Author Topic: Memory dump files  (Read 7505 times)

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Offline justinlee

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Memory dump files
« on: June 16, 2011, 01:30:11 AM »
Using CCleaner and want to know whether it is safe to delete Memory Dump Files? I assume it is but just want to double check.
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) SP1,
Intel Core i5-2410M @2.30GHz, 6GB RAM
AvastFree Antivirus & ZoneAlarm Free.

Offline pk

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Re: Memory dump files
« Reply #1 on: June 16, 2011, 01:34:39 AM »
Memory dumps are useful if someone wants to analyze why your OS crashed.
If it's our (avast) fault, we'd ask you if you can send us the dump file -- so we can fix the bug.

otherwise, you can delete this file (sometimes this file is quite big, ~3GB)

Offline justinlee

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Re: Memory dump files
« Reply #2 on: June 16, 2011, 01:39:36 AM »
What about Chkdsk File Fragments and Windows Log Files?

My computer has not crashed recently so i take it there would be no dump files, right?
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) SP1,
Intel Core i5-2410M @2.30GHz, 6GB RAM
AvastFree Antivirus & ZoneAlarm Free.

Offline pk

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Re: Memory dump files
« Reply #3 on: June 16, 2011, 01:42:10 AM »
What about Chkdsk File Fragments and Windows Log Files?
can be deleted

Quote
My computer has not crashed recently so i take it there would be no dump files, right?
sometimes you can't be sure -- when your OS crashes, it reboots automatically...

Offline DavidR

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Re: Memory dump files
« Reply #4 on: June 16, 2011, 01:44:07 AM »
Generally it is safe.

- The memory.dmp file is created when your system crashes it contains what is in memory at the time of the crash, which could have contained malware. It could be as large as your memory so may not be allowed to send to the chest without changing the settings.
 
If you have the tools and experience you can examine this file to help discover why the crash happened, if you don't have this experience and tools, it is worthless to you. The older the file is the less worth it is also.
 
If windows were to crash again then it would create a new memory.dmp file if one wasn't present or replace any existing one. So there really is no downside to deleting this memory.dmp file.

Also the older the chkdsk file fragment the less likely it will be of use.

Log files generally aren't very large (text file) and you won't be saving tons of disk space, if your HDD is that badly off that you need to create space by deleting these (ccleaner wouldn't offer it if it was dangerous), you should be looking at getting a larger HDD.
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security

Offline justinlee

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Re: Memory dump files
« Reply #5 on: June 16, 2011, 01:46:04 AM »
Thanks everyone  :)
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) SP1,
Intel Core i5-2410M @2.30GHz, 6GB RAM
AvastFree Antivirus & ZoneAlarm Free.

Offline DavidR

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Re: Memory dump files
« Reply #6 on: June 16, 2011, 02:13:49 AM »
You're welcome.
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security