Vista drive using an excessive amount of disk space...
Apr 9, 2009 at 8:46 PM Post #31 of 46
All folders seem okay..
two largest are windows (7 gb) and program files (2gb).
I have two large programs installed in programfiles.
In the meantime i turned of memory dumping to see if that fixes the problem.
Is there a way to disable error reporting globally? (eg a service?)
 
Apr 9, 2009 at 9:27 PM Post #32 of 46
Quote:

Originally Posted by CDBacklash /img/forum/go_quote.gif
All folders seem okay..
two largest are windows (7 gb) and program files (2gb).
I have two large programs installed in programfiles.
In the meantime i turned of memory dumping to see if that fixes the problem.
Is there a way to disable error reporting globally? (eg a service?)


Did you make sure to show all hidden files and folders when you checked for folder/file sizes?

Computer->Organize->Folder and Search Options->View Tab->"Show Hidden Files and Folders" checkbox.

There is also an option for hiding operating system files.

If you've lost a gig in a day or so, write down the file sizes of the folders in your root C: and see what gets bigger after a day.

I don't think there is a way to turn off all error reporting. You can go into Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Services and look for the following.

1. Windows Error reporting Services.
2. Windows Error Collector.
3. Windows Event Log.

Do NOT turn these services off before first googling them and finding out if turning them off will cause a problems. Windows services tend to work with each other and turning one off, even an innocent looking one, can cause some serious problems. You also want the error reporting to work if you have some other problems.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Vista tends to use X% of free space for indexing, shadow copies, etc. If you were running low on space Vista would store less of this stuff. As soon as you cleaned up that 13 gigs of space Vista would have said "Oh, there's more space now. Let me do some more indexing and shadow copies." That could explain the gig that went missing.

If that is what happened, it's possible that your free disk space might remain the same or only go up a little bit from now on. Just keep an eye on your total used/free space and see what happens over the next few days.
 
Apr 10, 2009 at 2:17 AM Post #33 of 46
Buy a bigger hard drive :p, Vista 64Bit is fairly massive. There are loads of updates / 32 + 64bit binaries etc.
 
Apr 10, 2009 at 4:45 PM Post #38 of 46
Quote:

Originally Posted by gadgetman /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Best thing to happen to your system would be reinstall XP or Windows 7 beta on it. Vista isn't worth messing about, even for the supposedly better DX-10 compatible games that are 'exclusive' to it...


Please. There is so much FUD about Vista. People are so blatantly biased about Vista that XP vs Vista wars are like Mac vs Windows wars

I don't know about raw frame rate in games, but Vista blows away XP in every other regard. Faster desktop, much more stable, not slowdown over time, more secure, I could go on.

And yes, it runs fast on old hardware too. My computer is pretty old (almost 5 years now) and XP is just clunky compared to Vista on it.
 
Apr 10, 2009 at 5:05 PM Post #39 of 46
My computer booted up fine with no changes last night. Intermittent problems are a pain

Quote:

Please. There is so much FUD about Vista. People are so blatantly biased about Vista that XP vs Vista wars are like Mac vs Windows wars

I don't know about raw frame rate in games, but Vista blows away XP in every other regard. Faster desktop, much more stable, not slowdown over time, more secure, I could go on.

And yes, it runs fast on old hardware too. My computer is pretty old (almost 5 years now) and XP is just clunky compared to Vista on it.


The one problem I have, other than my intermittent blue screen, is that the 5 year old network print server I have won't work with Vista. I haven't been able to print anything other than simple text files.
 
Apr 10, 2009 at 5:13 PM Post #40 of 46
I recently upgraded to Vista SP1 and yes it seems like really good operating system. I just disabled indexing service (Im too old fashioned. Hell, I still use classic look too!) and setted the prefetcher to prefetch system files only and we are good to go, both are highly recommended tweaks for gaming system. It starts faster than XP and overall it also feels faster OS (despite what everyone says), and is rock stable.

Oh, and also disabled the UAC. Yes, I know its usefull and makes the computer almost immune to certain trojans and viruses, but GOD IT IS ANNOYING! I was just fine without it in XP, and I most likely will be in Vista too.

Original Vista was the problematic one. Buggy and slow as hell.
 
Apr 10, 2009 at 5:53 PM Post #41 of 46
Quote:

Originally Posted by scompton /img/forum/go_quote.gif
My computer booted up fine with no changes last night. Intermittent problems are a pain


You said it. Have you run CHKDSK? If you find that disk errors are occurring frequently that points to the drive, cable, or controller. That's how I figured out the hdd was going bad on my spouse's laptop even though multiple disk tests said the drive was fine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by scompton /img/forum/go_quote.gif
The one problem I have, other than my intermittent blue screen, is that the 5 year old network print server I have won't work with Vista. I haven't been able to print anything other than simple text files.


I think Linux is the only operating system that has good support for old hardware. They've done a really good job in that area. Too bad Linux has some other issues...

Official driver support for my motherboard and the onboard components (sound, network, etc) stopped with XP. Thankfully, Vista had support for all my hardware in the base install or through Windows update. Windows 7 doesn't have drivers for my network card so I can't even see if Windows update has drivers for it.

The joy of old hardware I suppose. When you don't play games a single-core 5 year old computer is actually quite satisfactory.
 
