Computer people.. how did she loose 70 GIGS?

[miss missy]

Help, My sis is ready to throw he puter out the window She has 80 Gigs... and another 100 gig for her music and design files. The only thing on the main memory is programs files, for a graphic designer.. that about 15 gigs there. She checked all her files and cant find where the 70 gig is???? Dell told she has to wipe it clean and start over. Is this true? HELP!!!!!!!!!

 

[Forevryoung]

I dont exactly understand... the memory says full?

I hate Dell. They are evil. Dont listen to what they say until you know what the problem is

 

[Galahad]

Be sure you know whether you are talking about memory or disk space.

 

[miss missy]

This is when she goes on C drive, right click, the pic shows 7GIG Free!

Her option compress drive to save disk space is checked already too!

 

[HonestAbe]

Well - let old Honest Abe give you some advice. 7GB free space isnt something to be terribly alarmed about. However, since she is using a Dell she'll find the customer support LESS than accommodating. She can always call Dell back and she will get someone else but she will probably waste a lot of time waiting....

Couple of just generic things to check. Being a graphic designer she spends a lot of time on the ol' internet. Tell her to open IE (That's Internet Exploder to the non-techies out there), click Tools > Internet Options > and Delete Cookies, Delete Files, and Clear History. She may have to remember some ol' passwords to some websites that she had cached, but that's always a good housekeeping tip.

A little more involved but very effective is search for the following file types and delete them. *.tmp (temporary files); *.bak (backup files usually made when MS products update or install but they are not backup files she will EVER need...) and ~*.* .....That's right - put the tilde (~) in front of *.*. What those are seem to be the pesky little files that are the workspace that winder's apps use when you right one of dem dere fancy word or excel docs. All of that junk that comes up can be deleted. Now, it may not ALL delete, but she needn't worry bout that too much. Just get as much as you can.

Now if that doesnt help enough, cmon back and old honest abe'll try to lend nother hand to ya'll.

 

[miss missy]

Well - let old Honest Abe give you some advice. 7GB free space isnt something to be terribly alarmed about. However, since she is using a Dell she'll find the customer support LESS than accommodating. She can always call Dell back and she will get someone else but she will probably waste a lot of time waiting....

Couple of just generic things to check. Being a graphic designer she spends a lot of time on the ol' internet. Tell her to open IE (That's Internet Exploder to the non-techies out there), click Tools > Internet Options > and Delete Cookies, Delete Files, and Clear History. She may have to remember some ol' passwords to some websites that she had cached, but that's always a good housekeeping tip.

A little more involved but very effective is search for the following file types and delete them. *.tmp (temporary files); *.bak (backup files usually made when MS products update or install but they are not backup files she will EVER need...) and ~*.* .....That's right - put the tilde (~) in front of *.*. What those are seem to be the pesky little files that are the workspace that winder's apps use when you right one of dem dere fancy word or excel docs. All of that junk that comes up can be deleted. Now, it may not ALL delete, but she needn't worry bout that too much. Just get as much as you can.

Now if that doesnt help enough, cmon back and old honest abe'll try to lend nother hand to ya'll.

Thanks Abe, you awesome!

She was already on with Dell when I saw this and her puter was down they had her reformat hard drive and reinstall windows, she is now at 98% capacity.. but hasn't installed graphic programs back yet. WHEW! Her stress level is up there and she has a !!!
---------><-------------- she is walking away for tonight and will try with new eyes tomorrow!

Thanks sooo much for the info! I do your first suggestion all the time!!! clearing cookies and such. But I am going to do the ** trick myself now too!!!

 

[Servants of Evan]

You'll find Dell's typical response to any problem starts with reformatting the Hard drive. Power supply die? -- reformat the hard drive. Memory Stick go bad? -- reformat the hard drive. NIC die? -- reformat the hard drive. They're impossible... Unfortunately, it's not much better with any other company either. I called Intel customer service after determining a RAID controller on my server motherboard departed the functioning world. It should have been no problem as the board is just over one year old and it has a three year warranty. Ahhh, that requires a call to technical/warranty service. To talk with warranty service it will cost $25 and I virtually guarantee they will not speak english as a first language -- Lord knows customer service didn't. On several instances, they had to spell words out so I could grasp what they were attempting to say! Granted, if they agree that the controller is dead they will refund my $25 but considering the barriers to communication, I wonder how long this will take!

 

[DWDreams]

Is she sure she doesn't have a partitioned hard drive? I have both a c and d hard drive on my computer so you have to add the space on each to get the total figure. I keep most of my main programs on c and my minor ones plus pics, songs, etc... on d.

