Sony Support

Article ID : S500011328 / Last Modified : 11/04/2018Print

Why does the free space of the hard disk become lesser in Windows XP?

The free space of the hard disk become lesser in Windows XP?

    • Temporary files and temporary Internet files increasingly take up more space on the computer.

      Temporary file and Temporary Internet file increasingly take up more and more space on the hard drive.
      Perform the Disk Cleanup to delete such files.

      Regarding the operation steps, refer to the following related solutions.

    • Regularly creating and saving system restore point on the computer.

      Such activities take up space on the hard disk.

      A restore point will be generated automatically under the following conditions.

      When the computer has been running for about ten hours and has been in Standby Mode for several minutes, the system will generate a restore point automatically.
      And if the computer is turned on 24 hours later and kept in Standby Mode for several minutes, the computer will generate the checkpoint automatically.

      Users can create a restore point in System Restore.
      The system restore points are located at C:\System Volume Information and it cannot be deleted.

      Regarding how to access the data file, please refer to the following steps.

      1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.

      2. Click Appearance and Themes.

      3. Click Folder Options.

      4. Click View in the Folder Options window.

      5. Select  Show hidden files and folders in Advanced settings:.

      6. Disable  Hide protected operating system files (Recommended).

      7. When the dialogue box appears to verify the change, click Yes.

      8. Click OK to close Folder Options.

    • Thumbs.db files increase and take up disk space.

      If the display of folder is set to image, the Thumbs.db hidden files will be generated.
      The thumbnail cache file of image and HTML files, increases the reactionary speed of folder being examined in the way of Thumbnail.
      The size of the file varies from several KB to several hundred MB for different composition of folders.

      Users can set not to create Thumbs.db files according to the following steps.
      However, users cannot delete the Thumbs.db files of the folders being used even if  the following steps are carried out.

      If the following setup is done, it takes some time to open the folders that contain thumbnails.
    1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
    2. Click Appearance and Themes.

       
    3. Click Folder Options.

       
    4. Click the View option in the Folder Options window.

       
    5. Check Do not cache thumbnails in Advanced settings:.

       
    6. Click OK to close Folder Options.