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After giving it some thought, you have finally decided to upgrade to Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Beta. You open your Windows 7 installation pack, insert the disk, follow the installation wizard but suddenly you get an error message saying you do not have enough space in your hard drive. This means that your disk is getting full and you need to free up space to install Windows 7. If you are installing Windows 7 64 bit, its best to have at least 20 gigabytes of free disk space. If its Windows 7 32 bit, 16 gigabytes of free disk space is recommended. Do not worry because most of that space will only be used during installation and restored once you are done.
How exactly are you going to do this? There are simple ways to free up some disk space in your computer but first you have to know exactly how much space you have.
To be able to determine the available space in your computer, follow these simple steps: (For this example we are using Windows XP)
A. Click the Start button, and then left click on My Computer.
B. Right click the hard drive you want to check and click on properties. (The most commonly used drive is C: /.)
C. A pop up window will open showing you how much free space you have on that drive and how much you have used up.
After determining the space available in your computer, you can now begin to free up some hard drive space by doing the following:
A. Run Disk Clean Up – If you are still on the drive C: Properties window, simply click on the Disk Cleanup button. It will tell you how much disk space can be freed and will also let you choose the types of files you want to remove by putting a check on them. It’s recommended to empty your recycle bin, remove temporary files, cookies and other system files that you no longer need.
B. Transfer old files to a CD or DVD – If you have photos that are outdated, burn them on a CD or DVD along with videos and other large files that you do not use everyday. This way, they are safely put away, and you can easily view them whenever you want.
C. Remove Unused or Unwanted Programs – if there are programs such as games or applications that you are no longer using, removing them will give you a lot of free space on your computer. To view and remove the unnecessary files you can go to the Control Panel, choose Add/Remove Programs and then select the programs that you want to uninstall.
Be careful in removing programs that you do not recognize, they might be used as plug-ins for your other applications. One example is Adobe Flash or QuickTime Pro, you do not use it directly but you need it in your computer to watch a video.
D. Adding an external drive – adding another hard drive means you have to shell out some extra cash but it is probably the easiest way to have more free space to store all your music, photos, videos and other files.
E. Deleting System Restore points – this is the last option you would want to take especially if you are new to using Windows. System restore is your computer’s way of remembering your settings by saving “restore points” in case there is a problem with your computer. Deleting older “restore points” and only keeping the most recent one will free disk space.
These steps will help free disk space so you can meet the system requirements you need for installation. Keep in mind, there are other requirements needed for your upgrade so that you can enjoy all the great features in Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Beta.
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Great post, not only for upgrading OS but just basic maintenance on your PC.