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disk cleanup--compress old files

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bldg13

Technical User
Oct 2, 2001
34
US
In the disk clean up, there is an option to compress old files. how beneficial is this operation, and what happens to the compressed files if i try to access them?
thanks
 
Probably misunderstanding your question, but the option is to "Clean" old compressed files, not compress old files.
 
i would attach a screen shot of what i am talking about but I cannot figure out how...

but the option in disk clean up says compress old files and in the discription it says windows can compress files that you haven't accessed in a while...

i was just wondering if it compressed a file that i havent used in a while and later i use the file frequently, will it stay compressed or will it uncompress?
 
Well I got that wrong but learnt something in the process, thanks.

Have a look at "File compression overview" in the Help and Support program for details of how the compressed files are handled.
 
Just to give you a quick overview of the pros and cons:

Compression is a very good thing to use in some situations, but it may not be the right thing for your computer. For hard disks it is sort of becoming a thing of the past because the cost of hard disks makes purchasing more enough space that you don't have to compress a relatively inexpensive proposition.

I would say that if you are very close to having a full hard disk and it may be awhile before you buy and install another one, then compress. Otherwise there is no reason to compress. The reason to not compress is that everytime you access a compressed file, it will be slower to access and use CPU cycles to do the decompression.

Compression is very useful when you are transporting files or archiving them on smaller restricted size media such as floppies, zip disks, or CD's. The drawback here can be that if you are transporting to someone else's computer they may not have the software to decompress them. Another, alternate way to compress, and one that is such a standard that any computer will be able to do it, is to manually 'zip' the files by hilighting them, right click, and choose 'compress to zip'. This not only compresses, but puts all the files you've selected into ONE compressed (zip) file.

Hope this has helped...
 
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