Shoutbox

There is no other way to clean up the "Compress old files" item. NTFS comes with a file-system based disk compression feature. The "Compress olf files" item you see in Disk Cleanup means that Disk Cleanup will apply the "compress" attribute to files older that a given period (15 days, I think).

It will attempt to do it to system files which are in use as well, and will encounter an error. To give it access to more files, boot into safe mode, and run disk cleanup. On the first access error, pick "Ignore all" and go to sleep, wake up and have a bunch more disk space.

To boot into safe mode, press F8 before Windows starts up, and pick Safe Mode from the selection screen. HINT: If your motherboard allows it, it might be easier to just hold down F8, instead of trying to get the right moment.