Installing in a different partition

[paglamon]

The default installation location of softwares is usually C:\Program Files.
Does installing in a different location/partition have any advantage/disadvantage?

[anonymez]

Not AFAIK, but having "My Documents" and other data (music, video, etc) does.

[olyteddy]

A different partition would probably slow things down (file system overhead, further seeks) but a different drive may speed things up, especially with programs that use a lot of overlays.

[paglamon]

Thanks anon & oly.I install my programs in Drive E(different partition but same HD as C). I see that I do not gain any advantage in doing so.Hmmmmm....

[Chewy]

the advantage is being able to keep your system partition defragged in a more timely fashion

[paglamon]

the advantage is being able to keep your system partition defragged in a more timely fashion

At last comes the opinion of the master.So I will continue installing in E ?

[Chewy]

I have a small 37 gig raptor(10k) sata drive, I partitioned it into a 10 gig system partition and 27 gig data, I have gotten myself into trouble a few times with it and video encoding where there was not enough free space,
vision has crashed and left 4.3 gigs of temp files in C:\Documents and Settings\Chewy\My Documents\NeroVision

other programs don't even give the option to change work folders

damn can of worms

[MilesAhead]

At last comes the opinion of the master.So I will continue installing in E ?

It depends on the applications you use. Some neat freewares ported from
Linux or old Dos command line stuff that still works in Windows, are
hard-wired to use drive C:\

I used to set my systems up as multi-boot. As Chewy says, defragging
the OS can be fast. But I've come to feel the most stable setup is
preinstalled out of the box. If somehow your boot sector gets hosed
you can boot a Win98 image and do an fdisk /mbr to get it back.

I try to keep my HD 80% free space or higher and defrag often. Before I
defrag I run Crap Cleaner, delete the contents of the Windows Prefetch
folder, and delete all the large media files I have already burned. So
a defrag typically takes about 15 minutes. Also I use Processkiller to
make sure mobsync.exe doesn't come up and I have Windows search
indexing services disabled. I use a Windows port of the 'locate' command
to search for files and I update its database manually. Right now I'm
using Auslogics free defragger. It's worth maybe trying one of those high
end defraggers just once to defrag your boot and swap files. Once set
up properly then all you really need is a good freeware defragger to keep
your files unfragmented. Also "defragging in the background" is a
counter-productive approach. You want to devote your HD usage to
the foreground task that is HD intensive. Defrag when you don't need
to do anything else on the machine.

[dr_ml422]

What's the deal w/windows prefetch? Is it recommended to delete its contents after a while to free up disc space?

[Chewy]

prefetch gets junked up, but never gets that big, some malware drops in there

that atf cleaner or ccclearner slim both clean the prefetch

[dr_ml422]

prefetch gets junked up, but never gets that big, some malware drops in there

that atf cleaner or ccclearner slim both clean the prefetch

saw atf for free at major geeks. said you don't have to install it? Just downloaded it and it saved to my desk top. It's an exe. file. You do have to install it. ! says 50kbs and the other one says 36kbs. wth they talking about? This ccclearner slim came up w/some sites I never heard of. This isn't Ccleaner you talking about right?

[Chewy]

Please download ATF cleaner
Make sure that all browser windows are closed.

• Double-click ATF-Cleaner.exe to run the program.
  Under Main choose: Select All and UNCHECK Cookies.
  Click the Empty Selected button.

If you use Firefox browser

• Click Firefox at the top and choose: Select All and UNCHECK Cookies.
  Click the Empty Selected button.
  NOTE: If you would like to keep your saved passwords, please click No at the prompt.

If you use Opera browser

• Click Opera at the top and choose: Select All and UNCHECK Cookies.
  Click the Empty Selected button.
  NOTE: If you would like to keep your saved passwords, please click No at the prompt.

Click Exit on the Main menu to close the program.

or check cookies if you want, I like to run it in safe mode if I am suspicious I have picked up something, my run in with a rootkit/backdoor trojan seemed to leave all cookies intact like it had locked atf out

[Chewy]

here's a can for ccclearner slim(without toolbar)

1. Please download and install CCleaner Slim.
2. Once installed, double click on the desktop shortcut created.
3. On the Windows tab, leave the default options alone.
4. On the Applications tab, check (tick) all the boxes except Saved Form Information. This will remove all your saved passwords if you leave this box checked.
5. Click on the Run Cleaner button at the bottom right hand corner.
6. Close CCleaner.

[dr_ml422]

Chewy I'm thick when it comes to computers. I have to admit it. Very simple program. Safe boot gave me problems the last time so I stay away from it. Everyone's got something they're great at doing or picking up. Me it takes a while for a lot of this to sink in. It is what it is. Thnx.

[Chewy]

better get good at safe boot, it's a valuable skill

finding something on a crowded desktop, forget it

I save stuff I will need in safe mode in a folder in my documents and switch to view details if needed

don't wait till it's too late to learn how to get into safe mode and work there