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[Computer Illiterate]

Hi, I am computer illiterate and I have been told I should defrag and run disk clean up once a month on my computer. I have been doing that for a few months but now the disk cleanup does not work. I get the message box that states

Disk Cleanup is calculating how much space you will be able to free on (C:).
This may take a few minutes to complete.
Scanning: Compress old files

But then it just sets there and does nothing. I even left it up overnight and the next day it was still setting there. Do you know how to fix this?

[Randell]

This is a not really a fix but more of a workaround which should resolve your issue.

You will need to delete a registry key. First you should back up the key, so it can be replaced if a problem occurs.

Use Registry Editor at your own risk

To back up this file/key first open the registry editor. Click on Start, then click on Run and type Regedit in the box. This will open the registry editor.

Next back up the file by clicking on the plus signs in front of the following folders to expand them in this order HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer and then click on the actual folder (not the plus sign) that reads VolumeCaches.

From the File or Registry (depending on OS) menu at the top of this window click on Export then on Desktop then type VolumeCaches in the File name box and then click Save. You have just backed up the volumecaches key to your desktop.

Now go back into the Registry editor and go to the same path as before but this time click on plus sign in front of the VolumeCaches folder or key. Find Compress Old Files and select it and delete it.

Close out of the registry editor, reboot the computer. and try running the disk cleanup, it should work now.

Thanks for the question