bytes

[susandennis]

Today turned out to be a computer day... After PixelBook deal was solved, then I investigated the problem. Turned out it was the easiest of all to solve. It wasn't the chromebook. It wasn't the charger. It was the silly USB C cable that connects the two.

Meanwhile on the way to finding a potential fix, I discovered that my Windows laptop was maxing out storage. I rarely use the Windows laptop. I've always had it for when I absolutely, positively had to have Windows. Otherwise, it petty much served as a monitor for web cam streaming and artwork.

And for a year or two, it's just been building temp files. No clue why. But the drive was clogged with them. So many that deleting them was fairly tricky. Also since I had no idea why they were there (in such massive numbers) I wasn't sure what, if anything, I was breaking. Usually deleting temp files has zero penalty but I'd never seen so many.

They are all gone now and the drive which had 10% free space this morning, now has 60% and so far nothing appears broken. I also remembered to back up my email and my Live Journal. I need to spend some time figuring out how to automate those.

But, all done for today. Yeah! Maybe a little Victoria tonight?

Comments

[gneu.livejournal.com]

I never understood computers either.

[pink-halen.livejournal.com]

Over the years, Windows has moved much more toward "don't worry your pretty little head" about hidden files. There are a lot of things that I think are stupid but that's must me.

I really like the command of "Open the containing folder" found in some applications. Once I locate one of the tmp files, the others are just there hiding next to them.

The first thing I do in any new windows program is true on View hidden files and turn off "Hide extensions of known file types."

I am seriously thinking I need to switch to Linux but I have yet to take the plunge. I found a new computer that I really think I would like. It can be found at puri.sm I has all open source Linux and has been tweeked to no share your information with others.

[susandennis]

Yep those are my first two tweaks as well. I used to be far more capable with Windows and had a more comprehensive knowledge of how it works but when I retired, I retired from Windows.

The up side of don't worry your pretty little head-ism is that it really is easier to do what I need to do without having to dig in deep. I'm not far away from not needing it a all. I'm looking forward to all chromebook all the time.

[pink-halen.livejournal.com]

Chromebook Annoys the hell out of me. I think it is a poorly created interface. I see exactly where it came from. It came from the phone which I also find annoying.

(sorry, I'm just a grumpy old bear who would rather not change.)

[colestainedpage.livejournal.com]

Have you heard of the program CCleaner? Our IT vendor started us on it and it's great for cleaning up temp files and getting rid of "leftovers" from program updates and/or uninstalls.

[susandennis]

I actually looked at it yesterday, My old standby Windirstat wasn't working right so I was looking around. Turns out there were just too many temp files for it. I will look at ccleaner again today. I think I know the temp file creator (it's a web cam app needed to view one of my brother's webcams and it's always crashing...). I need to automate the temp file deletion.

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

As long as you don't have so many temp files that the computer has become unusable you can usually get some clue as to what's causing the temp files to build up by looking at the file names and if they're text files rather than binary, their contents.

If you leave the computer on all the time and never reboot it, that may be part of the problem. Some programs clean up after themselves when closed and some things don't happen until Windows is restarted, so never restarting can closing anything and/or never restarting can help junk accumulate.

Are you aware that Windows comes with a disk cleaning utility that will deal with temp files for you? Exactly where it is on the start menu varies from version to version but entering "disk cleanup" in the Windows search field should locate if for you. Deleting temp files is generally never going to cause a problem because Windows won't allow them to be deleted if they're currently in use.

[susandennis]

Thanks problem fixed and all is solved now.