not enough disk space

[marktb]

I am trying to load msn messenger on my computer and I keep getting the error, "not enough disk space" but I have tons of hard drive space left. Any suggestions?

Mark

[icesar]

Is your hard drive partitioned? Perhaps the partition your program is on is full.

[Caveman Joe]

Use GAIM, Miranda or Trillian instead. All three have support for MSN messenger.
(GAIM is my favourite, Miranda works without installation (and thus can be run from a Flash drive) and Trillian used to be very good indeed, but is now pretty awful)

[da1prophet]

Originally Posted by Caveman Joe

Use GAIM, Miranda or Trillian instead. All three have support for MSN messenger.
(GAIM is my favourite, Miranda works without installation (and thus can be run from a Flash drive) and Trillian used to be very good indeed, but is now pretty awful)

Another cool tool is Meebo, which is a web based IM client. There are others but Meebo is my favorite--go to meebo.com, and you can log in to whatever services you need--they offer AOL, Yahoo, Google and MSN from the same interface.

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by marktb

I am trying to load msn messenger on my computer and I keep getting the error, "not enough disk space" but I have tons of hard drive space left. Any suggestions?

I've had a similar problem before. I have no idea why or how it happens, but I seem to be able to fix it every time, so I'm not worried about knowing exactly what’s going on (since I tend to dislike fixing computers... far too many bad experiences in the past have made it less then a novel activity).

This may/may not work for you, and it would probably much easier to remotely troubleshoot the issue you are having if you included more detail in your post (such as what drive you're installing messenger on, how much hard drive space you have, whether or not this issue occurs with other programs, how much hard drive space it says you have [if it says anything like that when you try to install], what operating system you are using, what service pack you are using [if you are using Windows Xp], what kind of updates you have installed, etc.).

But anyway, the last time this happened to me on a computer using Windows Xp Professional, I decreased the virtual memory allocation for the drive in question. It seems Windows needs a certain amount of hard drive space available to operate efficiency, and from my experience, when I have this issue, Windows doesn’t give you an accurate reading of how much space is actually on the hard drive (for some reason -- I could speculate as to why this is, but I don’t really know for sure). So, if you feel you are tech savvy enough to give this a try, here’s what to do:

1. Right click on ‘My Computer’
   
   .
2. In the ‘System Properties’ window that comes up, left click on the ‘Advanced’ tab
   
   .
3. Left click on ‘Settings’ under the ‘Performance’ heading
   
   .
4. In the ‘Performance Options’ window that comes up, left click on the advanced tab
   
   .
5. Left click on ‘Change’ under the ‘Virtual Memory’ heading
   
   .
6. Find the drive that you are having the space issues with, left click on it (it should be under the ‘Drive [Volume label]’ heading), and look how much space you have available under the ‘Paging file size for selected drive’ heading
   
   .
7. Now look at how much space you have allocated as virtual memory in both ‘Initial size (MB)’ and ‘Maximum size (MB)’ under the ‘Paging file size for selected drive’ heading
   
   .
8. If you find the amount of hard drive space allocated to virtual memory is disproportionate to the amount of hard drive space you have available, or if you simply would like to reduce the amount of memory you have available to see if it can resolve the issue you’re having, you may want to consider reducing the amount of virtual memory (note: if you reduce the amount of virtual memory you have allocated to your drive it is likely to impact your system performance, depending on how much virtual memory you have allocated. Keep this in mind should you decide to make some changes)
   
   .
9. To reduce the allocated amount of virtual memory simply reduce the values in both ‘Initial size (MB)’ and ‘Maximum size (MB)’ under the ‘Paging file size for selected drive’ heading by however much you want by typing in new, lower values (I’d probably get rid of about 500mb + however much space Msn Messenger takes up, but it’s up to you), then left click on ‘Set’ and then on ‘Ok’. Bare in mind that you need to get rid of enough virtual memory if you actually want to make a difference (again, I’d probably get rid of about 500mb + however much space Msn Messenger takes up, but it’s up to you)
   
   .
10. I don’t think you should get prompted to restart your computer or anything like that, but if you do, just read what it is prompting you for and use your common sense to figure out what to do (don’t fall into the novice computer user trap of not reading what prompts say and just randomly clicking on “Ok” or “Cancel” as that’s a recipe for disaster and what I’d consider to be “unconscious computer usage for not-so-smart people” )

If this works for you, that’s all you should have to do. As I said, this may/may not work for you, and it may/may not actually be a direct fix to the issue you are having, but it’s worked for me in the past. If you have any issues completing the above steps, refer to the text below under the heading "One last thing".

====================
One last thing
====================

My advice comes with a warning. If you aren’t willing to take responsibility for your own actions and accept all possible consequences (both good and bad) when following the (potentially flawed) advice of others, please don’t follow my advice. I’ve tried to be as accurate and specific as possible in the advice I gave. If you are genuinely worried about breaking something or doing something you aren’t supposed to do on your computer, I suggest you enlist the services of someone who is more knowledgeable about computers then you are, preferably a professional computer technician that is A) good at what s/he does, B) not going to rip you off based on your knowledge (or lack thereof) about computers.

====================
The secret of computers
====================

Finally, I'll tell you, and everyone else who cares to listen/read, the secret to fixing/using computers: There is no secret!

Let me just say that one more time for emphasis: There is no secret! (most people I tell this to don't seem to believe me, so I feel that was necessary. If you still don't believe me, I suggest you go improve your technical skills and prove me wrong).

All that's required to become a competent computer user is a computer (it doesn't necessarily have to be working -- fixing something that is broken, inputing lots of time trouble shooting, researching, learning, and buying some often expensive, redundant hardware and finding it out doesn't fix your problem and realising that you lack the necessary tools to accurately diagnose whatever issues you are having is all part of the often awkward "becoming competent" process), some trial and error, the willingness to make mistakes and accept them when you do make them, some mildly developed analytical/observational skills, and most importantly, some serious effort and willingness to make a solid attempt at whatever you are doing.

There honestly is no "one best way" to fix a problem, nor do competent computer users often know exactly how to fix a problem -- they just know what to do to go about fixing a problem because they've developed the logical analysis skills (ie. problem solving skills) to do such a thing (most competent computer users don’t memorise everything they need to do when using a computer, they just figure it out as needed... experience does help though, but experience is the result of taking action and learning, which involves making mistakes and learning from them). They also know that fixing a problem is often a result of constant application of the ready-fire-aim approach (or in other words, troubleshooting). I personally cringe when people ask me to fix their computers but refuse to listen to me when I tell them that they could fix them themselves if they simple put in a little effort and weren’t so quick to look for a quick and easy fix. This quote very much applies in this situation:

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
~ Chinese Proverb

In other words, fix a man’s computer, and it’ll work till he manages to break it again. Teach a man to fix a computer, and when he breaks it again, he can fix it himself (or spend a lifetime trying to fix it ).

If you get frustrated when something doesn't work, fixing computers probably isn't for you and you should go to someone with a higher tolerance for frustration and pay them money to get frustrated for you. I personally despise frustration and often get frustrated when fixing computers, but I'm not willing to let someone else fix my computer problems; consequently, I've learned a lot about computers by doing this, including how to manage my frustration.