warning about Vista's disk cleanup


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I don't consider myself as a noob, but I like default disk cleanup. I use other cleaners too just incase I miss anything, and about the size of the files I seen in my laptop and my desktop to be around 40+ gb and I did clean those one and it didn't appeare next time.

You're saying it pretty much formatted your drive?

yes. only a few video files were spared.

I don't see how Disk Cleanup could make an error like that.

me either but it did.

Sounds to me like you don't know what you're doing or you had mass junk on that drive.

1. sometimes u learn things the hard way. for me, this was one of those times.

2. my F:\ drive just has installers, videos, mp3s, documents, etc. nothing really that would be considered junk.

Yes, quite so... looks like it's caused by Error Reporting, so disable Error Reporting (best left disabled anyway) and check again if it still displays incorrectly.

i removed error reporting using vlite

I'm willing to bet your install is messed up, I just ran it on my system and it works fine. You mentioned vLite, I would wager there lies the problem.

NO kidding. Why do people insist on "tweaking" the OS before really settling into it? Disabling services in most cases ain't going to do much good. People claim things like the QoS service eats bandwith. Guess what. It's NOT UTILIZED unless a specific app needs it. So disabling it does NOTHING.

All these cleaners, optimizers and tuning apps do more harm than good. You might FEEL better, but your system is unlikely to run better.

People still think that running memory clearing/boosting programs is a good idea. Yet, superfetch uses memory for a reason. So every time you "clear out your memory" guess what. . . you're HURTING performance.

People still think Windows needs to be pruned and half its content deleted to work right. I'm sorry, it's not 1992 anymore. So many problems are caused by people who mistakenly believe that THEY know better when they don't. Also, do you really want to trust your computer in the hands of some random programmer and his 3rd party app? People bitch and moan about security and reliability, and then they insist on running some program written by a random amateur that makes major changes to system integrity. People are weird, seriously.

It's like people who buy a brand new car and immediatley start replacing spark plugs, exhaust components and modifying all sorts of stuff. Then all of a sudden, the car starts running like crap. Guess what? The people who built your car are engineers. You're not.

It's like people who buy a brand new car and immediatley start replacing spark plugs, exhaust components and modifying all sorts of stuff. Then all of a sudden, the car starts running like crap. Guess what? The people who built your car are engineers. You're not.

Then again a large number of people acheive more power and reliability if they know what they are doing.

Then again a large number of people acheive more power and reliability if they know what they are doing.

Yes, there are some people who are savvy with automobiles and can improve performance. But you're talking 1 out of every 10,000 clods who walk into Autozone and bolt a cheap plastic spoiler to the back of their 4cyl.

Half these "mods" people make make their cars slower, more unstable, wobbly, unbalanced.

Many don't even understand the complexities and nuances in a modern engine. They lack the training and tools to accuratley diagnose and pinpoint performance loss/waste or the skills necessary to design a better solution. They're just slapping on "kits" that are in many cases, poorly engineered and not suited for the system they're going into.

Say you buy a high end supercar -- a Bugatti Veyron, or a Lamborghini. . . Do you think it's smart to start ripping it apart and improve it? These automobiles are designed by some of the most experienced and knowledgable engineers in the world. A hobbyist won't even know where to start understanding what is already there let along improving what is there.

Sure, anyone can throw a bigger intake manifold in a 79 rabbit for a little more kick. But I pity the schmucks who put huge mufflers on their 4cyls. All you did is make your car sound like you drove over a huge rock and knocked something loose.

And many people who think they understand their computer and are doing smart things in an effort to gain performance really don't know what they're doing. They're just following guides and hearsay they picked up along the way. Few people actually know how windows handles active services, what QoS delivery is all about, etc.

Disabling random services and windows components can cause really bizarre behavior in some cases. I stopped using nLite after the time I had to reinstall the OS because I removed Outlook Express. Turned out some app I needed to run depended on its files for some reason.

see these two pictures:

sshot1vi0.pngsshot2kt8.png

btw running Disk Cleanup on my C: drive gives similar results

the first time i ran disk cleanup, i did check the bottom option only to find it deleted 9x% of my drive. I was not happy.

The "Per user ... Reporting" files are kept on your system drive, yet the disk icon does not have the Win logo, showing it is the OS drive. Why? The other HDDs do not have "Per user ... Reporting" entries.

Are you sure you did not (or someone) 'photoshop' the Disk Cleanup page?

like ive said, F: "Downloads" just has installers, music, and stuff. theyre files ive downloaded or made. its my external drive; it doesnt have an OS, My Documents or any system files.

and no, i did not photoshop the pictures. and i didnt ask someone else to either.

why would you want to clean a non system disk in the first place? I agree disk cleanup is doing something wrong here, but what did you expect to happen when you run it on a disk only filled with downloads?

well i'd have expected it to remove temp files and any system files that were no longer required. What would you have expected it to do? remove media and compiled executables?

please explain... :unsure:

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