There's still a ton of work that I'd like to do, but it looks like everything is stabilizing. AltWinDirStat is based on the 1.1.3 beta of WinDirStat. AltWinDirStat is many times faster than WinDirStat, is built using a modern toolchain, and features a modernized codebase. WinDirStat is a disk usage statistics viewer and cleanup tool for various versions of Microsoft Windows. Please visit the WinDirStat blog for more up-to-date information about the program. WinDirStat is a disk usage statistics viewer and (manual) cleanup tool for various versions of Microsoft Windows.
Today’s hard drives are large and can store tons of files, pictures, videos, etc. But, even with all this space there still may be a time when you need to clean up because the hard drive is filling up. There are the obvious places to check like the Recycle Bin or use the Disk CleanUp tool. But, sometimes this isn’t enough.
What would be nice is if there was a nice, visual tool that could show you exactly what is taking up all the space on your hard drive, where the files are and what kinds of files they are. Well, there is just such a tool. It is called WinDirStat.
Download WinDirStat for Free
WinDirStat is a free tool that you can download by going here.
After you download and install it, the program will need to do an initial scan of your system. This may take several minutes to complete. Once the scan starts you will see a screen like the one below. It is going through the process of scanning all of your files and analyzing the space and file types.
You can opt to scan your whole computer or individual drives in the system. In the screen shot above, I have only scanned the C: on the computer.
Once the scan has completed, you will get a visual representation of the files on your computer. It makes more sense when you see it, but basically the bigger the block is the bigger the file is.
If you click on one of the file blocks, you can see what kind of file it is and whether it is safe to delete or now. Furthermore, file types are organized by color. In the case above, you can see that the green files are .ISO files. You can see they are taking up quite a bit of space and may be safe to delete or remove.
Windirstat Linux
The tree view at the top will also tell you how much space each folder on your drive takes up. If you click on a folder in the tree view, it will highlight all the files below in the visual screen to give you an idea of where they are and how much space they take up. Olympus has fallen 2013 full movie in english magnet link download.
The best way to really learn the tool is to download it and use it. It is very intuitive and easy to use
Deleting files from WinDirsStat is simple. You can simply right click on a file in the tree view or the visual view and select to delete it.
WinDirStat is a great tool to use to see what is taking up space on the hard drive, and what you can remove to free up space. It is one of the more useful free tools available out there, and it is safe to download as it is not bundled with junk you will find in other free tools.
Developer(s) | Bernhard Seifert and Oliver Schneider |
---|---|
Initial release | 1 October 2003; 16 years ago |
Stable release | 1.1.2 / 2 September 2007; 13 years ago |
Repository | |
Operating system | Windows |
Platform | IA-32 |
Size | 0.6 MB |
Type | Disk space analyzer |
License | GNU GPLv2 |
Website | windirstat.net |
WinDirStat is a free and open-source graphical disk usage analyzer for Microsoft Windows. It is notable for presenting a sub-tree view with disk use percentage alongside a usage-sorted list of file extensions that is interactively integrated with a colorful graphical display (a treemap).[1][2][3] Created as an open source project released under the GNU GPL, it was developed using Visual C++/MFC 7.0 and distributed using Sourceforge. The project was inspired by KDirStat, a KDE application for Unix-like operating systems.[4][5]
Popularity[edit]
WinDirStat has been downloaded more than 9.2 million times from the official source since the original release in October 2003.[6] As of July 2014, it is the second most downloaded 'Filesystems' software on SourceForge with over 13,000 downloads per week.[7] The tool is still up to date and its usage is designed for all platforms.
Project status[edit]
The most recent release was in September 2007 and development stopped for some time after that. However, the project's blog noted that development resumed in May 2009 and some updates to the code were added in 2016.[8]
Source code[edit]
Source code is provided for all released versions on the SourceForge page in ZIP format.
WinDirStat is developed via Mercurial revision control.
Features[edit]
- List of detected file extensions, and the percentage of space each file extension takes up.
- Each extension has its own color on the graphical map.
- Is able to scan internal, external and networked drives.
