Loss of free disk space due to .cab files on WinME

My mother has WindowsME on her machine. Her hard disk is
more than half full with cabinet (.cab) files. This is
really bogging the machine down. The only definition I can
find for these files says that they are system restore
files created by WinME.

It seems to me that something is wrong here. I have read
on WinME support websites that the System Restore feature
should only allow a max of 12% of you hard disk to be used
for Restore Points.

Will disabling System Restore delete these files?

Is it safe to delete these files manually and will Windows
let me do so?

Could .cab files be created by applications other than
System Restore?

Thank you,
Dave

Dave,

I assume that you are referring to the C:\_RESTORE folder and specifically
C:\RESTORE\Archive since cab files can occur in many locations including
C:\Windows\Options\Cabs and \options\install and these cab files should
never be deleted.

The _RESTORE folders shouldn't occupy more than 12% of your C: drive or
400MB if the drive is 4GB. If more than that it would appear that System
Restore is not discarding (FIFOing) older data correctly, possibly because
at some time the system was not immediately rebooted following a state
change (switching SR either off or on).

So, my first suggestion is to reset System Resto
To reset System Resto
System | Performance | File System | Troubleshooting and check "Disable
System Restore", Apply and IMMEDIATELY reboot. This will flush you
restore folder and erase all checkpoints, then,
System | Performance | File System | Troubleshooting and uncheck "Disable
System Restore", Apply and again IMMEDIATELY reboot. This should now
automatically create a new checkpoint immediately following the restart.
Finally adjust the space allocated to the restore folder as explained
earlier.

If this doesn't clear down the _restore archive (and it doesn't always
when users have experienced similar problems) the next suggestion is to
boot to DOS using a floppy and delete the entire _RESTORE folder structure
from the
a) Boot to DOS using a floppy. Do NOT choose "Minimal Boot" from the menu
when booting from a floppy but rather choose "Start computer with (or
without) CD-ROM support" otherwise the ATTRIB command will not be
available.
b) At the DOS A:\ prompt, type:

ATTRIB -H -S -R C:\_RESTORE
REN C:\_RESTORE OLDREST

c) Remove the floppy
d) Reboot your PC
e) Delete the folder C:\OLDREST
f) Check that an automatic system restore checkpoint was created.
g) Finally adjust the space allocated to the restore folder:

Finally you may want to give system restore the once over by carrying out
the following quick test.
a) Create a shortcut on your desktop to a file.
b) Create a manual checkpoint
c) Delete the shortcut
d) Restore you PC to the checkpoint you created.
Was the shortcut restored? Did you see any error messages?
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP [2001-2004]



Dave wrote:

My mother has WindowsME on her machine. Her hard disk is
more than half full with cabinet (.cab) files. This is
really bogging the machine down. The only definition I can
find for these files says that they are system restore
files created by WinME.

It seems to me that something is wrong here. I have read
on WinME support websites that the System Restore feature
should only allow a max of 12% of you hard disk to be used
for Restore Points.

Will disabling System Restore delete these files?

Is it safe to delete these files manually and will Windows
let me do so?

Could .cab files be created by applications other than
System Restore?