How to fix large PROFILE

[DomFino]

Hi Everyone,
I have a PC running XP PRO and Windows 2003. On the PC there are three Profiles, Administration, Guest, and USER1.

When I look at the Profiles of the three accounts, the first two are a little over one Meg in size. However, the third account (the most used) is over 23 Meg.

Can anyone explain how I can delete the large profile and recreate it? That is if that is possible. I guess what I really need to know is what should I do to fix the problem. Right now, the USER1 account runs very slow, and I suspect it has to do with the extremely large profile it must navigate through.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Dom

 

[bcastner]

Run a registry cleaner; try NTREGOPT, part of the ERUNT family of freeware:

http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/

Run CCleaner:

http://www.ccleaner.com

Then run the XP defragmentation utility

23 MB for the user profile is not unusual. And likely of little effect on the speed of your normal operations.

 

[DomFino]

bcastner,
Thanks for the reply. I do have CCleaner and will run it as you suggested. I will then do the defrag. I am surprised to hear that a 23 MB user profile is not unusal. I thought they only held settings which would make the 1 MB size seem more appropriate. Anyway, maybe I am worrying about something for nothing!
Thanks again,
Dom

 

[bcastner]

It is the 1 mb. that is usual but surprising. Obviously the Administrator and Guest profiles are rarely if ever used.

Most of the bulk of the profile is likely in the My Documents portion; the Temporary Internet file storage areas; and any storage of off-line content.

That is why CCleaner can help, at least for the TIF and off-line content areas.

 

[DomFino]

Bcastner,
Thanks,again. That does make sense.
Dom

 

[linney]

Like Bill says, 23MB is nothing, some user profiles are multi-GB in size and do not slow up XP.

FAQ779-4784 may help.

windows XP running very slow
thread779-796508

Disable, not uninstall, any unused network adapters.

Don't forget checking for a malware problem too.

Removing adware & spyware
faq608-4650

811151 - How to Copy User Data to a New User Profile

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=811151

To delete a user profile.

You must be logged on as a computer administrator in order to complete this procedure.

Open System in Control Panel.

On the Advanced tab, under User Profiles, click Settings.
Under Profiles stored on this computer, click the user profile you want to delete, and then click Delete.

To open System, click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click System.





313877 - User Data Is Missing After You Delete a User Account

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;313877&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

When you choose to delete a user account in the User Accounts tool in Control Panel, you receive the following prompt:
Do you want to keep User's files?
Before you delete User's account, Windows can automatically save the contents of User's desktop and My Documents folder to a new folder called User on your desktop. However, Windows cannot save User's e-mail messages, Internet favorites, and other settings.

 

[DomFino]

linney,
Thanks for the response. I appreciate the time it took to pull all this together. There is a ton of information in your links that I will be going over this evening. Thanks so much for all the effort and detail.
Dom

 

[linney]

Copy and Paste is a great time saver, hardly an original idea among us (unless your name is "Bill"), but that's how forums work. In any case your welcome to our shared resource.