Windows 7 - Grrrr

stevenrw · Jan 30, 2012, 16:24:08

I hate it. Wish I'd stayed with XP.
Grump.
Here's the latest little gem.
I've noticed thet my weekly scan with ESET has been taking longer and longer. Several hours in fact. It was taking forever to scan Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\ArtCache\LocalIMLS.
There seemed to be zillions of jpg,s in there.
So I did a bit of digging and came up with this

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_programs/windows-7-keeps-on-writing-thousands-of-jpg-files/5c263f66-472d-4c1c-99d9-be8fc18ebea8

Of course, to get access to these files to delete them W7 has to change permissions on every file (bless it) and I'm up to 1 1/2 hrs so far, trying to get into the Network Service level so I can drill down and delete these cached files.
So if you are wondering where all your harddrive space went - this may be the answer.
I can't believe Windows really needs to store all this garbage or that nobody at Microsoft has not had one of those "slap the forehead" moments yet.

A huge improvement on Vista (which was never going to be difficult) but why can't they make another os that was as user friendly as XP?

Grrrr

Simon · Jan 30, 2012, 16:58:35

I knew there was a reason not to upgrade from XP.

psp83 · Jan 30, 2012, 17:12:22

Have you tried the takeown command?

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753024(WS.10).aspx

Use at your own risk though.

psp83 · Jan 30, 2012, 17:24:18

Or another way (if you know linux commands).

Install cygwin on your pc and this will give you linux commands.

Run Cygwin Terminal, Navigate to the folder then remove.

Code Select

cd c:
cd c:"Windows/ServiceProfiles/NetworkService/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Media Player/Art Cache/LocalMLS"
rm *.jpg

stevenrw · Jan 30, 2012, 17:54:32

thanks a lot for your suggestions psp, but both those routines are a bit out of my comfort zone. I'm still waiting for the permissions. I may have to let it run overnight at this rate..

esh · Jan 30, 2012, 18:37:54

Just to clarify, this appears to be an issue with Media Player rather than Windows 7. I suggest just finding something that is not Media Player

Technical Ben · Jan 30, 2012, 18:54:58

I know this is not the solution, but ever thought about using windows maleware scanner/virus scanner? Works a treat in Windows 7.

[edit]
My folder is empty. It contains a total of zero .jpgs.

Mind you, the FIRST thing I did after installing Windows 7 is set it up like XP.

.Griff. · Jan 30, 2012, 19:04:21

I use Windows Media Player and all the library content has the correct artwork etc but my localMLS folder is empty. Clearly not a specific Windows 7 and/or WMP issue. Probably some rogue piece of software causing the issue.

Glenn · Jan 30, 2012, 19:20:03

I'm not seeing the problem on my Win 7 machine.

stevenrw · Jan 30, 2012, 19:22:10

Mmmm - thats interesting. I don't use WMP, I use Winamp. I wonder if that is doing it?

.Griff. · Jan 30, 2012, 19:26:26

Quote from: stevenrw on Jan 30, 2012, 19:22:10
Mmmm - thats interesting. I don't use WMP, I use Winamp. I wonder if that is doing it?

Could be but looking through Google I've seen iTunes users have the same issue.

I've used WMP and Windows 7 for over two years on a number of machines and on every one that folder is empty so I don't think WMP is to blame.

psp83 · Jan 30, 2012, 19:43:41

Quote from: Technical Ben on Jan 30, 2012, 18:54:58
My folder is empty. It contains a total of zero .jpgs.

If you go to the folder the normal way, mine is empty as well..

But if I use cygwin and do " ls -l " the folder contain hidden images ( I have show hidden files on as well )

.Griff. · Jan 30, 2012, 19:55:00

So it's not empty but 0.3 MB isn't anything to concern myself with and manually checking each image they correspond to the number of albums in my WMP library.

Baz · Jan 30, 2012, 19:56:55

this is interesting as my son says his laptop has been really slow lately,Win7 and he has a good size music collection but doesnt use mediaplayer so would it still have this effect even if its installed on the machine

Glenn · Jan 30, 2012, 19:59:09

Get him to have a look.

Baz · Jan 30, 2012, 20:00:38

yeah will do its annoying when things like this happen for no 'apparent' reason.

hes out at the minute will let you know though

Baz · Jan 30, 2012, 20:03:42

at the link from stevenrw in the first reply it mentions deleting the folder and making a new one,is it possible to do that

.Griff. · Jan 30, 2012, 20:08:45

It appears that the problem is caused by Media Player network sharing service which can, but not always, go haywire and cache the artwork over and over again thousands of times even if you don't use WMP.

