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Free up more disk space with Windows 7 Disk Cleanup

During your computer's regular use, you will accumulate several unnecessary files (temporary setup/internet files, recycle bin, etc.). You can remove these files with the built-in Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe) utility inside of Windows 7. And it can be run a couple of different ways and with different options.

Running Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe) on demand

There are a couple of different ways to run Disk Cleanup on demand. The following procedure cleans up files associated with your user account. You can also use Disk Cleanup to clean up all the files on your computer.

Windows 7 Disk Cleanup dialog box with standard options
Windows 7 Disk Cleanup dialog box with standard options

  1. Click Start, and then type Disk Cleanup in the Start Search box.
    or
    Click Start, then All Programs, then Accessories, then System Tools, then Disk Cleanup
  2. In the Drives list, click the hard disk drive that you want to clean up, and then click OK
  3. In the Disk Cleanup dialog box, on the Disk Cleanup tab, select the checkboxes for the file types that you want to delete, and then click OK
  4. In the message that appears, click Delete files

The More Options tab is available when you choose to clean files from all users on the computer. This tab includes two additional ways to free even more disk space:

Windows 7 Disk Cleanup dialog box with more options
Windows 7 Disk Cleanup dialog box with more options

  • Programs and Features. This option opens Programs and Features in Control Panel, where you can uninstall programs that you no longer use. The Size column in Programs and Features shows how much disk space each program uses.
  • System Restore and Shadow Copies. With this option, you can delete all but the most recent restore point on the disk.
    System Restore uses restore points to return your system files to an earlier point in time. If your computer is running normally, you can save disk space by deleting the earlier restore points.
    In some editions of Windows 7, restore points can include previous versions of files, known as shadow copies, and backup images created with Windows Complete PC Backup. These files and images will also be deleted.

Running Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe) as a scheduled task

You can also run Disk Cleanup from a command prompt. This gives you a few more options, like predefined settings for running Disk Cleanup as a scheduled task in Task Scheduler. First, we need to bring up a command prompt.

Windows 7 Disk Cleanup dialog box with sageset options
Windows 7 Disk Cleanup dialog box with sageset options

  1. Click Start, and then type cmd in the Start Search box.
  2. In the search results list, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as Administrator.
  3. If you are prompted by User Account Control, click Continue.

You can start the Disk Cleanup tool by running cleanmgr.exe. Disk Cleanup supports the following command-line switches:

  • cleanmgr /d driveletter: - This switch selects the drive that you want Disk Cleanup to clean. Note that the /d switch is not used with /sagerun:n.
  • cleanmgr /sageset:n - This switch displays the Disk Cleanup Settings dialog box and creates a registry key to store the settings you select. The n value is stored in the registry and allows you to specify different tasks for Disk Cleanup to run. The n value can be any integer value from 0 to 65535. To get all the available options when you are using the /sageset switch, you may need to specify the drive letter that contains the Windows installation.
  • cleanmgr /sagerun:n - This switch runs the specified tasks that are assigned to the n value by using the /sageset switch. All drives in the computer will be enumerated, and the selected profile will be run against each drive.

How to run Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe) on-demand and as a scheduled task inside of Windows 7.

Disable Windows hibernation and free up disk space

Updated October 6, 2022

If you're a hardcore computer user like me, your system runs 24/7 with no screen or power saver options (I turn off the monitors when not in use). I like to walk into my office and have it ready to go. So when I noticed that my version of Windows still had the Hiberfil.sys file and I do not use hibernation, it was time to remove this file and regain that drive space back (in my case, 16 GB).

The Hiberfil.sys is a hidden system file located in the drive's root folder where Windows is installed. The Windows Kernel Power Manager creates this file when you install Windows. The computer uses the Hiberfil.sys file to store a copy of the system memory on the drive when hibernation is turned on.

