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General discussion

Disk cleanup hangs up

Nov 26, 2003 7:24AM PST

Using Windows XP Home, the disk cleanup utility starts up at the "Scanning Compress old files", gets to about three bars and never gets any further. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Discussion is locked

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Re:Disk cleanup hangs up
Nov 26, 2003 7:31AM PST

I have a 2.0 GHz P4 with 512M RAM and a full hard disk (it does a Tivo thing) and this step can take 20 or more minutes to complete.

There is NO indication it is working except the HD light is blinking.

If you want, there is a registry key to turn off this step, but you can give it time.

Bob

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Re:Disk cleanup hangs up
Nov 26, 2003 7:38AM PST

David, Go to the link below, scroll down to "Fixes for Windows XP" and using the downward arrow button choose "Disk Cleanup-Compress Old Files Freezes" and download the .reg file and either double click it or right click it and choose merge. This should correct the problem you're having.


http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks2.htm#fix

HTH
Larry

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What does this do?
Nov 26, 2003 7:58AM PST

It seems to delete the step of Compress old files?

How can they leave that in and cure the freeze?

Bob

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Re:What does this do?
Nov 26, 2003 8:15AM PST
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Re:Re:What does this do?
Nov 26, 2003 10:59AM PST

I posted the same issue on the old forum and Larry had a fix. It did involve registry changes as I recall, but it boosted my disk clean speed.

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So how do you put the compress old files back in without the freeze?
Nov 26, 2003 11:14AM PST

Or maybe it didn't freeze?

Just kdding. This is not a fix, but a workaround. By not performing the compression check, the delay is gone. It never "froze up", but was just going to take a very long time.

Bob

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Re:Re:Disk cleanup hangs up
Nov 26, 2003 11:07AM PST

It worked. Thanks, Larry

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Re:Re:Re:Disk cleanup hangs up
Nov 27, 2003 12:17AM PST

David, Glad to see that it worked and Thanks for posting back to let us know.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Larry