Cleanups, compression extend PC storage. (personal computer)(Computer/Office Technology)(Column)

The hard drive on my 2-year-old PC is starting to feel like the garage and closets in my house. When I first moved in, there was plenty of room. Now I can't seem to find any.

If you use a PC with Windows 95 or a Macintosh, you're particularly vulnerable to running out of disk space. The operating systems take up an enormous amount of space, and it's not uncommon for an application "suite," such as Microsoft Office or WordPerfect Office, to take up more than a 100 megabytes of storage.

Graphics files, which are becoming increasingly popular, take up a lot more space than standard text files. Audio and video files are even bigger.

It's no wonder that many people find themselves running out of space. Fortunately, there are several solutions, some of which are free. …