Compress Old Files

Windows XP's Disk Cleanup utility tells me that I can regain more than 1.5GB of space by selecting 'Compress old files.' Will I regret doing this?

Scott Ferguson, Indianapolis

This feature is available in Windows 2000 and XP, but exclusively on NTFS-formatted drives. To find it in XP, select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Cleanup (Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Cleanup in Windows 2000). It compresses files older than 50 days. If you need the extra disk space, compressing old files is a good idea.

The compressed files are still accessible--Windows decompresses them on the fly when you open them--but they may take a little longer to open. You can tell a file is compressed because its file name is blue in Windows Explorer.

Is compressing files safe? The technology has been around for about a decade now, and it's well supported by utilities, so yes, it's probably safe.

Whenever you want to return a compressed file to its uncompressed state, right-click it and select Properties. Click the Advanced button, uncheck Compress contents to save disk space, and click OK.

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