Micro Mart - 10 March 2016_

24 Issue 1404

RemoveUnusedOrOrphanPackages
Applications take up space on theroot drive, so don’t install
anything you don’t need, andremove anything you don’t use.
Running apt-get autoremove with no parameters willremove any
orphaned dependency packages.
These are programs that were installed to support another
application, which are no longer needed, usually because that
application has been uninstalled or updated and the new version
no longer needs them.

RemoveOldKernels
A kernel will consume approximately 120MB of disk space. When
you update the kernel, most distros will keep the last one or two in
case of problems, but some do not delete any automatically.
If you ever compile drivers or applications, then you may find
that the old kernel header files are alsoretained.
Tofind out which kernel you are currently running,
open a terminal and type ‘uname -r’. My current kernel is
3.13.0-71-generic. Do notremove the current kernel, or your
system won’t boot!

Tofind out which kernels you have hanging around, type:

dpkg -l | grep linux-image

this will list all of the currently installed kernels.You may be
surprised how long the list is!
I once found 86 kernel packages along with their headers, or
approximately 3.4 GB of files.

There are several ways toremove old kernels. If there a lot, it
may take some time.

1.Manually one at a time using apt-get, e.g. sudo apt-get

autoremove linux-image-3.13.0-24-generic (the autoremove option

removes dependencies that are no longerrequired, such as the

header files)

2.Manually using your package manager of choice, e.g. Synaptic

or the Ubuntu software centre.

3.UbuntuTweak. Obviously this only works for Ubuntu, but it is a

very useful tool, download it from http://ubuntu-tweak.com/.

WhatNext?

This was an interesting project, and no doubt there are many other

applications for this sort of device.

Anywhere where a small, low power unit isrequired to house

an OS with a small footprint, such as internet gateways, DIY NAS,

routers, thin clients and in car PCs.mm

Not all system folders can be redirected this way. These

system folders located under Users\<User name>\ have a

‘Location’ tab in their properties sheet and can be moved:

• Contacts


• Desktop


• Documents


• Downloads


• Favourites


• Links


• Music


• Pictures


• Saved Games


• Searches


• Videos

OneDrive understandably does not.

If you want to return a folder back to its original

location, you can use the ‘Restore Default’ in the

‘Location’ tab..

Note: Moving individual data folders like this is okay,

but moving the main user folder can cause problems with

some software and upgrades..

There are other ways to reduce the Windows footprint,

but that would require a completely new article.

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