PC "Experts": Where does a Computer free up space from?

[ArbitraryWater]

My Laptop has had capacity issues for some time now, but every couple weeks without me deleting anything, it frees up a good 5 GB, "out of nowhere".

Where does that come from? Whats being gotten rid of?

Its a Dell.

[diamenz]

what do you do on your computer for every couple of weeks? 5gb is a lot of space and shouldn't just fill up without you doing it yourself.

[highwhey]

your computer accumulates a cache of cookies and other data every time you browse a new site or current website like ISH that has undergone an update, your PC is essentially storing copies of the website (like the logo or the page itself) because it is quicker to access from a local copy on your PC than it is directly from the ISH server. you can clear up a lot of space by eliminating old cache. basically think of how every time you power it on and surf the net or open up excel, etc, you are accumulating cache because with every change (you may not notice but pretty much every website is CONSTANTLY being updated/changed so your PC is storing these new changes each time you browse it).

long story short: your pc stores a local copy of the site or features of the site, over time, these old data begins slowing down your PC.

[ArbitraryWater]

what do you do on your computer for every couple of weeks? 5gb is a lot of space and shouldn't just fill up without you doing it yourself.

Nothing grand. I dont delete anything, and I obviously cant download anything new either. I can still save documents I type in.

But then every couple weeks, bam, I have 5 GB again.


your computer accumulates a cache of cookies and other data every time you browse a new site or current website like ISH that has undergone an update, your PC is essentially storing copies of the website (like the logo or the page itself) because it is quicker to access from a local copy on your PC than it is directly from the ISH server. you can clear up a lot of space by eliminating old cache. basically think of how every time you power it on and surf the net or open up excel, etc, you are accumulating cache because with every change (you may not notice but pretty much every website is CONSTANTLY being updated/changed so your PC is storing these new changes each time you browse it).

long story short: your pc stores a local copy of the site or features of the site, over time, these old data begins slowing down your PC.

And it automatically deletes these? Cause I dont.

[gbaLL]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/d7/7a/c0/d77ac0555032ff036a79a7b9220c3c14.jpg

[highwhey]

Nothing grand. I dont delete anything, and I obviously cant download anything new either. I can still save documents I type in.

But then every couple weeks, bam, I have 5 GB again.



And it automatically deletes these? Cause I dont.

that;s interesting bc on a PC, typically you have to manually delete temporary files to clear up hard drive space. but being that it's a dell, i wouldn't be surprised if they have a feature that does that automatically. as for your other comment to diamenz, aftermarket PC's like Dell are usually filled with bloatware, i.e. unecessary apps that just take up space on your HD. it's probably that. you can go to system>installed apps and choose to delete applications you don't use.

[diamenz]

your computer accumulates a cache of cookies and other data every time you browse a new site or current website like ISH that has undergone an update, your PC is essentially storing copies of the website (like the logo or the page itself) because it is quicker to access from a local copy on your PC than it is directly from the ISH server. you can clear up a lot of space by eliminating old cache. basically think of how every time you power it on and surf the net or open up excel, etc, you are accumulating cache because with every change (you may not notice but pretty much every website is CONSTANTLY being updated/changed so your PC is storing these new changes each time you browse it).

long story short: your pc stores a local copy of the site or features of the site, over time, these old data begins slowing down your PC.

5gb's of data shouldn't accumulate over two week's time though.

are you downloading movies and not deleting them when you're through? torrents?

i dunno what it could be without taking a look, but i what i can tell you is that dell, hp and prebuilt computers in general are shit and may be doing something funky to make something like this happen.

[jstern]

5GB is nothing, in terms of how the OS works. You said it's a laptop, so your computer probably hibernates after closing the lid and not using it after a few hours. That stores the content of the ram on the hard drive.

The page file is a big one because it will go up and down depending on how much ram you're using at the moment.

It also depends on what programs you use. For example Photoshop has a scratch file, which lowers your available hard drive space, up and down, as you're using it (as well as the page file).

Another big one are old Windows update files.

If you want to delete temp files, what I do is press Windows key and type "Del," and the click on "Delete Temporary Files."

