I regularly backup my whole system with Acronis True Image every weekend. After cleaning the 34,423 invalid paths in the registry as reported in my Post 331, I just found the size of the backup has also reduced from 279GB to 176GB. Double checked and confirmed my system is intact.
Not sure why. But, isn’t it a good thing to maintain a clean and error-free system while at the same time saves 100GB disk space ?
FSX TIMES 
Tom: Getting a 100Gb back after a registry clean; that most definitely does not sound viable – something else is going on. It is possible (but not very probable) that your registry file had grown by 100Gb, but I seriously doubt it. Like the other person indicated, make sure your backup didn’t drop a folder or something. My “SIM PC” with tons of scenery and such is 95Gb for full snapshot and my regular desktop (developer with lots of tools) is 65Gb.
It’s more likely that the Windows 10 manager thing helped you out with:
– Windows Temporary files: windows is a packrat (c:\windows\temp)
– Windows updates: leaves a mess and stray files too all over the place
– Windows Error Reporting files and BSOD dumps: they will accumulate fast! (%windir%\Minidump)
– Download files from browser: sometimes we forget and leave those massive downloads sitting around
– and other things…
Windows Disk Cleanup (Win 7) and prob Windows 10 manager thing will clean out most of those. Check your browsers “download files” area (Ctrl-J for IE and Chrome) for stray files that need removing.
A TOOL to help you look at disk space usage. RIDNACS is your friend! http://www.splashsoft.de/Freeware/ridnacs-disk-space-usage-analyzer.html: freeware, very solid, no junkware, a GREAT tool.
I’m on Windows 7. Glary Utilities does an excellent job; a solid utility that I’ve run for years. Following that by Windows “disk cleanup” (with ‘Clean up system files’ option), makes for a good, quick “one two punch” to clean up a system before a backup.
Defrag: As Tom said, no need to defrag a SSD (in fact you shouldn’t) – but if you still have a spinner, then by all means, defrag often. But, best to just straight away get an SSD, it’s the best performance dollar you can buy – period. Samsung 850 EVO is my favorite (reliable and fast as heck), the Intel’s are very good too (reliable, little bit slower, little bit more expensive usually).
Backups: For all – If you don’t do backups, start, NOW. And, if you are doing backups, have you actually tested doing a full blown restore from “bare metal”. If not, you should! Ideally, start with a blank drive and make sure you can get everything back and know the process and any gotchas (you do know where the bootable USB or DVD emergency media is right?). If going to a SSD, that’s a great time to test your restore. Acronis is a good tool – most vendor SSD migration tools are are stripped down versions of Acronis, so, they trust it.
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Thanks for the tips Brian. Perhaps it’s the Backup software which was fooled by the invalid registry or what. I don’t know.
I’ll look thru my system again because it doesn’t sound logical to me either.
Best
Tom
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Hi Tom,
About such a big difference between size of backup file. Have you done this time disk defragmentation?
Or maybe you excluded some folders from backup?
These are my first thoughts. However, I assume that you have scheduled backup if you’re doing it every weekend.
I suppose you also know how to clean a system. :)
Some people do not realize how important is to keep maintaining own PC’s. It’s like with car, house or whatever.
A lot of them think it’s just about polishing case so there will be no dust and that’s all.
To those who don’t know what should do to keep system in good condition, here are some tips:
1. Regular disk sweeping from thing yo don’t need to keep installed
2. Regular disk defragmentation
Oooh there is so much things to do that it would take a long time to write about them.
However, I use Glary Utilities since several years and I’m really satisfied.
It’s quiet powerful software (payware) but there are some freeware good equivalents for sure.
With this software I can:
1.Sweep system from unused files. For example: temp files, installers, invalid shortcuts
2.Do Disk defragmentation or system check
3.Clean, repair, defrag, backup and of system registry
4. control system start-up, services, context menu, etc.
Besides, it has really usefull Disk Explorer which let you go through all disks and folders and see how much space they are using. Believe me, I found out things (I mean files) in places where I would not expect. A lot of software installers leave a mess in many folders and without such a explorer it’s really difficult to clean it good.
Of course, anyone who have no basic knowledge about maintaining systems should be careful even with such a software.
With such a care about system I’m able to not reinstall system and keep it working fast for years.
Of course even with best maintenance system will slow down after some time since fresh install.
It’s because of all software, system updates installed, etc.
And do not forget guys about cleaning PC inside case. :)
Dust and old thermal grease should be also removed regularly.
P.S Please, I don’t want to sound rude, but I have seen many systems in my life and had to fix a lot of them. :)
Best Regards,
Wizzardos
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Hi Wizzardos,
All my drives are SSD except the one which stores the backups. I never experienced anything like this before. Surely, this was my first time encountering 34,000 somethings invalid paths on my computer too. If Windows 10 had not been trickier to reinstall with all my stuff, I should have reinstall my system completely.
I use Windows 10 Manager regularly for general cleaning. Not the fastest and the most thorough but pretty safe.
I had used another software, I don’t remember the name exactly, which were a lot sophisticated. But after I once crashed my system without paying attention to what I set when using the software, I stopped using it.
Although it is inevitable, I am trying my best not to install stuffs I don’t really need on my computer.
Couldn’t agreed with you more about system cleaning, both software and hardware. I only did the hardware one every two to three months.
You are the second person recommending me the Glary Utilites. I tried its demo but I found the cleaning results were different from the Windows 10 Manager, so I discarded it.
Have you encountered any issue from it before? If so, what sort ?
Thanks,
Tom
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