the required version 4.71 of the Shell32.dll file to make the call. I, for one, am not interested in installing tons (read that, megabytes) of glut just to be able to delete files from one directory.
So, let's look at a batch file that does the same thing. Note that the recycle directory contains two special, hidden files. Info maps the names of files in the Recycle Bin to their original filenames; you should delete this file. The shell uses Desktop.ini to recognize that the Recycle Bin is a special folder; don't remove this file.
(30) Place the following lines within a batch file called, perhaps, Dump.bat:
C:
CD\RECYCLED
ATTRIB -h *.*
ATTRIB +h desktop.ini
ECHO Y | DEL *.* > NUL:
You can now empty the Recycle Bin by calling this file.
ScanDisk
Files can become corrupted on a Windows PC for many reasons: A program may stop responding while it's trying to create a printer spool file, a user might turn off the PC while it's trying to process a chunk of data, and so on. Fortunately, a temporary (or copy of) file usually goes bad in these situations, so the most you're losing is space. You can correct many such file problems by running ScanDisk (31).
To access this utility, double-click My Computer, right-click the desired drive, choose Properties from the shortcut menu, and click the Tools tab. Click Check Now to run ScanDisk. I've seen PCs with as much as 45 MB of space tucked away in corrupted files—and some fairly happy users when they get all this space back.
One of the ScanDisk options lets you convert lost file fragments to files. Instead of directly freeing the bad file space, the system will save the data in the corrupted files to files on the root of the drive being scanned. These saved files are named sequentially as File0000.chk, File0001.chk, and so on. Afterward, if you're skilled at picking through binary files, you can recover data—or at least verify the original contents of the corrupted file. If you aren't so skilled, or if you're ready to delete these files, be sure to (32) remove the File*.chk files from the roots of all your drives. Otherwise, you'll have saved the space in the corrupted files rather than releasing it.
Spool files
(33) Use Windows Explorer to check the C:\Windows\Spool directory, where previously faxed or printed documents may have left behind some junk files. In some cases, these files can be fairly large.
Mail files
(34) Check your mail files and remove any large attachments. Delete any unused mail messages. Make sure your mail system doesn't use a two-stage deletion process, like Internet Mail. If it does, empty the deleted mail files receptacle, as well. Compress your mail file to return the unused space. (I've seen this technique return as much as 67 MB to a user system.)
Database files
(35) Compact any large, locally stored databases. In Microsoft Access 2.0, choose Compact Database from the File menu for details. In Access 7.0, choose Database Utilities from the Tools menu and then select Compact Database from the submenu.
In Visual Basic, you can do the same thing by using a program:
DBEngine.CompactDatabase _
olddatabase, _
newdatabase [, locale [, options]]
Vendor installation files
(36-37) Remove the AVI files, help files, and backup installation programs left over on new machines. Once the system has been running for a while, you won't need the 12 MB of hardware-vendor-specific marketing often provided with a new PC.
Defragmentation
Defragmentation "shuffles" files on the hard drive to regain space lost through the daily creation and removal of files. When you create a small file, it uses a full disk sector (between 2 KB and 32 KB, depending on the size of your disk drive) to store itself. If you're low on disk space and Windows doesn't have enough room to store a large file, it may break the file into small enough chunks to fit the available space (or you may simply run out of disk space). Breaking up files in this way slows down the access time of the files (your PC runs slower) and wastes a lot of disk space.
(38) Defragmentation will reorder the files on the disk, placing large files into adjacent pieces and reducing the consumption of sectors by smaller files. I've seen savings of as much as 12 MB on a 4-GB drive, which had been previously cleaned using all the steps I've listed so far, simply by defragmenting the disk. You access this utility as you do ScanDisk: Double-click My Computer, right-click the desired drive, choose Properties from the shortcut menu, and click the Tools tab. To start defragmentation, click Defragment Now.
