UGN Security
Posted By: Soap WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 03/30/02 03:51 PM
My C drive (where is installed) is really clogging up...
I am running WInXP pro
First of all what are these files?
- c:\hiberfil.sys
- c:\pagefile.sys

these two eat up a gig on their own...

My c:\windows folder is more than a gig which I find a little big for ANY os even with a GUI.

And MY partition is 4,88G big and If I select all the files in C they add up to about 3,5 gigs yet windows is suffocating and I telling me their is only 180Megs left

HELP !
thx
Posted By: Gremelin Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 03/30/02 07:04 PM
pagefile.sys is your swap file, it'd be stupid to delete it.

As for the other, check out: http://www.jsiinc.com/SUBH/tip3600/rh3631.htm
Posted By: psychogen Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 03/30/02 07:05 PM
well i suggest u dont delete them i dont know the first file cause i never used XP - i refuse to do so!

i know the pagefile is to increase virtual ram on the machine its been coming with win2k also, u can lower the ammount of hd space it should use somewhere in the system panel!

anyway dont delete them.
Posted By: SilentRage Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 03/30/02 11:39 PM
if pagefile.sys was the swap file, then it's ok to delete. But I really doubt it is, but I don't know exactly WHAT it is so don't delete it. However, if you come across a very large .swp (swap) file, then feel free to reboot into dos and delete it. Deleting it can actually SOLVE problems rather than hurt.
Posted By: Gremelin Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 03/31/02 05:05 AM
pagefile is for swap and virtual ram smirk
Posted By: Soap Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 03/31/02 09:47 AM
I checked that link Gizmo, thx. The hiberfil.sys if used to save to system (my session(s)) when in hibernate mode right?

What about the dissapearing gigabyte on my HDD any ideas... n e of u tried testing the complete size of all your folders then comparing to what windows tells u is free?

about the swap file...i'll try find someway to reduce it.
Thx for the quick answers
Posted By: Snake Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 03/31/02 10:58 AM
Most effective file compression: del *.*

Go look for drive cleaner software, like System Mechanic or something, or you can do it manualy by deleting these formats which i know on windows 9x arent needed.
.bak
.tmp
.chk
Posted By: olosoft Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 03/31/02 03:23 PM
yes, pagefile.sys is the paging file. you cant delete it even if you tried, and its .sys so that should tell you that its prolly important. what the paging files is, is it acts like extra ram on your hard disk. so if you have 512 MB RDRAM, and have a 1 GB paging file, you can technicaly say that you have 1.5 GB of RAM. go to the task manager, performance, notice how your total available memory is more than just your physical RAM? it automaticaly adds the size of your paging file.

like i said, you cant delete the paging file, but you can change its size, altho making it too small is not recommended. right click on my computer >> properties >> advanced >> performance options >> and there you can change the locations and min/max sizes of the paging file.
Posted By: olosoft Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 03/31/02 03:26 PM
oh, and if you wanna delete all temporary crap and other file that are not needed, get evidence eliminator. http://www.evidence-eliminator.com .
Posted By: Gremelin Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 03/31/02 07:08 PM
and to get rid of all that other pesky **** download BestCrypt and do a 7 pass extended charecter rotation wipe smile http://www.bestcrypt.com/
Posted By: Soap Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 04/01/02 11:14 AM
I reduced my pagefil.sys files from 576mB (WTF!!!) to 100Megs with another 100Megs margin (can grow to 200).
I am quite sur I reduced it before though...I KNOW i didn't set it to 500 megs...
Ne way, about *randomnly* scanning my HDD inlook of file extensions is in my opinion NOT a solution....
How do you know these files ARENT't needed on win9X Snake. FYI i somthimes back up **** my putting a .bak extension and so do many programs...

Gizmo, I currently use the function that comes with PGP 7.0.3 to wipe free space...have u tried it? IS your one more efficient, I've trusted PGP up to now, what do u reckon...
Posted By: Gremelin Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 04/01/02 04:43 PM
I don't like PGP, I mean an encryption company who sells out to feds kinda deminishes the point...

Their manufacturer is no longer supporting or having anything to do with PGP so your best bet is to find something new.

I've used Bestcrypt for years, it works perfectly, its one of the better programs that I've found to wipe a disk. And there is no way to mess up, well unless you chose deletge with wiping as opposed to wipe free space :x...
Posted By: Soap Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 04/02/02 06:03 PM
Safe gizmo... I didn't know PGP had been bought/sold2fedz thx 4 telling me it's true it kinda puts a doubt doesn't it......
I'll check out bestcrypt thx

So what about cryption tough...I mean like files and the keyring idea, That's still "trustable" isn't it? BTW now that I think of it, can't be bothered to check...is PGP open source? I mean not the prog (obviously) but the encryption algorithms....
If not...there could be somekind of backdoor couldn't there?