 

[miss missy]

Is she sure she doesn't have a partitioned hard drive? I have both a c and d hard drive on my computer so you have to add the space on each to get the total figure. I keep most of my main programs on c and my minor ones plus pics, songs, etc... on d.

No I do not think so, she got the puter with that much space because of the heavy programs she uses... I have to check today and she how it is going for her.

 

[MissMonkeyPuss]

Hello, this is MissMonkeyPuss, a name my neice contrived, and I want to say thank you to all your efforts in trying to prevent my computer from going up stream (literally)! Yes, I reformatted my hard drive and am suffering the repercussions. With time I am sure I will be back up and running as ususal. As a designer, I REALLY NEED A MAC!!!!!!!

Again, thanks for all your help in my time of need

MissMonkeyPuss

 

[miss missy]

Your welcome sis

 

[safetymom]

Changing to a MAC won't solve all your problems. I do a lot of graphic work and have used PC's for years with very few problems.

It would be helpful to learn a little about PC's and preventive measures so you don't have to reformat the computer.

But it is good every so often to reformat. Any traces of old programs and other stuff are wiped away and the computer runs better.

www.pcpitstop.com is a great site to go and check you computer.

 

[MissMonkeyPuss]

Thank you safetymom,

I have also been designing on a PC for years. I have recently upgraded to Photoshop CS2. It is this program that is giving me all the trouble. Minor tasks freeze up and the program becomes non responsive. Have uninstalled/reinstalled/repaired the program to no avail.
Does anyone out there have any suggestions? I think it has something to do with cache. Photoshop is a pretty hefty program. MACS are made to handle the volume graphics tend to need but sadly I cannot afford one. The Adobe Bridge for instance, what a cache-hungry feature that is, from what I can see. I hate to think I need to go back to an earlier version. CS2 has aaaaaaaaaaall kinds of new bells and whistles and I have become quite comfortable with the changes.

Other than that, my PC is now running with lightening speed.

 

[HonestAbe]

Thank you safetymom,

I have also been designing on a PC for years. I have recently upgraded to Photoshop CS2. It is this program that is giving me all the trouble. Minor tasks freeze up and the program becomes non responsive. Have uninstalled/reinstalled/repaired the program to no avail.
Does anyone out there have any suggestions? I think it has something to do with cache. Photoshop is a pretty hefty program. MACS are made to handle the volume graphics tend to need but sadly I cannot afford one. The Adobe Bridge for instance, what a cache-hungry feature that is, from what I can see. I hate to think I need to go back to an earlier version. CS2 has aaaaaaaaaaall kinds of new bells and whistles and I have become quite comfortable with the changes.

Other than that, my PC is now running with lightening speed.

Photoshop CS2 is rumored to have a bad memory leak. You can see some evidence of that by googling photoshop cs2 memory leak. I know in the version just prior there was for the windows version. It would do exactly what you describe. However, when I checked with Adobe they denied it. I rolled my client back to a slightly older version and it worked fine. The problem is sloppy code. Memory leaks were supposed to be a thing of the past, but apparently Adobe thinks they can write the sloppiest code on the planet.

 

[MissMonkeyPuss]

Photoshop CS2 is rumored to have a bad memory leak. You can see some evidence of that by googling photoshop cs2 memory leak. I know in the version just prior there was for the windows version. It would do exactly what you describe. However, when I checked with Adobe they denied it. I rolled my client back to a slightly older version and it worked fine. The problem is sloppy code. Memory leaks were supposed to be a thing of the past, but apparently Adobe thinks they can write the sloppiest code on the planet.

Thanks Honest Abe,

Wished I had known about that pesty memory leak. Adobe may deny it, but they knew they had issues. I am obviously no computer expert, but if the program wasnt' a memory hound why did they put in the "purge cache" options???! Or maybe it was always there and I just didn't NEED to look for it, NEED or use it, in the older versions.

Went googling and found some helpful hints, thank you very much. Will try out some of their suggestions before reverting back.

I personally think it has something to do with the "Bridge." If asll else fails, I'm going to uninstall that feature to see if it helps.

AAAARGH!

 

[miss missy]

Thanks Honest Abe,

Wished I had known about that pesty memory leak. Adobe may deny it, but they knew they had issues. I am obviously no computer expert, but if the program wasnt' a memory hound why did they put in the "purge cache" options???! Or maybe it was always there and I just didn't NEED to look for it, NEED or use it, in the older versions.

Went googling and found some helpful hints, thank you very much. Will try out some of their suggestions before reverting back.

I personally think it has something to do with the "Bridge." If asll else fails, I'm going to uninstall that feature to see if it helps.

AAAARGH!

See sis why I love this place! So many good people willing to share info!!!!

Now go fix that thing so I can give you another "favor" to work for me