Note that this utility will work around hidden files and, as a result, won't be able to fully optimize the space around or in them. And, Windows hides a lot of files during the normal course of its business. (39) If you're truly feeling industrious, you can unhide certain files so that Windows can defragment them as well. Of course, you do not want to unhide system files, such as the registry files (System.dat, User.dat, and *.dat). However, you can unhide GID files or anything else that resembles junk, as defined earlier.
To unhide files, simply enter the following lines in a batch file named something like Hidden.bat:
CD\
DIR /AH /S /B
You can also unhide a file by right-clicking the file in Explorer, choosing Properties, and clearing the Read-Only, System, and Hidden check boxes in the resulting dialog box.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc750370.aspx
Error message when you try to open or save an e-mail attachment in Outlook: "Cannot create file"
Cannot create file: file name. Right-click the folder you want to create the file in and click Properties on the shortcut menu to check your permissions for the folder.
Outlook 2000
If you are using Outlook 2000, follow these steps:
Start Registry Editor.
Locate and then click the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Outlook\Security\OutlookSecureTempFolder
Note You may have to manually create this registry key if it does not already exist on the system.
If Outlook is installed on a terminal server, use the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Terminal Server\Install\Software\MICROSOFT\Office\9.0\Outlook\SECURITY\OutlookSecureTempFolder
On the Edit menu, click Modify, and then add the following registry value:
Value data: Path and name of the folder that you want to use
Exit Registry Editor.
Outlook 2003
If you are using Outlook 2003, follow these steps:
Click My Computer, and then double-click drive C.
On the File menu, click New, and then click Folder.
Name the folder temp0.
Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
Locate and then click the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Security\
In the right pane, double-click OutlookSecureTempFolder.
In the Value Data field, type C:\temp0\ and then click OK.
Exit Registry Editor.
Restart the computer.
Outlook 2010
If you are using Outlook 2010, follow these steps:
Click My Computer, and then double-click drive C.
On the File menu, click New, and then click Folder.
Name the folder temp0.
Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
Locate and then click the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Security\
In the right pane, double-click OutlookSecureTempFolder.
In the Value Data field, type C:\temp0\ and then click OK.
Exit Registry Editor.
Restart the computer.
Outlook 2000
If you are using Outlook 2000, follow these steps:
Start Registry Editor.
Locate and then click the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Outlook\Security\OutlookSecureTempFolder
Note You may have to manually create this registry key if it does not already exist on the system.
If Outlook is installed on a terminal server, use the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Terminal Server\Install\Software\MICROSOFT\Office\9.0\Outlook\SECURITY\OutlookSecureTempFolder
On the Edit menu, click Modify, and then add the following registry value:
Value data: Path and name of the folder that you want to use
Exit Registry Editor.
Outlook 2003
If you are using Outlook 2003, follow these steps:
Click My Computer, and then double-click drive C.
On the File menu, click New, and then click Folder.
Name the folder temp0.
Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
Locate and then click the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Security\
In the right pane, double-click OutlookSecureTempFolder.
In the Value Data field, type C:\temp0\ and then click OK.
Exit Registry Editor.
Restart the computer.
Outlook 2010
If you are using Outlook 2010, follow these steps:
Click My Computer, and then double-click drive C.
On the File menu, click New, and then click Folder.
Name the folder temp0.
Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
Locate and then click the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Security\
In the right pane, double-click OutlookSecureTempFolder.
In the Value Data field, type C:\temp0\ and then click OK.
Exit Registry Editor.
Restart the computer.
OST Integrity Check tool
From time to time, you may get error messages when synchronizing your Offline Folder file (.ost) in Microsoft Office Outlook with your mailbox on a server running Exchange. You may also notice that some items are missing from your .ost file or from your mailbox after you synchronize your .ost file and your mailbox. When this occurs, you should use the OST Integrity Check tool (Scanost.exe) to check your .ost file.