The size of the Hiberfil.sys file is approximately equal to how much Random Access Memory (RAM) is installed on the computer. The computer cannot go into hibernation if this file is not present. And even if you have disabled hibernation, your computer can still go to sleep. Here is the difference between sleep and hibernation:

  • Sleep: Windows can turn off the screen(s) and drive(s) while continuing to run in memory. A tap on the keyboard or moving the mouse will turn the screen(s) and drive(s) back on.
  • Hibernation: Windows takes the active memory, writes it to the Hiberfil.sys, and then turns the computer off. Pressing the power button will start Windows back up, where it loads the Hiberfil.sys file.

How to turn on or off hibernation in Windows

To disable hibernation, you must open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges. Since this article covers multiple versions of Windows, click on the link below that matches your version of Windows for how to open an Admin Command Prompt. All links open in a new window.

How to open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges in Windows 11

How to open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges in Windows 10

How to open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges in Windows 8

How to open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges in Windows Vista and Windows 7

To delete the Hiberfil.sys file and make hibernation unavailable, follow these steps:

  1. Open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges (see instructions above)
  2. At the Command Prompt, type powercfg.exe /hibernate off and press ENTER.
    Disable Windows Hibernation at the Command Prompt
  3. Type exit and then press ENTER to close the Command Prompt window.

To recreate the Hiberfil.sys file and make hibernation available, follow these steps:

  1. Open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges (see instructions above)
    Renable Windows Hibernation at the Command Prompt
  2. At the Command Prompt, type powercfg.exe /hibernate on and press ENTER.
  3. Type exit and then press ENTER to close the Command Prompt window.

My favorite left hand Windows keyboard shortcuts

Updated April 19, 2023

One of the most useful items I use daily is keyboard shortcuts. Especially shortcuts that I can perform with just my left hand, allowing me to keep my right hand on the mouse. You can use keyboard shortcuts to open frequently used files, folders, and programs like File Explorer. Windows has a ton of built-in keyboard shortcuts (see links at the bottom of this article), plus you can create your own custom keyboard shortcuts. Here are my favorite left-hand keyboard shortcuts.

Left hand Windows keyboard shortcuts

Press To
Windows logo key + E Open File Explorer
Windows logo key + R Open the Run dialog box
Windows logo key + D Display the Desktop
Windows logo key + F Search for a file or folder (Windows 7 / 8.1)
Windows logo key + S Search for a file or folder (Windows 10 / Windows 11)
CTRL + A Select all
CTRL + X Cut
CTRL + C Copy
CTRL+ V Paste
CTRL + ALT + (KEY) Custom keyboard shortcut (see below)

Create your own Windows keyboard shortcuts

You can create keyboard shortcuts that use CTRL + ALT + (your choice of a key) for frequently used files, folders, and programs. You will need to have a shortcut to the file, folder, or program you want to open first. You can use an existing shortcut (on your desktop or the Start menu) or create a new one.

How to create a shortcut in Windows

Once you have a shortcut:

  1. Right-click on the shortcut
  2. From the context menu, click Properties
  3. On the Properties box, select the Shortcut tab
    The shortcut key box inside of a Windows shortcut
  4. Click inside the Shortcut key box and press the key which you want to combine with CTRL + ALT

Note:
You can not use the following keys for keyboard shortcuts: ESC, ENTER, TAB, SPACEBAR, PRINT SCREEN, SHIFT, or BACKSPACE.

For more information on Windows keyboard shortcuts, follow the links below:

Windows 11 keyboard shortcuts

Windows 10 keyboard shortcuts

Windows logo key keyboard shortcuts

General keyboard shortcuts

Natural keyboard shortcuts

Dialog box keyboard shortcuts

Accessibility keyboard shortcuts

Windows Explorer keyboard shortcuts

Stitching panoramic images for the web with Microsoft Research HD View

A while back. I wrote an article about creating panoramic images with Microsoft Image Composite Editor (ICE) and Photosynth. With ICE and Photosynth, you can create panoramic images and then upload them to the Photosynth website. But what if you wanted to upload them to your website? That's where HD View comes into the picture.

Microsoft HD View is a new viewer to display large images (gigapixels) across the internet. It allows you to create panoramic images for web pages that do not take a lot of bandwidth. When someone views the image, they are only downloading what is required for that view. It is only when they pan or zoom that more of the image is downloaded. HD View / Deep Zoom is now included in ICE, also as a stand-alone command-line utility, and (here's the best), a Photoshop plug-in.