Also, after doing that, on the top, turn on Storage Sense. I have mine set to delete temporary files that my apps aren't using after 14 days. So if you have say a 2GB temporary file, it will disappear after 14 days. Perhaps you have that set to on.

But in short, 5GB is really nothing, especially if you have a lot of ram.

[DJMcDonald]

5GB is nothing, in terms of how the OS works. You said it's a laptop, so your computer probably hibernates after closing the lid and not using it after a few hours. That stores the content of the ram on the hard drive.

The page file is a big one because it will go up and down depending on how much ram you're using at the moment.

It also depends on what programs you use. For example Photoshop has a scratch file, which lowers your available hard drive space, up and down, as you're using it (as well as the page file).

Another big one are old Windows update files.

If you want to delete temp files, what I do is press Windows key and type "Del," and the click on "Delete Temporary Files."

Also, after doing that, on the top, turn on Storage Sense. I have mine set to delete temporary files that my apps aren't using after 14 days. So if you have say a 2GB temporary file, it will disappear after 14 days. Perhaps you have that set to on.

But in short, 5GB is really nothing, especially if you have a lot of ram.

I thought this was Axe.

[Axe]

Looks ike op's 'L' key on his keyboard is good aready.


I thought this was Axe.
:milton

[jstern]

I thought this was Axe.

That's because the fat boy, RRR3's bitch boy has copied my avatar. It confuses people, the same way Lakers32 was confused by another Axe's account (http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?518576-Pick-2-who-will-defend-you-the-rest-are-coming-to-kill-you&p=14937157&viewfull=1#post14937157).

[RRR3]

That's because the fat boy, RRR3's bitch boy has copied my avatar. It confuses people, the same way Lakers32 was confused by another Axe's account (http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?518576-Pick-2-who-will-defend-you-the-rest-are-coming-to-kill-you&p=14937157&viewfull=1#post14937157).
You seem very upset.

[Axe]

:cry:
What an autistic meltdown. And you asked for it anyway, you unhinged piece of shit.

[ArbitraryWater]

5gb's of data shouldn't accumulate over two week's time though.

are you downloading movies and not deleting them when you're through? torrents?

i dunno what it could be without taking a look, but i what i can tell you is that dell, hp and prebuilt computers in general are shit and may be doing something funky to make something like this happen.


No, as I said, I cant do any of those things since my space is empty. But I dont do that anyway.

[ArbitraryWater]

5GB is nothing, in terms of how the OS works. You said it's a laptop, so your computer probably hibernates after closing the lid and not using it after a few hours. That stores the content of the ram on the hard drive.

The page file is a big one because it will go up and down depending on how much ram you're using at the moment.

It also depends on what programs you use. For example Photoshop has a scratch file, which lowers your available hard drive space, up and down, as you're using it (as well as the page file).

Another big one are old Windows update files.

If you want to delete temp files, what I do is press Windows key and type "Del," and the click on "Delete Temporary Files."

Also, after doing that, on the top, turn on Storage Sense. I have mine set to delete temporary files that my apps aren't using after 14 days. So if you have say a 2GB temporary file, it will disappear after 14 days. Perhaps you have that set to on.

But in short, 5GB is really nothing, especially if you have a lot of ram.

I have 118GB on the "local disk", its been full several times now, each time after a couple weeks it freed like 5-6 GB at once.

[jstern]

I have 118GB on the "local disk", its been full several times now, each time after a couple weeks it freed like 5-6 GB at once.

If it's happening when it's almost full, then Windows is freeing up the space. It's deleting temporary files and update files.

Turn on storage sense so that it can start deleting those files after a certain time, and not when the disk is almost full.

https://images2.imgbox.com/bc/22/yewYDLa8_o.png

I have so much free space.

[gbaLL]

mac = chunky $al$a

https://www.apple.com/v/macos/macos-sequoia-preview/a/images/meta/macos-sequoia__etwa1h5udh2e_og.png

[ArbitraryWater]

If it's happening when it's almost full, then Windows is freeing up the space. It's deleting temporary files and update files.

Turn on storage sense so that it can start deleting those files after a certain time, and not when the disk is almost full.

https://images2.imgbox.com/bc/22/yewYDLa8_o.png

I have so much free space.


Windows, interesting.


Thanks man, good look!