The OST Integrity Check tool runs only on .ost files and can be used to diagnose and repair synchronization issues. The tool scans both your .ost file and your mailbox on the server running Exchange, compares the items and folders in each, and attempts to reconcile synchronization differences between them. The OST Integrity Check tool does not change your mailbox on the server running Exchange. The tool records any differences in a scan log so that you can see the discrepancies that it found and resolved. The scan log also identifies any situations that the tool could not correct which you will need to fix manually. The scan log can be found in your Deleted Items folder.
To use the OST Integrity Check tool, you must connect to your Exchange account so that the tool can scan your mailbox folders and items. If you previously set up Outlook to start offline automatically, the OST Integrity Check tool will not be able to access your mailbox on the server running Exchange. Therefore, before you run the tool, you need to change your Outlook startup settings temporarily.
If you have problems opening your .ost file, you can use the Inbox Repair tool (Scanpst.exe) to diagnose and repair errors in your .ost file. The Inbox Repair tool (Scanpst.exe) can be used on your .ost file as well as Personal Folders file (.pst). The tool scans the .ost or .pst file, and makes sure that the file structure is intact. It does not interact with your Inbox on the server running Exchange server in any way.
The OST Integrity Check tool (Scanost.exe) is installed when you install Outlook. It is located at:
drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE12.
REPAIR ERRORS BY USING SCANOST.EXE
Exit Outlook if it is running.
Double-click Scanost.exe, located at drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE12.
If you have set up Outlook to prompt for a profile, the tool will also prompt you for one. In the Profile Name list, click the profile that contains the .ost file that you want to check.
If you are prompted to Connect or Work Offline, click Connect.
Select the options that you want.
To have the tool automatically resolve discrepancies that it finds during the scan, select the Repair Errors check box. If this check box is cleared, the tool will log the problems but not make the necessary corrections.
Click Begin Scan.
NOTE To view the scan log, start Outlook, and then open the Deleted Items folder. The tool does not scan the Deleted Items folder. Any problems will be noted in a message with the Subject "OST Integrity Check."
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/scan-and-repair-corrupted-outlook-data-files-HA010075831.aspx
The OST Integrity Check tool runs only on .ost files and can be used to diagnose and repair synchronization issues. The tool scans both your .ost file and your mailbox on the server running Exchange, compares the items and folders in each, and attempts to reconcile synchronization differences between them. The OST Integrity Check tool does not change your mailbox on the server running Exchange. The tool records any differences in a scan log so that you can see the discrepancies that it found and resolved. The scan log also identifies any situations that the tool could not correct which you will need to fix manually. The scan log can be found in your Deleted Items folder.
To use the OST Integrity Check tool, you must connect to your Exchange account so that the tool can scan your mailbox folders and items. If you previously set up Outlook to start offline automatically, the OST Integrity Check tool will not be able to access your mailbox on the server running Exchange. Therefore, before you run the tool, you need to change your Outlook startup settings temporarily.
If you have problems opening your .ost file, you can use the Inbox Repair tool (Scanpst.exe) to diagnose and repair errors in your .ost file. The Inbox Repair tool (Scanpst.exe) can be used on your .ost file as well as Personal Folders file (.pst). The tool scans the .ost or .pst file, and makes sure that the file structure is intact. It does not interact with your Inbox on the server running Exchange server in any way.
The OST Integrity Check tool (Scanost.exe) is installed when you install Outlook. It is located at:
drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE12.
REPAIR ERRORS BY USING SCANOST.EXE
Exit Outlook if it is running.
Double-click Scanost.exe, located at drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE12.
If you have set up Outlook to prompt for a profile, the tool will also prompt you for one. In the Profile Name list, click the profile that contains the .ost file that you want to check.
If you are prompted to Connect or Work Offline, click Connect.
Select the options that you want.
To have the tool automatically resolve discrepancies that it finds during the scan, select the Repair Errors check box. If this check box is cleared, the tool will log the problems but not make the necessary corrections.
Click Begin Scan.
NOTE To view the scan log, start Outlook, and then open the Deleted Items folder. The tool does not scan the Deleted Items folder. Any problems will be noted in a message with the Subject "OST Integrity Check."