Here's how to resolve it - http://www.mydigitallife.info/how-to-disable-windows-7-media-player-network-sharing-service-wmpnetwk/

You'll note from some of the comments people had the same issue as you stevenrw and this resolved it.

stevenrw · Jan 30, 2012, 20:58:16

Yep, I've taken the recommended steps to disable the Network Sharing service, but I've obviously got a massive volume of files in there since W7 has been setting the permissions for about 4 hours now and he green status bar is still going. Once that is completed I can get to the folder and clear it out. Some people were saying (in the original post) that their scan was taking in the order of 20 hours and they discovered jpgs in the order of hundreds of thousands! I'm resigned to the prospect of leaving it chundering away overnight setting permissions. At least once it is done I'll be able to keep it clear. I may fire off something to the Winamp developer forum to see if that is the villain here. I'll get back to you with any developments, but I may be some time......

stevenrw · Jan 30, 2012, 21:00:59

at the link from stevenrw in the first reply it mentions deleting the folder and making a new one,is it possible to do that

I guess once you have permission you can delete, but I'm just gonna delete the files within it - if I ever get access

Ray · Jan 31, 2012, 09:17:32

Quote from: stevenrw on Jan 30, 2012, 19:22:10
Mmmm - thats interesting. I don't use WMP, I use Winamp. I wonder if that is doing it?

I can confirm that it is Winamp creating these files, I've just removed it from one of my Win 7 machines that had over 1400 of these jpg files, after removing Winamp they are all gone.

stevenrw · Jan 31, 2012, 13:33:10

Update: Yep, I can confirm that we have a problem Houston. 676653 jpegs in the folder! To make matters worse, I (stupidly) have a 5400rpm ECO drive for the system disk, so I expect to be here for some time deleting this lot.
Just as an aside, the filenames are in brackets like registry keys, so if you do not turn on "show system files" you won't see the buggers. Hidden files will not show them.
I might just select the lot in one go, hit delete and go away for a few days....

psp83 · Jan 31, 2012, 13:58:56

Thats why cygwin & rm *.jpg is alot easier

You don't have to worry about permissions and cli is faster

stevenrw · Jan 31, 2012, 14:38:54

Had a response to a post I put on the Winamp Tech Support forum.
"Not me guv" is the general gisst, but this comes from one of the Moderators there so I can only assume he knows the product.

Quote"that's not from Winamp. that folder is the cache used by the 'Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service' which is matched by quite a few search results like from http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...php?p=43166538 on what is going on and how to disable it - as it looks like it's down to handling sharing of details of media in other Windows Media Player (WMP) libraries on the network - definitely not something Winamp does."

Baz · Jan 31, 2012, 18:04:20

well we checked my sons laptop and the folder didnt have any files in it.could they be hidden.we had to show all files before actually seeing the folder so is this the same for files and if so how do you show them

thanks

.Griff. · Jan 31, 2012, 18:23:45

Quote from: Baz on Jan 31, 2012, 18:04:20
well we checked my sons laptop and the folder didnt have any files in it.could they be hidden.we had to show all files before actually seeing the folder so is this the same for files and if so how do you show them

thanks

To show "system files" you need to uncheck this box -

stevenrw · Jan 31, 2012, 19:04:35

Ray - I'm interested in your post. Do you mean simply uninstalling Winamp took all the jpg files with it? That must be quicker than the pain I'm going through deleting 600000 files bit by bit. But I'm dubious that this willl actually do the trick.

Baz · Jan 31, 2012, 19:19:54

yep he had some 10 000 plus jpgs in there at 411Mb so he made the decision to delete them.

just trying it now to see how it goes.

stevenrw · Feb 01, 2012, 17:47:13

I'm having real problems with this now. I've been at it solidly for two days and have deleted abot 130000 files, but my system drive is a 5400 ECO WD drive and I don't think it is really up to the task of handling such huge volumes of files, even though they are small. I'm trying to do the deletion in batches of about 50000 but it slows right down sometimes. I'm trying to empty the recycle bin to make more space available but the disc cleanup calculating dialog is taking about 30 mins to work out space.

Steve · Feb 01, 2012, 17:52:39

It would have been quicker to reinstall possibly.

psp83 · Feb 01, 2012, 18:54:45

Seriously, Cygwin is easy, download, install and run / follow what I said in the post on the first page.

Last night I ran rm command on my backup archive to remove some old backups, it removed nearly 6gb in just over 30 mins.

.Griff. · Feb 01, 2012, 19:11:11

Mitch's suggestion is probably the best but if you're unsure of installing Cygwin then you could just boot from a Live CD (Unbuntu for example) and delete the files that way. No messing about with permissions needed.

armadillo · Feb 01, 2012, 23:09:46

Quote from: psp83 on Feb 01, 2012, 18:54:45
Seriously, Cygwin is easy, download, install and run / follow what I said in the post on the first page.

Does Linux have a method where he could select your code, enter it into something like a .txt file or whatever isLinux equivalent of a .bat file, and then just type in the name of that file so he can be sure he has it all correct before he starts?

psp83 · Feb 01, 2012, 23:36:15

Quote from: armadillo on Feb 01, 2012, 23:09:46
Does Linux have a method where he could select your code, enter it into something like a .txt file or whatever isLinux equivalent of a .bat file, and then just type in the name of that file so he can be sure he has it all correct before he starts?

You can run a shell script but it won't save you any time doing it this way in this case. But here's how you do it.

Download Cygwin, follow the on screen instructions to install.

Download this file and unzip : http://psp83.co.uk/downloads/removejpgs.zip

Move removejpgs.sh to C:\cygwin\usr\local\bin

Open up Cygwin Terminal, type the following in.

cd c: (press enter key)
cd c:cygwin/usr/local/bin/ (press enter key)

now type ./removejpgs.sh and press enter.

psp83 · Feb 01, 2012, 23:43:13

oh and in my post on the first page I put rm *.jpg you can use rm -v *.jpg to show what its removing.

armadillo · Feb 02, 2012, 00:16:10

Quote from: psp83 on Feb 01, 2012, 23:36:15
You can run a shell script but it won't save you any time doing it this way in this case. But here's how you do it.

That's neat. Obviously up to Steven how he chooses to do it. Maybe no quicker but this way does look safer for someone who is less confident because he does not need to worry about mistyping commands. The worst he can do is get the filename wrong, in which case nothing happens.

Karma on its way to you!

psp83 · Feb 02, 2012, 07:09:52

Quote from: armadillo on Feb 02, 2012, 00:16:10
That's neat. Obviously up to Steven how he chooses to do it. Maybe no quicker but this way does look safer for someone who is less confident because he does not need to worry about mistyping commands. The worst he can do is get the filename wrong, in which case nothing happens.

Karma on its way to you!

Thank you.

Shell scripts are good when running alot of commands via cron jobs or windows scheduled tasks or running something everyday.

Since my linux box is dead at the moment, I backup my web server nightly using Cygwin & Rsync and run the shell script via windows scheduler.

armadillo · Feb 02, 2012, 11:42:06

Quote from: psp83 on Feb 02, 2012, 07:09:52
Thank you.

Shell scripts are good when running alot of commands via cron jobs or windows scheduled tasks or running something everyday.

Since my linux box is dead at the moment, I backup my web server nightly using Cygwin & Rsync and run the shell script via windows scheduler.

I love scripts. On Windows, I have been using autohotkey for many years. autohotkey basic is what they call it now
http://www.autohotkey.com/download/.
It has the best help file of any software I have ever seen and you can do things like activate or close application windows, including hidden windows, and do manipulation of text strings and files, create and delete folders and even write simple GUIs. Really very powerful.

stevenrw · Feb 02, 2012, 14:27:09

Thanks guys - I need to do something. I just checked HID's lappy and she has over 900000 of these bloody jpegs. I can't believe Microsoft doesn't know about this. Or indeed that its not better known about!

stevenrw · Feb 02, 2012, 14:31:22

Just looking at the cygwin thing. So if I understand whats happening here correctly, there are two things to download - cygwin and "removejpgs.sh " (which is in the zip file).

stevenrw · Feb 02, 2012, 14:47:02

Indulge me please psp. this is major new stuff for me. When I have opened up the cygwin terminal and typed" ./removejpgs.sh" - presumably it wll then allw me to navigate to the folder with the stuff I want to get rid of - yes? I'm afraid it'll just remove all the .jpg files on the C drive

pctech · Feb 02, 2012, 14:52:18

Why complicate things with a Linux command line?

As Griff says, untick the option, go to the folder, select the files and press Delete.

stevenrw · Feb 02, 2012, 15:03:05

Sorry guys - I do appreciate all your time and effort, but despite two attempts Cygwin will not install properly (shortcut tells me its searching for mintty). And I just do not know about Ubuntu. Its going to the local repair shop where they will likely have all these tools and will understand them. Now - how do I uninstall Cygwin? Its not in the Add/remove progs.

pctech · Feb 02, 2012, 15:11:35

Steve, please don't waste your money, it's really not something that requires someone to charge you over the odds to fix.

Let me know where anything is unclear and I'll be happy to help

pctech · Feb 02, 2012, 15:15:18

This will tell you how to uninstall cygwin http://cygwin.com/faq-nochunks.html#faq.setup.uninstall-all

stevenrw · Feb 02, 2012, 17:57:59

Thanks pctech, I really appreciate you efforts, but having spent all day every day this week getting rid of half of the 670,000 files on my desktop, then I found just short of a million files on HID's lappy and cygwin wouldn't install after 2 attempts I'm afraid I threw my toys out of my playpen and flounced off to my local pc repair centre with both machines. I do know them there so whilst it will cost me, they are pretty good and fairly priced.
I'll keep you all posted. I still can't believe this is the way W7 is suposed to work. I was sorely tempted to just reinstall XP Home.
Maybe I should forward the bill to Microsoft UK. What do you think my chances would be?

pctech · Feb 02, 2012, 18:06:54

Nil.

Be aware you will not likely be able to install XP from the disk supplied with that PC, not legitimately anyway as the licence is tied to that PC during manufacture and the activation system will point you to the call centre.

Contacting MS UK, even if you are a Microsoft Certified Professional, is a testing experience.