What are SpaceHogs?

MyDefrag

FAQ General information - What are SpaceHogs?

SpaceHogs is a word that I have coined to describe less important files that take up a lot of space. The standard MyDefrag scripts move them behind the directories and the regular files, to make those faster.
  • The list includes a selection of the most common files that I consider to be spacehogs. There are many more files that could be included, but the list has to stay short for performance reasons. Feel free to add files to the lists in the scripts. It is best to only include files that you actually have on your computer. Please note that all files bigger than 50 megabytes are already included.
  • Some virus scanners and other programs that scan all files on disk, will change the last access time of all items on every run, effectively disabling that particular SpaceHogs rule. The other rules still apply, though.
The default list is:
  • Files bigger than 50 megabytes
  • Files not accessed in the last month
  • ?:\$RECYCLE.BIN\*
  • ?:\RECYCLED\*
  • ?:\RECYCLER\*
  • ?:\WINDOWS\$*
  • ?:\WINDOWS\Downloaded Installations\*
  • ?:\WINDOWS\Ehome\*
  • ?:\WINDOWS\Fonts\*
  • ?:\WINDOWS\Help\*
  • ?:\WINDOWS\I386\*
  • ?:\WINDOWS\IME\*
  • ?:\WINDOWS\Installer\*
  • ?:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\*
  • ?:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\*
  • ?:\WINDOWS\Speech\*
  • ?:\WINDOWS\Symbols\*
  • ?:\WINDOWS\ie7updates\*
  • ?:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache\*
  • ?:\WINNT\$*
  • ?:\WINNT\Downloaded Installations\*
  • ?:\WINNT\I386\*
  • ?:\WINNT\Installer\*
  • ?:\WINNT\ServicePackFiles\*
  • ?:\WINNT\SoftwareDistribution\*
  • ?:\WINNT\ie7updates\*
  • ?:\*\Installshield Installation Information\*
  • ?:\I386\*
  • ?:\System Volume Information\*
  • ?:\windows.old\*
  • *.7z
  • *.arj
  • *.avi
  • *.bak
  • *.bup
  • *.bz2
  • *.cab
  • *.chm
  • *.dvr-ms
  • *.gz
  • *.ifo
  • *.iso
  • *.log
  • *.lzh
  • *.mp3
  • *.msi
  • *.old
  • *.pdf
  • *.rar
  • *.rpm
  • *.tar
  • *.vob
  • *.wmv
  • *.z
  • *.zip

See also:

 *  Frequently Asked Questions