Delete things & Free up Hard Drive space

"Delete" can be a big help or a big disaster. So you should know your options and execute a "Delete" with caution. "Delete" and "Clear" are two different commands. Windows has recognized that you can regret a delete, so they have made some optional recoveries from an accidental "Delete". If you "Delete" a file in Windows Explorer, it is not actually deleted. It goes to the "Recycle Bin" first and if your Recycle Bin is not full or has not been emptied since you deleted that file, you can easily retrieve that file. If it just happen, you can select the "Edit" pull-down menu and the first item is: "Undo Delete". Selecting this will undo your Delete. However, if it was not a recent delete, you can still retrieve your file by going into Windows Explorer, select "recycle bin" and find your file in the right window. Then right click the file to get a pop-up menu. The top option is "Restore" which restores the file to it's original residents. You could also select "Cut" which puts it on the clipboard, then go to where ever you would like to put the file and "Paste" it there. If, however, you delete a file from a floppy, it is gone. Files and folders deleted from a floppy in windows explorer are not sent to the Recycle Bin.

The "Clear" option used in most graphics and writing programs also does not go to the Recycle Bin. Some programs do have an option in "Edit" pull down menu to undo the last clear. A very few programs will progressively undo in sequence several changes which may include Clears with the "Edit" menu. If you accidentally delete something extremely important or expensive from a floppy or even from the Recycle bin, It may still be retrievable if you have not formatted or over written the space it occupied on the Hard Drive or floppy. The reason is, that when you delete a file, you only actually delete the index to it thus allowing that space to be written on by a new file. Unfortunately, the way your PC works, your computer can overwrite that area, even if you have not installed any new files on your Hard Drive. However, this is not something you can do. If you find that you have a need for this, companies that do this are frequently advertised in the back of computer magazines.

Freeing up Hard Drive space will involve Deleting things. So you should be aware of where they go. If you are in a position to need to gain space, like if you want to install a new large program and you don't have enough space to install it. Or, you find that some of your existing programs lock up and/or give you a warning that you do not have enough space. Generally, you should keep a minimum of 10% of your Hard Drive space free. If you have a scanner and/or you work with a lot of graphics, you should keep more than 10% free. Even if you have a lot of Hard Drive space do not just keep installing programs you may not want, because the more stuff you install the slower your PC will perform.

Some programs have an option to install the complete program or just a small portion of it and require the use of the CD to run the program. This saves a lot of hard drive space. If you have the installation guide for any of your Programs, you should read them to see if any have this option. If not you can start a new installation. The option to do a "Minimum" install is usually up front in the installation process. If you attempt that route, you should abort the installation when you see that. From there, you should look for an "Uninstall" in the Program menu or go to windows explorer to the program and select each part of the program in the left window and look in the right window for the "Uninstall" file. If you still don't find it, go to: Start/Settings/Control Panel/Add-Remove Programs. If it is listed, then you can uninstall it there. Be aware the many programs that are removed by Windows or by it's own uninstall program leave junk behind. Some even take stuff that is needed by other programs. If you are lucky that program that got shorted will actually tell you with a warning window that it can't find a file. If you ever get that warning, be sure to write down the name of the file. It can usually be found on the Win-98 CD, the program disk you just uninstalled or on the disk of the program that said it needed it. Use the "Find" procedure listed in Chapter 7 to locate it.

A good portion of any junk left by uninstalling a program can be cleaned out with a small but effective program called "Regclean". See section 12 for "Regclean" use.