Decompressing

Uncompressing

Windows

I work on the assumption that stuff I learn will be of value to some of you.    Mac owners can get a cup of coffee here, because the MAC god anticipates what owners need and implements while they sleep with their perfect bed partenrs. PC users, OTOH, get to do a lot of things on their own, which means there's lots of things they want to undo. In this instance it's uncompressing files/disk. While doing a Disk Cleanup,  you may have inadvertently checked the compress files box, or like me, did it purposely because you needed disk space,  The problem with compressing files is that the computer has to decompress them every time they're called, and we're talking  hundreds, maybe thousands of files, so those extra milliseconds add up.  What I noticed most, however, was that things like running Spy Bot, which used to take about 20 minutes, was taking 45.  When I do a disk error check  (during boot up), which I did today, it took over an hour!  Poop.  I have my Maxtor 500 GB drive now, and I put a bunch of crap over there, so space is no longer a prollem on Drive C.  I did a Google on "Uncompressing Disk Drive," and wouldn't you know, that's like asking the IRS a question.  You get a different response from everyone you talk to.  Finally I found this guy at Annoyance.org.  Here's the whole deal. “ Open the command prompt. Assuming your HD is C, go to the root of C by typing in: cd c:\ Note the space between cd and c Hit Enter. At the C:\> prompt, type in: compact /u /s /i Note the spaces between compact and each switch. Hit Enter again and let it run to completion, should only take a few minutes. This command uncompresses all system folders (the /u switch), subfolders (the /s switch), and ignores any errors (the /i switch) so that the process won't halt if it encounters any. ” How much cleaner can you get?  Here's the command prompt screen just before I hit "Enter" It took me about 3 hours to decompress 157,00 files, but I was doing my normal stuff while this was going on.  Near the very end a Windows ALERT box popped up with the message "You have changed System Files Needed to Run Windows.  Please Insert your original Windows Disk to reinstall these files." Two things about that. I didn't believe it.  All I was doing was uncompressing the files, which would not affect how they performed., except speed them up. I was going to shoot craps. This is where I want to punch Windows in the teeth.  Like prolly 75% of you, my computer came with the backup system on the computer.  No frigging CD.  So you'd think by now those MS Braniacs would have the option "Select the Drive Where Your Restore File Are Located."  But, nooooooooooo,  I've rebooted, a process that seemed quicker, but I didn't time it.  The important thing is that it's running despite the Windows theatrics,  I started Spy Bot at 11:32, it finished the 157,000 files in about 30 mintes, an improvement.  Or maybe it's just the "Washing your car" effect.  Don't matter, I feel good. BTW, it cost me about 9 GB of disk space.