Quickly clean computer disks; Find large files

Overtime, too many datasets and files have been piled on my computer. Once a while, I like to use the “Search” function to quick find large files and delete them. To do this, you don’t need to purchase any software. You only need the search function in your file explorer.

In the search area, type “size:”. Then you can see a dropdown list to filter file sizes.

If not seeing the dropdown list, you can just type “size: huge” or whatever in the dropdown list to view large files on your computer.

My Experience with “Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart” without Recovery

I have a relatively new laptop, but once a while, i see this error message on a blue screen:

Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart. We’re just collecting some error info, and then we’ll restart for you.

It’s really annoying because it happens in the middle of my work. I googled and tried different ways, and here are the solutions that solved my problem:

  • There are different ways to check whether or not your disks have problems. You can run chkdsk in command, or  check a disk from windows. I only have two disks, and disk C had problems. You may want to check other disks’ property as well.
    • To use windows tools to check problems:

click Disk C–>right click “properties”–>go to “Tool” tab –>click “check”. When i had problems, the checking results say there are problems and i need to repair.

    • To use chkdsk: I run into problems when i used chkdsk. It showed access denied, or  “Windows cannot run disk checking on this volume because it is write protected”
    • To solve this problem, hold windows key and X–>select Windows Powershell (admin). Then type chkdsk. On my computer, it shows “the volume Bitmap is incorrect. Please run chkdsk /scan to find the problems and queue them for repair.”
  • To repair:
    • Go to safe mode first, otherwise, you may see error messages
    • in command prompt, type bootrec  /fixmbr. let it run
    • in command prompt, type bootrec  /fixboot. It shows “Access denied”. Then I had to go to boot options:
      • win+R, type msconfig, enter –>select the boot tab –>select “Boot options”–>minimal–>apply and ok. You can also check this article for this step to go to safe mode boot options.
      • then command prompt, rerun bootrec  /fixboot
    • I rerun chkdsk and no problems found anymore.
    • back to boot options, and uncheck “Boot options”. That’s it. You are all done.

To sum up, the most important part is using safe mode. I run into different problems while i was fixing this blue screen error. when i first run chkdsk, it showed “Windows cannot run disk checking on this volume because it is write protected.” when i run diskpart, it shows no volumes. But when i selected boot options, these problems were all solved.

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