layresearcher Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Hi all, I am no natural techie but I know I have too much on C Drive slowing things down and want to learn which is essential and which isn't if anybody has any clues? Bearing in mind all I need for my PC to keep me happy are :Instant messenger Skype and Yahoo, and a record of chat which I have,Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers which I have,Currency trading stations which I have,OO.o and Windows word documents which I have,Be able to make PDF documents which I have,and to be able to watch videos without stop and start, which I have,How many of these programs in C drive -> Program files are essential for Windows to run so I know which ones I can delete for more space and then reinstall later if I need to:AdobeAheadAnalog DevicesApple Software UpdateCommon Files CyberLinkClassicCitrixComPlus Applications Codec Pack - All In 1 instmsia instmsiw Intel Java JRE licenses Media PlayerMicrosoft ActiveSyncmicrosoft frontpageMicrosoft OfficeMicrosoft Visual StudioMicrosoft WorksMicrosoft.NETMovie MakerMSN->MSN ExplorerMSNGaming Zone MSXML 6.0 NetMeetingNOSOnline Services Outlook Express readmes Reference Assemblies setup Configuration Settings Windows LiveWindows Media PlayerWindows NT xerox Thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dencandy Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Well he's a start, layresearcher:- Apple Software Update - you only need this if you use Apple or Mac software.- Microsoft Works - this can usually be safely deleted unless you use its utilities, which is unlikely since you have Office.- MSN Explorer - can be deleted if you use Windows Explorer.- MSN Gaming - can be deleted unless you use it.- Windows Media Player - can be deleted if you use another media player.If you later change your mind all the above except MS Works are available for free download later.Also, do you use Disk Clean Up to clean out rubbish from your Hard drive? Even better is CCleaner (available HERE), a tried and tested utility used by many on this forum to clean out old files and records which are no longer needed.There are other programs on your list which I know nothing about. To find out what they do you could type them into a search engine and look through what other people say about them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Do not delete anything directly from your Program Files folders; always uninstall applications via Control Panel | Add/Remove Programs. This will also give you more detailed information on what exactly you have installed. E.g. Adobe may be Adobe Reader, Flash Player, or Shockwave Player.You can give us a full list of your installed programs by using CCleaner (as recommended by Dencandy in the previous post), Tools, tab Uninstall, then right-click on an entry, and select Save to text file. Attach this text file to your next post, and we will tell you what programs can safely be uninstalled.P.S. I will move this topic to a more appropriate forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Forgive me if I've misunderstood but:Are all of these programs running all the time?Do they all run at startup?Only a few programs are actually needed when Windows gets going. All the others can be switched in as you require them. A good little utility for removing unnecessary programs running at startup is http://www.windowsstartup.com/startupinspector.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComputerSponge Posted February 6, 2009 Report Share Posted February 6, 2009 A good way to clear out unecessary files is using a program like CCleaner. It cleans out unecessary stuff, can clean your registry, and can uninstall programs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layresearcher Posted March 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 Thanks for replies members.CCleaner looks like a great tool.And other advice will be valuable too.Been offline alot with alot of Reuter hassels flattie has had.A friend who told me how knowledgeable he was, reinstalled Windows for me but he made abit of a mess and I still had hardly any space so I started deleting stuff that looked superfluous.One of the things that I deleted was "Microsoft net framework 2.0" because I think I saw a "Microsoft net framework 3.0" but it seems that was an important component that was needed to accept updates from windows and it also seems to have affected the way I see my screen videos. When I upload them to www.jingproject.com they don't appear the same as they do on my PC.I have tried to reinstall "Microsoft net framework 2.0" but PC wont seem to accept it now. Can't remember the reason it gave, but should I be able to reinstall "Microsoft net framework 2.0" again?Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 As I have replied earlier in this topic, do not delete programs from your computer; use Add/Remove Programs if you want to get rid of it.As for .NET Framework, version 3.x will not replace 2.x; it will merely build on it. However, .NET Framework is only required if you have any applications that require it. Don't install it if you don't need it! Applications that require it will tell you so, and they will tell you what version they need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dencandy Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 A good rule of thumb is initially not to delete anything that has the Microsoft label. But later you can change that as you learn more about which Microsoft components you are likely to need & which you can do without. So first go through the non-Microsoft stuff & decide which you need & which you don't need.If in doubt just type the name into a search engine like Google to find out about it, then ask the forum if you have any more questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layresearcher Posted March 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 As I have replied earlier in this topic, do not delete programs from your computer; use Add/Remove Programs if you want to get rid of it.As for .NET Framework, version 3.x will not replace 2.x; it will merely build on it. However, .NET Framework is only required if you have any applications that require it. Don't install it if you don't need it! Applications that require it will tell you so, and they will tell you what version they need.THanks Pat, I did actually Remove it from "Add/Remove Programs" but still didn't know enough about what i was doing because I think "Microsoft net framework 2.0" has something to do with accepting Microsoft updates which I cant do now.And it doesn't look like I can reinstall it now either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layresearcher Posted March 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 A good rule of thumb is initially not to delete anything that has the Microsoft label. But later you can change that as you learn more about which Microsoft components you are likely to need & which you can do without. So first go through the non-Microsoft stuff & decide which you need & which you don't need.If in doubt just type the name into a search engine like Google to find out about it, then ask the forum if you have any more questions.Trouble with me is I struggle with technical language so better off on forums where one can ask questions but some google stuff is clear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hb_Kai Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 A good way is to clean you temp folder too. It usually just fills with junk - C Cleaner which was recommend by ComputerSponge is a really good tool for this and I know most other people will say the same on here.As for the .NET Frameworks - I tend to keep them all as the software I use nowadays is old and new to some degree and never know when I'll need it - but this isn't always necessary and Pat said more or less the right thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layresearcher Posted March 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 I am realizing that it is quite important to somehow try and reinstall "Microsoft net framework 2.0", because if I don't, it seems I won't be able to receive updates from Windows and various software.Does anybody know if it is possible to reinstall "Microsoft net framework 2.0" after you have removed it from "Add or Remove programs"?Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 Just out of interest, when you say that you are "running out of space" on your C drive - just how big is this partition ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 Does anybody know if it is possible to reinstall "Microsoft net framework 2.0" after you have removed it from "Add or Remove programs"?ThanksHow to manually remove and then reinstall the .NET Framework 2.0 :-http://support.microsoft.com/kb/908077You can download the .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistributable Package from here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layresearcher Posted March 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 Just out of interest, when you say that you are "running out of space" on your C drive - just how big is this partition ?Its 11GB. Flattie put a Linux partition there at some stage, which has since been removed, so I have 7GB of space there with hardly anything in it.Pity I can't move some stuff from C Drive like program files to there.Will do a clean to make some room and then try and download .NET Framework 2.0Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layresearcher Posted March 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 Do not delete anything directly from your Program Files folders; always uninstall applications via Control Panel | Add/Remove Programs. This will also give you more detailed information on what exactly you have installed. E.g. Adobe may be Adobe Reader, Flash Player, or Shockwave Player.You can give us a full list of your installed programs by using CCleaner (as recommended by Dencandy in the previous post), Tools, tab Uninstall, then right-click on an entry, and select Save to text file. Attach this text file to your next post, and we will tell you what programs can safely be uninstalled.It says I have Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 but I know it didn't install properly and I got a warning saying so.I will try and install it again now. I have selected the repair option after downloading it again. (The only other option was Deinstall)Acrobat.comAdobe AIRAdobe Flash Player 10 ActiveXAdobe Flash Player 10 PluginAdobe Reader 9Apple Mobile Device SupportApple Software UpdateAudacity 1.2.6AVG Free 8.0BonjourCCleaner (remove only)Intel® Extreme Graphics DriverIntel® PRO Ethernet Adapter and SoftwareiTunesJava 6 Update 11Java 6 Update 7JingMessageMagicMicrosoft .NET Framework 2.0Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 RedistributableMozilla Firefox (3.0.7)MSXML 6 Service Pack 2 (KB954459)OpenOffice.org 3.0QuickTimeSkype™ 3.8SoundMAXWindows Installer 3.1 (KB893803)Windows Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2Yahoo! MessengerYahoo! Toolbar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layresearcher Posted March 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 Can't seem to edit that last message, but at least I have successfully installed "Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0" on the second attempt so really appreciating the help here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 Glad you solved your problem with the .NET Framework; the question is - do you actually need it? (Since you originally mentioned too much used space on your C: drive.) If you don't have any applications that use .NET Framework, I'd recommend that your remove both 2.0 and 3.0.I also recommend that you remove- Adobe AIR- Java 6 Update 7.And while you're at it updating your system, you could also update- Adobe Reader 9.0 to Adobe Reader 9.1- Java 6 Update 11 to Java 6 Update 12- Windows Installer 3.1 to Windows Installer 4.5 (assuming that you have Windows XP SP2 or higher)When you are done, run the Secunia Online Software Inspector from http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/online/ - this will show you if you have any other outdated and unsecure software. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layresearcher Posted March 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 Forgive me if I've misunderstood but:Are all of these programs running all the time?Do they all run at startup?Only a few programs are actually needed when Windows gets going. All the others can be switched in as you require them. A good little utility for removing unnecessary programs running at startup is http://www.windowsstartup.com/startupinspector.phpIs this Start Up Inspector ok for windows XP Pops?Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 Startup Inspector works on all versions of Windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dencandy Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 Layresearcher, I see you've got MS Office Professional Edition and Open Office. These 2 large programs do almost identical things & I would say you don't need them both. If it was me I would uninstall Open Office, as MS Office is probably the more advanced & versatile of the two. Also Open Office is free and can be downloaded any time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seshomaru Samma Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 Personally I would get rid of the Yahoo tool-bar as well Also if you are only reading PDFs (and not editing them) then I would get Foxit-Reader -much smaller and quicker than Adobe Reader Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 Foxit Reader is bundled with the much dreaded Ask Toolbar (spyware); see this post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 Foxit Reader is bundled with the much dreaded Ask Toolbar (spyware); see this post.But you do get the option to Not Install the Ask toolbar (:) - if you read the installation processes properly) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dencandy Posted March 14, 2009 Report Share Posted March 14, 2009 Foxit Reader is bundled with the much dreaded Ask Toolbar (spyware); see this post.To be fair to Ask, I think that the Ask Toolbar is not spyware, but is Pestware, it can be installed without you being fully aware of the fact. Ask is a good search engine and is my second default choice after Google (it sometime seems to reach the places Google does not reach). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.