- Portable version besides the installer
- User-created clean up jobs
- Send report via email
Version history[edit]
Version | Date | Information |
---|---|---|
1.1.2 (#2) | September 2007 | Added translations: Finnish, Dutch, Russian, Estonian |
1.1.2 (#1) | September 2006 | Spanish, Hungarian, Italian, and Czech translations. Minor optimization |
1.1.1 | January 2005 | 'Christmas Release' Pacman replaces progress bar, Polish translation, localization tweaks, documentation updates, bugfixes |
1.1.0 | January 2004 | Added French translation, feature tweaks, bugfixes |
1.0.1 | December 2003 | Bugfixes, added more display columns, added drive selection dialog |
1.0.0 | October 2003 | First release. 1.0.0 README states: Design and many details are based on KDirStat (kdirstat.sourceforge.net). WinDirStat is 'a KDirStat re-programmed for MS Windows'. |
Media reception[edit]
FossHub (official download mirror of WinDirStat) reported 6,912,000 in January 2019, being the most downloaded software from 'Disk Analysers' category.'[9]
Steve Bass of PC World provided a brief review of the 1.1.2 release of WinDirStat, summarizing its usefulness: 'Windirstat is [a] colorful and nifty tool to check the makeup of your hard drive -- especially if you're looking for immense files. It scans your drive and produces a treemap that shows each file as a colored rectangle that's proportional to the file's size..'[10]
In 2006, WinDirStat was 'Download of the day' on Lifehacker. Reviewer Adam Pash praised WinDirStat for its ability to easily clean up unnecessary files, by stating: 'If you find a large file or two taking up loads of space that you had forgotten was there and don't need, it's easy to clean up directly from WinDirStat. '
CNET reviewed the most recent release of WinDirStat and gave it 5 of 5 stars. It called WinDirStat a 'great piece of freeware' and noted: 'It's one of those tools that you didn't know you needed until you started using it, but once installed, it's hard to imagine life without it..'[11]
Gizmo's Freeware directory featured WinDirStat in a January 2010 list of best free disk analysis software with a 4 of 5 stars review, noting: 'The open source program WinDirStat is [an] outstanding program. It uses three ways to display the disk usage: a directory list, a file extension list and a rectangular treemap. The visual presentation, overall usability and scan speed makes this a great tool to visualize disk usage.'[12]
The German computer magazine c't (magazin für computertechnik) published a review of WinDirStat with it bundled in a CD in October 2006.[13]
In 2011, Jack Wallen from TechRepublic called WinDirStat: 'one of those simple little apps you are going to be very thankful you have when you need it.' He also highlighted its usability: 'If space is an issue (..) you will see just how much time this tool can save you.' However, Jack Wallen criticized the documentation, stating: 'The biggest issue with WinDirStat is the documentation. The minute you try to create your own user-configured cleanup routines you will quickly experience a complete lack of documentation, which makes the task rather challenging, if not impossible.'[14]
Derived Programs[edit]
Because WinDirStat is open source, other programs have been created based on WinDirStat. A popular version called AltWinDirStat was started in 2015. This software removes some features (such as multiple language support) from the original, but features massively faster speed. Development is ongoing.
References[edit]
- ^Yegulalp, Serdar (2010-03-10). 'Top free troubleshooting tools for Windows'. BusinessWeek. Archived from the original on 2010-03-23.
- ^'Disk Space Analyzer: WinDirStat'. Maximum PC: PC Fix-It Guide. Future US: 56. Summer 2007. ISSN1522-4279.
- ^Immler, Christian (2005). Windows XP Professional. Franzis. p. 247. ISBN978-3-7723-7206-3.
- ^Bernhard. 'Background and history'. WinDirStat website. Retrieved 1 Apr 2015.
- ^'KDirStat'. Retrieved 1 Apr 2015.
- ^'Browse WinDirStat: Windows Directory Statistics'. SourceForge. Retrieved 2011-10-11.
- ^'Filesystems software sorted by popularity'.
- ^'Will resume development now'. WinDirStat Blog. 2009-05-30. Retrieved 2010-03-10.
- ^'Download WinDirStat - FossHub'. WinDirStat FossHub page. 2019-01-12. Retrieved 2019-01-12.
- ^Bass, Steve. 'Editorial Review of Windirstat'. PC World. Archived from the original on 2012-07-04. Retrieved 2010-03-09.
- ^'WinDirStat 1.1.2: CNET editors' review'. CNET. Retrieved 2010-03-09.
- ^'Best Free Disk Analyzer'. Gizmo's Freeware. 2010-01-21. Retrieved 2010-03-09.
- ^'WDS featured in c't'. WinDirStat weblog. 2006-10-06. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
- ^'Review: WinDirStat disk usage cleanup tool'. 1 February 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
External links[edit]
Windirstat Alternative
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