The Disk Cleanup tool in Windows 2000 stops responding while it scans old files for compression

When you run the Disk Cleanup tool, the Disk Cleanup tool appears to stop responding during the "Compress old files" scanning process.

This issue occurs if the Disk Cleanup tool takes a long time to complete the "Compress old files" scanning process. Because this process takes a long time, the Disk Cleanup tool appears to stop responding. For example, if the following conditions are true, the Disk Cleanup tool appears to stop responding:

• The Disk Cleanup tool identifies system cache files for compression.
• The system cache files are being used during the compression process.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

To work around this issue, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. In Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry key:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{B50F5260-0C21-11D2-AB56-00A0C9082678}
3. On the Edit menu, click Delete, and then click Yes.
4. Quit Registry Editor.

Note When you delete this registry key, the Disk Cleanup tool skips the procedure for scanning compressed files.