ow yeah, I forgot to ask, about hiberfil.sys , if it's used for hibernate and say I don
t use it, or wanna delete until I use it.
IS that possible? I tried but it tells me it's in use, s I tried tracking down what prog opens it but all I can trace back to is "system" so....n e 1 know wut prog opens it so I can maybe temporarily shut down and delete file then lauch again...phew :rolleyes:
Posted By: Gremelin Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 04/02/02 06:59 PM
PGP has complied with the federal goverment for years, If you were around in 98 you'd have heard about it on news sites and thier site when they had the disclaimer "We will comply with the federal government in any way". Becides, we all know how fast a 2ghz farm of 5k computers could crack a 200 letter password lol
Posted By: Soap Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 04/03/02 11:04 AM
Isn't that a little "pushed"? i mean I though a 128bit key was hard to crack let alone 4096bits (even with a farm of PCs... :D)
Posted By: Gremelin Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 04/03/02 07:00 PM
lol they an crack a 128bit key in the matter of a few hours. I have a few friends who were atone time employeed by the NSA FBI CIA WhiteHouse, etc. I even have some who are currently working there heh. Trust me, from what I've heard and seen it can be done quickly. All encryption should be concidered personal encryption since if the gov wants in it enough theil crack it themselves.
Posted By: hKzKnight Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 04/05/02 05:28 AM
Oh ya, I see how it is... **** FAT! YA FAT32 vs FAT16... WINDOWS IS FAT! LOL sorry I was bored, really random... Ok ya ya I'll stick to my corner.
Posted By: Soap Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 04/05/02 02:41 PM
k so are my pgp files point less even with a 4096bit key??
Posted By: Gremelin Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 04/05/02 10:48 PM
Yes, firstly they comply 100%, secondly there is backdoors in pgp, and third its no longer being made/updated.
Posted By: quicksilver Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 04/06/02 02:16 AM
Okay, I am not sure about .bak, or .tmp since these files can be used for important things some times but .chk can be deleted, and no you dont have to look through your entire hardrve for files with those extensions....
you could do a del *.chk but that would be limited to the directory you are in
how bout we use that little util called find
search for *.chk and then select all and delete.

In addition make sure to clear out cookies and internet files everyonce in a while. Have you tried the diskcleanup util taht comes with XP? that cn usaually get you some space....
and if you are reallly desperate for space i would think about moveing documents and other files that dont get much use to floppy or CDR backup...
Posted By: Soap Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 04/06/02 04:33 PM
aaaaaaaaaaawwwwwww

ok so best crypt should be the way to head. BUT what about the key process (RSA/diffie) i know that's independent. CAn that process be found somewhere else, I mean the public private key thing was really practical.

Ow and about the HDD space, the temp folder that corresponds to the account is use (under "document and settings") so that would be
c:\documents and settings\username\local settings\temp
is f**king massive !! Like > 300megs how can I get it cleared auto, or put a limit to it.

And know that I think of it, anyone know where the environmment variables are stored such as where to look for temp, user settings "my document", start menu /etc
That would allow me to make window point to another HDD (more space to breath).
(looked in the registry but nothing found :-(


thx
Posted By: Gremelin Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 04/06/02 07:37 PM
best crypt is quite nice, but the keys are sadly stored in your archive, so someone witha good 40 years of time on their hands will have an interesting time..
Posted By: sprinter Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 04/07/02 02:06 AM
Soap--> start menu -->settings-->control panel-->system-->advanced--> environment variables. at least in win2k most all windows should be real similar in this respect.

I use to use Bcwipe to wipe my hard drive and temp files blah blah. I dunno if it was good or bad it was free so I didnt complain. It says DoD 7 pass wipe but if it truly is or not I dunno.
Posted By: Gremelin Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 04/07/02 05:04 AM
Umm we ran a test, it CAN be recovered, but its not likely... BUT if you run a DoD wipe once a week or so for your freespace, concider that somethign you deleted a week ago will have been wiped 4x on a 8 pass DoD extended charecter rotation wipe, so thats 32x with extended character rotations a month, multiply that yearly and well you don't have to worry about **** lol... I don't think their goinna give the resources to search for deleted **** thats been wiped 384 times lol..
Posted By: sprinter Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 04/07/02 05:38 AM
re:gizmo-on bcwipe

not unless they suspected it was one of those livermore labs drives that turned up missing eheh.

i figured it was plenty good for anything i needed to get rid of.
Posted By: Gremelin Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 04/07/02 08:48 AM
heh i've gotten rid of a nice ammount of cheese lists frown
Posted By: Soap Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 04/07/02 10:51 AM
Yo sprinter, that's cool I had found that, but where are they stored.
How could I modify (as an admin) all the variables, not just the one concerning MY account.
BTW, it doesn't let u checge anything else than the temp folder path :-(
Posted By: sprinter Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 04/07/02 01:59 PM
Soap--> its gonna be a registry key or keys let me find it and ill post it up. i wasnt sure how deep you wanted to go. all of this can be tweaked thru the registry im sure just need to find the key(s).
Posted By: sprinter Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 04/07/02 02:20 PM
http://63.88.172.128/faq/query.html?col=faq&qt=pagefile

this lists quite abit of info on the pagefile and how to funk with it. good luck i havent tried XP and i really dont think i want to. as far as windoze goes im staying with win2k.
Posted By: Soap Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 04/07/02 05:00 PM
yeah I though I was a registry key too so I spooned around but didn't find anything...
Then again I'm not that good with the registry (Knew I should finished that tut..)

Oh and about XP, I used to run 2k Pro and tested XP. I beleive i gave me all That 2k could giving, including more stability and ALOT more portablity.
then again, that's only /me 's opinon
Posted By: sprinter Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 04/07/02 08:20 PM
i hear ya on the XP thing. did the link i posted help? seems its all right there in windows. can move the file change size blah blah. can even just kill it off completely if you want.
Posted By: Soap Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 04/16/02 06:51 AM
I'm posting about the fantom Space on my HDDs, I check all 3 (1 HD partitoned into 3).
My first drive has now gone back to normal (roughly), my second is missing 7megs, and my last one 800 MEgs.
I know there is always a little sapce missing on a hard drive but 800 megs!!!

I deas??
Posted By: Gremelin Re: WINDOWS HDD clogging up - 04/16/02 08:47 PM
Use Partition magic to recover your lost space, it works quite well for that, although can mess **** up sometimes doing other areas it "specialises" in heh... also be sure to scandisk and defrag the drive you're going to be resizing, you can really **** some **** up if you don't.
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