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/scan-and-repair-corrupted-outlook-data-files-HA010075831.aspx
Mengganti MAC Adress Mikrotik
/interface ethernet set [interface_name] mac-address= [id mac address]
Dropping Scanner untuk RouterOS
Banyak hal yang ingin di ketahui orang lain ketika kita tengah membuat sebuah sistem jaringan yang terbuka dan tersambung ke Internet. Mulai dari pencobaan penetrasi sampai melakukan brute force. Dari hal tersebut coba ambil sebuah langkah untuk melakukan blok terhadap beberapa port yang tidak di perlukan, namun ketika lebih dalam lagi, ternyata bukan hanya hal tersebut saja. Yang perlu di pikirkan ternyata adalah langkah pertama saat para “orang usil” tadi untuk mencoba masuk ke router kita adalah melakukan scan terhadap router kita. Nah berangkat dari sini, coba coba mencari alternatif untuk membuat router kita tidak bisa di scan oleh orang lain. Ternyata tidak terlalu sulit.. berikut adalah langkah langkah praktisnya.
Tentunya bicara tentang hal diatas tentu bicara soal Firewall, nah untuk itu kita masuk ke /ip firewall buat rantai berikut untuk aturannya.
add chain=input protocol=tcp psd=21,3s,3,1 action=add-src-to-address-list address-list="port scanners"
address-list-timeout=2w comment="Port scanners to list " disabled=no
Artinya router akan mencatat semua IP para scanner tersebut dan kemudian di masukan kedalam daftar IP Address dan di namakan dalam grup “port scanners” setelah itu kita buat satu rule untuk menindaklanjutinya. Berikut rule untuk mendropkannya :
add chain=input src-address-list="port scanners" action=drop comment="dropping port scanners" disabled=no
Nah secara otomatis Mikrotik akan memainkan rule tersebut, namun beberapa alternatif port scanner bisa juga menggunakan beberapa metode, untuk itu coba tambahkan rule berikut ini sebelum menggunakan aturan 2 :
add chain=input protocol=tcp tcp-flags=fin,!syn,!rst,!psh,!ack,!urg
action=add-src-to-address-list address-list="port scanners"
address-list-timeout=2w comment="NMAP FIN Stealth scan"
add chain=input protocol=tcp tcp-flags=fin,syn
action=add-src-to-address-list address-list="port scanners"
address-list-timeout=2w comment="SYN/FIN scan"
add chain=input protocol=tcp tcp-flags=syn,rst
action=add-src-to-address-list address-list="port scanners"
address-list-timeout=2w comment="SYN/RST scan"
add chain=input protocol=tcp tcp-flags=fin,psh,urg,!syn,!rst,!ack
action=add-src-to-address-list address-list="port scanners"
address-list-timeout=2w comment="FIN/PSH/URG scan"
add chain=input protocol=tcp tcp-flags=fin,syn,rst,psh,ack,urg
action=add-src-to-address-list address-list="port scanners"
address-list-timeout=2w comment="ALL/ALL scan"
add chain=input protocol=tcp tcp-flags=!fin,!syn,!rst,!psh,!ack,!urg
action=add-src-to-address-list address-list=”port scanners”
address-list-timeout=2w comment=”NMAP NULL scan”
Nah sedikit banyak anda sudah melakukan tindakan pertama pengamanan untuk router anda, coba sekarang anda melakukan scan terhadap router anda. Jadi langkah ini adalah langkah pertama pertolongan pada keamanan router anda.
taken from multisolusi.com
Tentunya bicara tentang hal diatas tentu bicara soal Firewall, nah untuk itu kita masuk ke /ip firewall buat rantai berikut untuk aturannya.
