Windows Defender reccomends me doing a FRESH START

[dmyronenko]

Windows Defender s recommending I perform a FRESH START, I have basically no storage left on my Hard Drive and have tried all the recommendations from Microsoft and You all here at HP. I just want to make sure that this is the right thing or at least not a stupid thing to try??? Any help is very appreciated.  

[CherylG · Accepted solution]

Fresh Start works fine but if you are already out of disk space it will likely fail:

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-use-windows-10-fresh-start-4582804

Actually, the best option is making a bootable USB flash drive IF you have another machine you can use temporarily to download files and make it. Then you boot from it to do a clean install. It will use the Windows license key embedded in BIOS.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

[dmyronenko]

I have 1 quick question about doing the clean install,  will it set my laptop back to basically as it was new with all the same stuff that was on it when I first bought it????

[MBlakeS87]

I would suggest cleaning up your hard drive by right clicking on it and selecting properties followed by clicking on the disk cleanup button.  I would then see if there is a previous version of windows installed and if there is get rid of it.  That alone could free up around 30GB of disk space or so.  I often do the advanced disk cleanup option by selecting Cleanup system files which gives additional options for freeing up crucial disk space.  You could also check your page file settings and make sure windows is managing it and that it's not too large and delete any unused or unnecessary applications from add or remove programs to free up space.  

[MBlakeS87]

You could also try a free program called CCleaner to see how much free space you can gain.  Also, often times when a program is uninstalled there are traces of it left behind in directories such as Program Files and Program Files x86 as well as a hidden directory called ProgramData.  CCleaner will iikely clean those leftover entries automatically but if not it's up to you to get rid of them manually.  CCleaner will however give you the option to delete leftover registry entries and allow you to back up your registry beforehand just in case anything goes wrong.  Another excellent option is to transfer media, documents, pictures, videos and data files to an external backup to free up space from your laptop's or computer's primary hard drive.  This will allow you to keep all your data and access it when it's plugged in, but keep your hard drive free for new data as it is needed or created.  Other than lack of storage, are you experiencing issues using your system?  

[CherylG]

@MBlakeS87 

The poster has a Stream netbook which only has a 32GB eMMC storage drive- soldered and not replaceable similar to smartphones. With Windows 10 and the incessant updates it doesn't take long to run out of drive space.

@dmyronenko 

The clean installation does not put any of the original HP installed software back on the machine. You should be able to install some, if not all, from your Support page. An alternative to clean install is to order Recovery Media-last item in the list of software/drivers on your Support page. However you will soon be faced with running out of space again and no room for Windows Updates.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-stream-14-ax000-laptop-pc/12499221/model/1690207...

[MBlakeS87]

Silly me.....I had one of those devices with 32GB of storage for the OS and I returned it within one day when I realized it couldn't take hardly any Windows updates.  Doesn't even do you any good on an OS operational level to add an additional SD card if you have the option.  I would go with an HP 15 laptop or HP 15 Pavilion laptop instead of the Stream netbook.  Way better bang for your buck in my opinion.  I'm using one now actually.    

[dmyronenko]

ya, I now know I need a new computer, Actually looking into it, Just need to get this one operational and I plan on giving it to my mom who only plays on Facebook and checks email, Looked into a Pavilion today

[dmyronenko]

I really appreciate all of your advice. Is there any way around this small hard drive? maybe buy some other external drive or something or am I just screwed and need to look into another Laptop??

[CherylG]

It really depends on what/how you use it. It will never be really functional for actual work or storing files,photos,videos,etc but can suffice for browsing,email and such. For instance my laptop has a fair sized 256GB SSD and I have about 154Gb free after 2 years of updates/upgrades and I have lots of saved files,photos,etc.

You can add an SD card and use Windows settings to direct saved files, photos,etc to go on the SD card. Or ,less portable, you could purchase an external usb hdd and save files,photos there.