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Windows XP Filling Space

It seems that Windows XP likes to have restore points.
Lots of restore points.
There is a hidden folder on your system drive (probably C:) called
"System Volume Information". It is hidden by default.
Not only is it hidden, but the default authority is that users can't even browse any files in it!
So I followed the directions to unhide (had already done that long ago) and give my main ID view access to the folder (that was new).

Holy cow! There are 72 restore points!
And each folder is over 40M. (Although all the old ones are compressed! :) )
There is 5.43G of data in this directory. Okay, it is only* taking up 3.37G.
*ONLY* - since when do I say only to Gigs of space? And *only* 3.37G, that is almost 10% of my hard drive! Turns out the default setting is the maximum: 12%.

Well, it seems you can change how much space is reserved for system restore points: Windows-key+Pause/Break-key -> System Restore Tab
or right-click MyComputer icon on desktop -> Properties
or Control Panel [->Performance & Maintenance] -> System
Then adjust the slider for space/percentage used for system restore.

I'd prefer if they gave you an option for keeping monthly updates, and about a month's of daily updates instead of always deleting the oldest.

You can also create a named restore point by going to Accessories->System Tools->System Restore. I just tried this: it may solve my desire for monthly restore points -- I will have to see if it eventually rolls off when it is the oldest. This is also where you can restore back to a previous state.

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