Apr 16, 2009 at 7:54 PM Post #42 of 46
IMO,

Windows 7 (beta) > Vista SP2 RC0 > Vista SP1 > XP (any SP) > 2000 > Vista RTM

But for my tastes, Linux > Windows, just for sheer configurability and flexibility.

- full support for multiple virtual desktops, remote desktop, and remote access
- much less need for antivirus/antimalware/firewall software
- better disk/file management; support for many file systems
- all software updates from a single update app
- much more powerful command-line interface
- compiz-fusion, properly vsync'ed/buffered, completely trounces Aero Glass
- no weird, arbitrary corporate restrictions on system features
- can fit on a USB flash drive; can install or run directly from USB

No matter how many problems I've had with Vista, Linux just works for me, and it stays out of the way when I'm trying to do real work. Even the initial setup is easier on Linux, when you know what you're doing. Reinstalling Vista RTM -> SP1 with all the updates and grabbing all the third party drivers and apps plus all the fixes and patches and workarounds takes me nearly two days just to get my system back into its normal state. Doing the same with Ubuntu (including a year's worth of OS updates) takes me 2 hours, tops, including mounting my data drive, configuring apps, and setting up my desktop environment the way I want it. Heck, it took me an hour (mostly just reading the release notes and a few mouse clicks) to do a system update to the 9.04 beta, with all the requisite packages and libraries and features updated accordingly.

I'm so extremely sick of troubleshooting power management problems in Vista, not to mention the screwed up versions of Superfetch (that hogs the disk, very aggressively, on startup and after executing large programs), VSS/SystemRestore (which hogs disk space and slows normal shutdown to a crawl or takes minutes to even display the interface for creating a restore point), Indexing (which hogs the disk instead of being a decent background task). Randomly wasting 5 minutes at the "Windows is shutting down" screen with the hard drive light blinking away, plus 10-30 second app load times after rebooting, turns a normal troubleshooting process into a total PITA. How can Windows 7 have these features, on the same PC, with the same drivers, without any of the disk thrashing? I know it works fine; I ran the W7 beta myself.

One of the few things I truly hate is the restrictions that Microsoft uses to prevent competition in the OS market. Their OS division should be completely separated from their applications division; software patents ought to be made invalid or reduced in time to < 1 year. The legal madness between office document formats, codecs, etc. is just horrible for the consumer in the long run. Same with the games protection racket. Fortunately, some of this stuff is changing for the better. But it'll be ages 'til Linux will even be allowed to compete as a downloadable consumer OS (meaning, 'til it "just works" with off-the-shelf software, media, etc. instead of with WINE, legally questionable codecs, etc.). Until then Linux requires time/effort/support to make it work seamlessly with other products on the market.

I can't wait until Linux does to Windows what Firefox did to IE.
popcorn.gif
 
Apr 16, 2009 at 9:49 PM Post #43 of 46
Oh come ON. First of all, let me address this: Quote:

Their OS division should be completely separated from their applications division


It IS and has been for over a decade. Well, it's ALWAYS been a separate divison, but the line has been quite hard and firm for over a decade. Microsoft's applications don't use any APIs that aren't publicly documented; they have no hidden tricks. This is enforced by the Justice Department. This right here calls out your entire post as FUD, but I might as well analyze the rest. Quote:

full support for multiple virtual desktops, remote desktop, and remote access


"Full support"? It takes me at least an hour to configure VNC on Linux; I can enable Remote Desktop on Windows in seconds and it works perfectly the first time. Quote:

much less need for antivirus/antimalware/firewall software


If you believe that I've got a bridge to sell you. Quote:

better disk/file management; support for many file systems


Better disk management? Because mount points that change each time I plug in my flash drive and are random things like "sda1" are WAY better than drive letters. Riiiight. Quote:

all software updates from a single update app


And, conversely, if you install anything NOT from that source, you're lucky if it works and doesn't mess with anything. Oh, and this means that you're at someone else's whim for updates and patches. You need that latest security patch released last night? Too bad, better wait a month until it makes it into the Repository. Quote:

much more powerful command-line interface


And, conversely, the requirement to go to the command line for a lot of stuff. If an ordinary user has to go to a command line, you've lost. Your interface is no longer friendly. Quote:

compiz-fusion, properly vsync'ed/buffered, completely trounces Aero Glass


Compiz is prettier. Vista is far more productive. Quote:

no weird, arbitrary corporate restrictions on system features


What? Quote:

can fit on a USB flash drive; can install or run directly from USB


You can install Vista/7 from a USB drive just fine.

If it takes you 2 days to configure a Vista install, you're doing it wrong. Install is done and I'm booted to a desktop in less than half an hour; I'm fully configured within an additional hour and a half max.

Your third paragraph basically sounds like you turned off all of the useful features of Vista and wondered why nothing worked.
 
Apr 16, 2009 at 9:58 PM Post #44 of 46
Linux does need to improve software/drivers installation. Also couldn't figure how to map NAS as a drive. No-one even replied how you create drive short cuts on the desktop. You really shouldn't need terminal to install stuff. For example on my X-Fi drivers I have to compile them. Linux is still too nerdy. Once it's setup it's all right.
 
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