As others have said, first cleanup files, move files to CD or external USB
disk, etc.

Then worry about defragmenting.

Note that XP requires a large amount of scratch (temporary) disk space,
depending on what it is doing. Having only 3% disk free is asking to have a
crash. If not today, then after the next monthly set of updates or the one
after that.

But seriously, if after cleanup you are still tight on disk space, get a new
hard drive.

If a desktop PC, it probably can handle at least two, maybe four internal
hard drives. Once installed and formatted, move all personal files to the
new hard drive and leave the original for the operating system and programs.

If a laptop, replace the hard drive with a larger one and "clone" the old
drive to the new one.

If you are not comfortable with opening the PC box and/or cloning, be aware
that any store that sells PCs probably has a service center that can
add/replace a hard drive and clone. In case of a replacement, be sure to
get the old hard drive back. Keep it until you are sure that the PC works
OK, then either destroy it, or possibly mount it in a USB enclosure and use
it as a backup drive. (Depending on its size, it might be better to buy a
new USB hard drive for backups.)

In all cases, look for sales at local PC stores. Sometimes installation is
free, if you buy a new hard drive.

A few cautions about hard drive size:

(1) Older BIOSes (motherboards) were limited to 32 Gig. Many 40-80 Gig
disks have an option (via jumpers) to limit their size to 32 Gig, in case
that is required.
(2) Some BIOSes of intermediate age were limited to 127 Gig.
(3) XP (original) was limited to 127 Gig.
(4) XP with SP-2 can handle more than 1000 Gig, if the BIOS can handle it.
(5) Avoid so-called "overlay" software as a means to get around a BIOS
limitation. Such software is very specific to a given PC, operating system,
etc. Such a hard drive may be unreadable on most other systems.
(6) Instead, if you need to get around a BIOS limitation, think about a
PCI-to-ATA adapter card (if a desktop). Such a card comes with its own BIOS
for handling disks.

Good luck.


"SPY46" <SPY46@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9611AFEE-A864-4572-B350-858EBEF36542@microsoft.com...
> well my computer only has 3% free space, no its not top of the line or
> have
> the amount of memory that a REAL computer would have, so eventually i will
> need to buy some more memory.
>
> now then, is there a way that i can SELECT what files get defragmented or
> can you only defragment the computer as a whole?
>
> if i kept defragmenting my computer would it defragment more/new/different
> files after each one or would the same files get defragmented each time?