add chain=input protocol=tcp psd=21,3s,3,1 action=add-src-to-address-list address-list="port scanners"
address-list-timeout=2w comment="Port scanners to list " disabled=no
Artinya router akan mencatat semua IP para scanner tersebut dan kemudian di masukan kedalam daftar IP Address dan di namakan dalam grup “port scanners” setelah itu kita buat satu rule untuk menindaklanjutinya. Berikut rule untuk mendropkannya :
add chain=input src-address-list="port scanners" action=drop comment="dropping port scanners" disabled=no
Nah secara otomatis Mikrotik akan memainkan rule tersebut, namun beberapa alternatif port scanner bisa juga menggunakan beberapa metode, untuk itu coba tambahkan rule berikut ini sebelum menggunakan aturan 2 :
add chain=input protocol=tcp tcp-flags=fin,!syn,!rst,!psh,!ack,!urg
action=add-src-to-address-list address-list="port scanners"
address-list-timeout=2w comment="NMAP FIN Stealth scan"
add chain=input protocol=tcp tcp-flags=fin,syn
action=add-src-to-address-list address-list="port scanners"
address-list-timeout=2w comment="SYN/FIN scan"
add chain=input protocol=tcp tcp-flags=syn,rst
action=add-src-to-address-list address-list="port scanners"
address-list-timeout=2w comment="SYN/RST scan"
add chain=input protocol=tcp tcp-flags=fin,psh,urg,!syn,!rst,!ack
action=add-src-to-address-list address-list="port scanners"
address-list-timeout=2w comment="FIN/PSH/URG scan"
add chain=input protocol=tcp tcp-flags=fin,syn,rst,psh,ack,urg
action=add-src-to-address-list address-list="port scanners"
address-list-timeout=2w comment="ALL/ALL scan"
add chain=input protocol=tcp tcp-flags=!fin,!syn,!rst,!psh,!ack,!urg
action=add-src-to-address-list address-list=”port scanners”
address-list-timeout=2w comment=”NMAP NULL scan”
Nah sedikit banyak anda sudah melakukan tindakan pertama pengamanan untuk router anda, coba sekarang anda melakukan scan terhadap router anda. Jadi langkah ini adalah langkah pertama pertolongan pada keamanan router anda.
taken from multisolusi.com
Bandwith Management dengan Queue Trees
Dhcp server di mikrotik Setting isp dengan ip dynamic Bandwith management dengan queue trees
Agar setiap client tidak saling berebut bandwith maka perlu dilakukan bandwith control
Asumsi isp memiliki bandwith 384/64 untuk download dan upload dengan client 10 komputer
min download: 300/10*1024=30720bps
max download: 380/10*1024=38912bps
min upload: 50/10*1024=5120bps
max upload: 60/10*1024=6144bps
Tandai semua paket dari lan
ip firewall mangle add src-address=192.168.0.0/24 action=mark-connection new-connection-mark=client-con chain=prerouting
ip firewall mangle add connection-mark=client-con action=mark-packet new-packet-mark=clients chain=prerouting
Rule yang membatasi kecepatan download n upload client
queue tree add name=client-download parent=ether2 packet-mark=clients limit-at=30720 max-limit=38912
queue tree add name=client-upload parent=ether1 packet-mark=clients limit-at=5120 max-limit=6144
Test download dari beberapa client memastikan tiap client berbagi bandwith
Agar setiap client tidak saling berebut bandwith maka perlu dilakukan bandwith control
Asumsi isp memiliki bandwith 384/64 untuk download dan upload dengan client 10 komputer
min download: 300/10*1024=30720bps
max download: 380/10*1024=38912bps
min upload: 50/10*1024=5120bps
max upload: 60/10*1024=6144bps
Tandai semua paket dari lan
ip firewall mangle add src-address=192.168.0.0/24 action=mark-connection new-connection-mark=client-con chain=prerouting
ip firewall mangle add connection-mark=client-con action=mark-packet new-packet-mark=clients chain=prerouting
Rule yang membatasi kecepatan download n upload client
queue tree add name=client-download parent=ether2 packet-mark=clients limit-at=30720 max-limit=38912
queue tree add name=client-upload parent=ether1 packet-mark=clients limit-at=5120 max-limit=6144
Test download dari beberapa client memastikan tiap client berbagi bandwith
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