BleepingComputer.com: Mempry down to 10% in my laptop

Good day all!.

I hope i am in the right 'department' for this problem. I am down to just 2.06GB of memory out of 10.6. I could not download a PDF file because of this today. What can i do to clean out things that might be taking up too much of the memory for what they are worth? The trouble is i do not know what is good and bad. Or alternatively how can i increase the memory please?

I have a Kingston data traveller which came with the laptop (HP Presario). Can this be used in any way to help? I have to admit to total ignorance as to what this little thing does except that i was told it increases the memory!

Thanking you for your help.
Regards to all
John

PS Sorry for typo error in title

Download CCleaner from here to clean temp files from your computer.

• Double click on the file to start the installation of the program.
  
• Select your language and click OK, then next.
  
• Read the license agreement and click I Agree.
  
• Click next to use the default install location. Click Install then finish to complete installation.
  
• Double click the CCleaner shortcut on the desktop to start the program.
  
• On the "Windows" tab, under "Internet Explorer," uncheck "Cookies" if you do not want them deleted. (If deleted, you will likely need to reenter your passwords at all sites where a cookie is used to recognize you when you visit).
  
• If you use either the Firefox or Mozilla browsers, the box to uncheck for "Cookies" is on the Applications tab, under Firefox/Mozilla.
  
• Click on the "Options" icon at the left side of the window, then click on "Advanced."
  deselect "Only delete files in Windows Temp folders older than 48 hours."
  
• Click on the "Cleaner" icon on the left side of the window, then click Run Cleaner to run the program.
  
• Caution: It is not recommended that you use the "Registry" feature unless you are very familiar with the registry as it has been known to find legitimate items.
  
• After CCleaner has completed its process, click Exit.

That will cleanup a bunch of temporary files off of your system. Aside from that, uninstalling any software that you are sure you don't need or use will also free up some space. You can also move some of your files, like documents, music, pictures, videos etc to your flash drive or an external hard drive or even burn them to a CD or DVD then delete them from your hard drive.

Also, if you are running Vista Service Pack 2 you can use the compcln utility. It will remove old versions of system files that were replaced when Service Pack 2 was installed. This will also make it so that Service Pack 2 cannot be removed. To do so click on the start orb and type cmd and press Enter. In the black command window that opens type the following and press Enter:

Compcln.exe

You can also follow the instructions here to disable System Restore and then reenable it in order to delete all older restore points. I only recommend this option if your computer is otherwise running normally though, because if you have a problem you'll not be able to roll back the changes to a previous restore point after they have been deleted.

Not sure if you're still watching this thread or not, but I also just realized that you're running Vista on a 10.6Gb partition if I read your post correctly. That's far too small and explains why you're running out of space. Please post the model number of your HP laptop and I'll have a look at the normal size of the system partition in its specs. Certain HP models come from the factory formatted this way, but we should be able to resize the partition to give you more room on there .