HD View / Deep Zoom export in Microsoft Image Composite Editor
HD View / Deep Zoom export in Microsoft Image Composite Editor

HD View / Deep Zoom export in Photoshop plug-in
HD View / Deep Zoom export in Photoshop plug-in

So if you're a Photoshop user, you can now export those panoramic images that Photoshop can create directly to HD View / Deep Zoom format. The Photoshop plug-in is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit. Here's a quote from the HD View website:

About HD View
HD View is a new viewer developed by Microsoft Research's Interactive Visual Media group to aid in the display and interaction with very large images. The HDView development team included Johannes Kopf, Matt Uyttendaele, Howard Good, and Michael Cohen along with Jonathan Fay of the Next Media group.

Recent advances in camera and sensor technology and software for stitching images together has led to the creation of images containing billions of pixels (gigapixels). These images are often panoramic, that is, they cover very wide fields of view. Since monitors typically contain only one to two million pixels, it is only possible to actually see 1/1000th of such image data at once. Also, viewing very wide fields of view require unwrapping of an image projected onto a curved surface (think of a map of the world) which can cause distortions.

HD View leverages current graphics hardware to allow smooth panning and zooming as well as the viewing transformation described below.

HD View was developed with a number of goals in mind. It should:

  • allow smooth panning and zooming on large images,
  • only download enough data to create the current view (and possibly look ahead to the next), and
  • always display the current field of view with an appropriate projection. This means that when zoomed way in you should be presented with a standard perspective projection providing a sense of immersion, and when zoomed out you experience a curved projection so that get a full overview of the scene. In between the projection should smoothly transition.
  • Finally, it should be easy to create your own HD View content and present it to the world via the web.

The HD View plug-in currently supports all major browsers on the Windows platform. The first time that you visit a page with HD View content you will be prompted to install the HD View plug-in.

For more information on HD View / Deep Zoom, follow the links below:

Microsoft Deep Zoom

HD View Utilities (32 bit)

HD View Utilities (64 bit)

Be more productive in your office for free with OpenOffice 3

Note: This article was based on OpenOffice 3. Since this article was written, OpenOffice version 4 has been released. Click here to read the newer OpenOffice 4 article.

A client recently asked me if I knew of any alternative to Microsoft Office. As a firm believer in open-source software, I told him about OpenOffice.org 3 from Oracle. It is a complete office software suite with a word processor, spreadsheet, multimedia presentation, graphics, and database programs.

OpenOffice.org is Java-based and requires it to be installed. It is compatible with other commercial office software and can read/write various file formats. XSLT and StarOffice formats are supported, but you will need to choose the custom installation to enable these filters. You can also expand the functionality of OpenOffice.org by using third party extensions. And you can also export to PDF in all of the applications. And best of all, it's free.

OpenOffice 3's Main Screen
OpenOffice.org 3's main screen

Programs included in OpenOffice.org

Writer
Writer lets you design and produce text documents that can include graphics, tables, or charts. You can then save the documents in a variety of formats, including the standardized OpenDocument format (ODF), Microsoft Word .doc format, or HTML. And you can easily export your document to the Portable Document Format (PDF).

Calc
Calc is a spreadsheet application that you can use to calculate, analyze, and manage your data. You can also import and modify Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.

Impress
Impress lets you create professional slide shows that can include charts, drawing objects, text, multimedia, and a variety of other items. If you want, you can even import and modify Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.

Draw
Draw lets you create simple and complex drawings and export them in a number of common image formats. You can also insert tables, charts, formulas, and other items created in OpenOffice.org programs into your drawings.

Base
With Base, you can access data that is stored in a wide variety of database file formats. Base natively supports some flat file database formats, such as the dBASE format. You can also use Base to connect to external relational databases, such as databases from MySQL or Oracle.

Math
Math provides numerous operators, functions, and formatting assistants to help you create formulas.

OpenOffice.org 3 is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac operating systems. For more information on OpenOffice.org 3, please visit their website OpenOffice.org.

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