"Files NOT Used" utility

[CodeTRUCKER]

Does anyone know of an app that will keep track of the last time or many times an app was used and then rank them?

I am wanting to keep my hard drive as spartan as I can in an attempt to eliminate as many variables as possible from affecting my computer.

[gjehle]

afaik norton clean sweep did something like that back in the days when i had it once installed.

but be aware that deleting files solely on the last access time is pretty unsafe ;-)

[CodeTRUCKER]

Yes, I had CleanSweep too, at one point, but I think it went with my PC to the repair house and did not come back with it, at least that is my best guess.

As far as "last access," I am only intending on deleting files that are over a year old since I last accessed them, but your caution is well taken.

[BigJim]

To each his/her own. But with disk space so inexpensive these days I don't see the point. Admittedly, I'm a pack rat. But I find that needing to reference a file (or email, for example) a year or more old is not uncommon.

Have fun!

[cranioscopical]

I think I'd be inclined to move old files to a specific backup rather than just deleting them.  It doesn't happen often compared to regular file access, but I've certainly had the need to dig out fles that were untouched for a lot longer than 180 days.  Why not dump them to DVD along with path information?

[CodeTRUCKER]

I think I'd be inclined to move old files to a specific backup rather than just deleting them.  It doesn't happen often compared to regular file access, but I've certainly had the need to dig out files that were untouched for a lot longer than 180 days.  Why not dump them to DVD along with path information?

Certainly a valid consideration.  DVDs are pretty cheap too, nowadays.  Thanks, Chris!.

[CodeTRUCKER]

I must confess that I am quite surprised that this utility is not more available.  Maybe that is saying something or I am ignorant of existing utility.

[Carol Haynes]

You could simply use Windows search function on a wildcard and sort by date accessed (slow though).

How about any of the main indexing apps (eg. Google desktop, X1 etc) you could the same thing - force it to list all files and sort by date.

The advantage of one of these desktop tools is that you could easily limit your search by file type.

You could perhaps use a backup program to archive certain file types older than a certain date too if that's what you need and then offload them to a DVD or set of DVDs.

I wouldn't touch system files, apps or DLL files etc. though as their dates aren't often updated and you could find your whole system hosed!

If you want to get rid of applications you never use the best way is to uninstall them - YourUninstaller! does a good job of clearing up left over rubbish too. (I just spent two days doing this - I had so much shareware crap slowing down my system - the uninstaller tells you when you last accessed an application).

[justice]

Locate32 comes to the rescue... again!  Lightning fast to index, useful in a miriad of ways.
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[cranioscopical]

I still ned the utility to find them... any leads?

I think justice has a very good solution for you.  Take the output and use your favourite editor to make a script/batch file to move out what you dare.  Carol's right to urge caution, you could be in for a lot of pain.  Happy hunting

[cranioscopical]

Hey Farmsteader,
Your post has created some interest for me.  I decided to poke around on my main machine.
I used Locate for this. Here are a few findings:
On my system I have 14747 files modified prior to May 1997
Many of these would cause me problems if they went missing...much of my Tex/Latex installation, for example,
not to mention the Adobe Font Folio that I keep on line.
I did find the amount that I paid for one of my HDDs in 1989
9Gig seagate SCSI drive        11ms 1MB cache    -------------- $3,070.00
At the same time 64MB RAM cost me $2,800... Ouch!

[justice]

I have never used it myself but maybe you can drag the files from locate to Drag+Drop Robot from our very own genius Mouser.