Re: Drive filling up

[Patricia M Godfrey pmgodfrey@xxxxxxxx]

Several points need to be made:
1. You shouldn't just "delete" applications; go through the Control
Panel-->Add/Remove programs routine to get rid of things you absolutely
don't use. But
2. I would be very hesitant about messing with my boot drive with a
deadline looming. You do NOT want to have to reinstall Windows because
some vital file got deleted.
3. I don't think anyone, not even Bill Gates, knows what all the files in
on a Windows system do, or which ones are needed for what.
4. You mention a D: drive. What is it? If you've managed to get your hard
drive partitioned, you should be putting all your data on D: (or E: if
you have it). Make sure that whenever you save, you do Save As, and
change the drive and directory. Also try dragging the My Documents or My
Files folder to D: or E:; some apps will be smart enough to realize
that's where you want your data to go. (Some, of course, won't, and
you'll have to tell them every time.)
6 Besides emptying your Recycle Bin, as Norman mentioned, you can also
clean out your Netscape cache. Open Netscape offline, click on
Edit-->Preferences-->Advanced-->Cache, and empty the disk cache. You can
also specify there how often to do so, and it will do it automatically.
7. An external CD-R/Rw drive would be a good idea if you can afford it.
Besides solving your immediate problem, it would give you a backup
device, which you appear to lack right now. Make sure that the software
that comes with it supports Direct CD. Then put in a CD-R disk, choose
Direct CD from the programs options (and go do the laudry or sort your
mail or something; formatting for Direct CD takes a while). Thereafter,
you can use that CD as if it were a 630 (or 800 with the new media) Mb
hard drive.
8. Once your deadline is met, you need to think about the size of your C:
drive, which is really too small for Win98 and any of its apps. Whether
that means getting a new hard drive or just repartitioning depends on
what your setup is. Since you mention D:, I assume you have a larger hard
drive partitioned into smaller logical ones. How was that done? If you
used Partition Magic or System Commander, back up to the CD-R and
repartition, enlarging your C: drive. Good luck.
Patricia