Ubuntu
bleachbit package

Deleting Memory with BleachBit

Asked by Edmond Condillac

Hi

I would be most grateful if you would kindly let me know if there is any way to rectify the problems that may occur when using BleachBit to delete unwanted system memory files. There is a noticeable warning given that the option to delete System memory files may cause system problems Kindly advise what the system problems are likely to be and if the problems can be rectified.

Most greatfully yours

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Ubuntu bleachbit Edit question
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Solved by:
Andrew Ziem
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Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

Me,mory is RAM and lost at power off. This is not the same as the magnetic storage of the hard drive which you are clearly confusing this with.

If you want to save space, if you give the output of:

uname -a; lsb_release -a; dpkg -l | grep linux-image

We can remove old kernels.

Thanks

Revision history for this message
Edmond Condillac (econ22) said : 		#2

Thank you for looking into my request for help. The output is:

edmond@edcon:~$ uname -a; lsb_release -a; dpkg -l | grep linux-image
Linux edcon 3.5.0-19-generic #30-Ubuntu SMP Tue Nov 13 17:49:53 UTC 2012 i686 i686 i686 GNU/Linux
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 12.10
Release: 12.10
Codename: quantal
rc linux-image-2.6.35-22-generic 2.6.35-22.35 i386 Linux kernel image for version 2.6.35 on x86/x86_64
rc linux-image-2.6.35-32-generic 2.6.35-32.64 i386 Linux kernel image for version 2.6.35 on x86/x86_64
rc linux-image-2.6.38-13-generic 2.6.38-13.57 i386 Linux kernel image for version 2.6.38 on x86/x86_64
rc linux-image-2.6.38-14-generic 2.6.38-14.58 i386 Linux kernel image for version 2.6.38 on x86/x86_64
ii linux-image-2.6.38-15-generic 2.6.38-15.65 i386 Linux kernel image for version 2.6.38 on x86/x86_64
rc linux-image-3.0.0-24-generic 3.0.0-24.40 i386 Linux kernel image for version 3.0.0 on x86/x86_64
rc linux-image-3.0.0-25-generic 3.0.0-25.41 i386 Linux kernel image for version 3.0.0 on x86/x86_64
rc linux-image-3.0.0-26-generic 3.0.0-26.42 i386 Linux kernel image for version 3.0.0 on x86/x86_64
rc linux-image-3.2.0-31-generic 3.2.0-31.50 i386 Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 32 bit x86 SMP
rc linux-image-3.2.0-32-generic 3.2.0-32.51 i386 Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 32 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.2.0-33-generic 3.2.0-33.52 i386 Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 32 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.5.0-18-generic 3.5.0-18.29 i386 Linux kernel image for version 3.5.0 on 32 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.5.0-19-generic 3.5.0-19.30 i386 Linux kernel image for version 3.5.0 on 32 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.5.0-20-generic 3.5.0-20.31 i386 Linux kernel image for version 3.5.0 on 32 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-extra-3.5.0-18-generic 3.5.0-18.29 i386 Linux kernel image for version 3.5.0 on 32 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-extra-3.5.0-19-generic 3.5.0-19.30 i386 Linux kernel image for version 3.5.0 on 32 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-extra-3.5.0-20-generic 3.5.0-20.31 i386 Linux kernel image for version 3.5.0 on 32 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-generic 3.5.0.20.23 i386 Generic Linux kernel image

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#3

sudo dpkg -P linux-image-2.6.35-22-generic linux-image-2.6.35-32-generic
sudo dpkg -P linux-image-2.6.38-13-generic linux-image-2.6.38-14-generic linux-image-2.6.38-15-generic
sudo dpkg -P linux-image-3.0.0-24-generic linux-image-3.0.0-25-generic linux-image-3.0.0-26-generic
sudo dpkg -P linux-image-3.2.0-31-generic linux-image-3.2.0-32-generic
sudo apt-get --purge remove linux-image-3.2.0-33-generic linux-image-3.5.0-18-generic
sudo apt-get --purge autoremove
sudo apt-get clean

Should cleanup grub too :)

Is it a bit better, we can then address Bleachbit

Revision history for this message
Edmond Condillac (econ22) said : 		#4

Hi

Thanks for your kind and fast response. Further to your latest instructions, kindly note the following:

1) After the operation: sudo apt-get --purge remove linux-image-3.2.0-33-generic linux-image-3.5.0-18-generic
the terminal displayed: 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 3 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

 This operation freed 228MB of disk space freed.

2) After the operation: sudo apt-get --purge autoremove
the terminal displayed: 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

3) After the operation:sudo apt-get clean
there was no output dispalyed

Thanks very much for this help. I was attempting to increase the speed of my computer by freeing up disck space. I thought freeing up the system memory space using BleachBit is meant to wipe the swap and free memory. However the warning given with this option is that it is experimental and may cause system problems.

I would be most gratefu with any advice and kind help with increasing the computer's speed as it is actually grinding very slowly and freezing often.

Thanks very much, again.

Revision history for this message
Best Andrew Ziem (ahziem1) said : 		#5

This feature in BleachBit is not intended to make a system faster: wiping the RAM and swap is for people who are "security conscious" (paranoid).

If the computer is grinding or slow, then a few things to check

1. Is there enough free physical RAM? Use 'top' or 'gnome-system-monitor' or similar. Here top shows I have about 4GB free out of 6GB RAM, and I am using no swap. (This is good.)

KiB Mem: 6018036 total, 4412320 used, 1605716 free, 224948 buffers
KiB Swap: 6193148 total, 0 used, 6193148 free, 3118092 cached

2. Is the CPU busy? Use 'top' or 'gnome-system-monitor'. Here top shows the CPU is 91% idle (good):
%Cpu(s): 5.0 us, 2.6 sy, 0.1 ni, 91.6 id, 0.7 wa, 0.0 hi, 0.1 si, 0.0 st

3. Is the disk busy reading or writing? Use 'iotop' or similar. Here it shows the disk is idle. When no programs are running, it should be close to idle:
Total DISK READ: 0.00 B/s | Total DISK WRITE: 0.00 B/s

4. Is the disk in a pre-failure state? Use 'smartctl'

Revision history for this message
Edmond Condillac (econ22) said : 		#6

HI

Thank you for your continued help.

1) On running gnome-system-monitor, the following warning messages were displayed:

edmond@edcon:~$ gnome-system-monitor

** (gnome-system-monitor:5393): WARNING **: Couldn't connect to accessibility bus: Failed to connect to socket /tmp/dbus-Byb0Zp0Ihe: Connection refused

** (gnome-system-monitor:5393): WARNING **: SELinux was found but is not enabled.

2) On running smartctl, the following error message was displayed:

edmond@edcon:~$ smartctl
smartctl 5.43 2012-06-30 r3573 [i686-linux-3.5.0-20-generic] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-12 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

ERROR: smartctl requires a device name as the final command-line argument.

Use smartctl -h to get a usage summary

The usage options are numerous and it would be most appreciated if you would kindly advise me how to proseed.

Thank you omce again for your kind help.

Revision history for this message
Edmond Condillac (econ22) said : 		#7

Thanks Andrew Ziem, that solved my question.