media players

[tearinghair]

Still trying to clear space on hard drive. I've got rid of everything I can think of, but I have a couple of questions:
At the moment I have Adobe flash player, Quick Time and Realplayer. I need Realplayer for games, but does Quick Time duplicate the job that Adobe Flashplayer does - could I remove it without causing problems? And if I did remove it, would that increase space on the C drive, which is getting full?

Sorry if this seems to be a very obvious sort of question, but my knowledge of the workings of a computer are almost nil, though I can use one when it's working properly!

[VHG]

Removing these programs will gain you almost no disk space at all (not much more than say a couple of mp3 tracks) and there is a danger that something will stop working.

So unless you know what you are doing it is NOT a good idea just to remove programs.

By far the largest thing on hard disks is often video files. Even just a few seconds of a video will be larger than all these programs put together.

So see if you have any video files you can remove.

If you have an external hard disk then maybe move some personal files to that. If you dont have an external hard disk then maybe buy one and move some personal files to that. It will then free up space on your hard disk.

[VHG]

Some other suggestions (assuming you are running Windows):

Clear out your recycle bin. When you delete a file it goes to your recycle bin but is still on your hard disk. Your recylce bin could be full of files you deleted months ago. Clear out the recycle bin to create some space.

Run "Disk cleanup". This is a Windows option and will be on your main Windows menu. This will suggest files that can be deleted (you can trust it, it wont delete any important files).

Look through all your personal files (they will be in Documents or My Documents folder). See if you can delete any, or maybe move them to an external hard disk.

Files that can take up a lot of space are video files, mp3 music files, digital pictures etc.

[VHG]

Do you know how many hard disks you have?

Go into "Computer" or "My Computer" and have a look at the hard disks you have. There will probably be a C: and a D: and maybe others (E:, F: etc). One of them will probably be your CD/DVD drive.

Most personal files are stored on the C: drive (that is where Windows and all your programs are installed as well).

Your hard disk MAY be split into two, with a C: and a D:. Maybe your C: is full but your D: (if you have one) is empty (note your D: may be your CD/DVD drive).

Right click on each icon (C: D: etc) and choose Properties write down how big the disk is (capacity) and how much is being used and is free (used space and free space).

Then post the info here.

[VHG]

To answer your specific question.

No, Adobe Flash does NOT do the same thing as QuickTime.

Adone Flash is used for displaying fancy graphics and moving images in web pages.

QuickTime is mainly used to show video clips in MOV (Movie) format, although it can show other video formats as well.

In either case, it is not worth uninstalling them.

[tearinghair]

Thank you very much, VHG.
I really have done almost everything you suggest already. I run disk cleaner and defragment regularly, and have recently run Ccleaner (virtually nothing to remove). I clear the temporary internet files and empty the recycle bin afterwards as a matter of course, and I have no video files or itunes. There are only a few things in My Documents, and together they don't amount to more than a few hundred KB.

I have an F drive on which I store all my digital photos, and a small amount on G which I use for family pictures. I don't know about D - I'll investigate that.

I think it may be time to buy a new computer....

[TTG]

Store photos videos and music on an external hard drive.

[tearinghair]

Thanks, TTG, but I have no music (still prefer CDs), a few short videos on G and all photos on F. It's the C drive that's causing the problem.