XP user name grows in size

[Any_ol_name]

Has anyone noticed this?

When you first make a user profile in Xp it starts out at about 800 kb, after several days, weeks it is more around 3 mb. I believe my personal record was 30 mb.

I can't quite get around why it is doing this, besides the obvious :rolleyes: .
It does seem to have something to do with installing uninstalling programs.

Also does anyone know what the effect on speed, memory use, disk use, and overall efficiency of this on the pc?

Current solution is to have the start folder on a disk, and delete user name every so often, create new user name, and load start folder into start menu.

Second question: Does anyone know how to stop programs from installing to all users and just to a single user? Bit annoying really.

After reading a lot of docs on windows tweaks (and frying my operatin system a few times) I must say I am quite content with XP. It runs fast and stable.
I guess it helps not having internet or network on it and shutting down all those options. ;) Current startup MB is 84, it was around 117 when I got it, that is 33 mb difference :2cool:

Programs I recommend: SpeedXP, Tuneup Utililities, Regseeker.

:thumb:

Greetings and salutations

The "best" goof-up was trying a program where I accidentally selected a switch "hide user name" on start-up. Gave a nice ol blank screen at the login screen. Couldn't get passed it so had to reinstall.......
So be careful with tune-up utilities, if ya don't know what your doing, don't muck with it :thumb: :2cool:

[YeOldeStonecat]

The user profile grows in size after use, it's keeping a lot of settings regarding your user profile, such as the registry, various application settings, oh...the My Documents folder, internet files and settings.....a whole lot of stuff. It's only natural for it to grow.

In your C:\Documents and Settings\ directory you'll see a directory for each user account, local and domain (if you're on a network). Drill into those directories, (carefully, do not delete stuff here or mess with it if you don't know what you're doing). Wanna scare yourself some more? Enable the option to view hidden and system files (but again...don't mess with files/folders here). There's a LOT of info in the profiles. Currently I'm at 130 megs.

[Any_ol_name]

o.k. thanx. Will try that. :)

Yikes a 130 mb? Does it slow your system down?

[YeOldeStonecat]

o.k. thanx. Will try that. :)

Yikes a 130 mb? Does it slow your system down?

Not really. Technically the answer is probably yes....as my registry grows, my list of installed programs grows, as well as all those program settings...well, it may slow down a tiny bit. But....I need my programs, I need my settings, I need my information.

Your computer runs quickest the day you first unbuckle Windows, before you use it and install all your stuff. But....that's the way it is.

[Any_ol_name]

That is why I have the start(programs) folder on disc. I also save all files on a separate hard drive (or partition) so am basically not using the my documents
folder.

Hummm. I haven't discovered any relation to registry and existing user name.
As far as I can tell windows automatically adds the programs to the new user.
It also keeps all the main computer settings, as you create the new user from your supervisor account.

Draw back is that you do have to redo some of your appearance settings.
This takes about five minutes. (once you have done it a few (hundred) times) I don't know: the advantage is once you have installed the software you will use you can get away with a user profile of 800 kb, and it won't grow all that much after that. (using the above measures)

I'd like to get rid off the my documents folder all together, but no such luck.

[koldchillah]

My profile is 312MB on this system which I just transferred my profile to a few weeks ago.. :D

Office XP & Winamp are about the only programs installed so far.

If I exclude "My Documents" and "Desktop", my profile is only 66MB. :thumb:

Profiles can grow quite large.. its nothing to really worry about as long as you have good computing practices and keep your PC clear of infection or junkware..

[Ken]

Cut back the size of your TIF and keep it clean as they show up in your profile, as does your favs...

My profile on this box is 6.96 GB... I have a huge favorites (~8000 links) and a huge My Docs...
I have my TIF file set to 30 MB and stored separately to keep from fraggin' up the OS portion of my hdd...

(I use 15,000 RPM Seagate Cheetahs though... :D )

[CableDude]

My profile on this box is 6.96 GB... I have a huge favorites (~8000 links) and a huge My Docs...



:eek: :eek: