Windows 7 - Grrrr

.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.