Free Space won't update when deleting Unused Desktop Shortcuts

[Loochery]

When I delete upwards of 80+ MB worth of files from the Unused Desktop Shortcuts folder on my Desktop (a folder which was automatically made [with my consent]), my free space doesn’t change. In fact, sometimes it decreases (when I would think it would increase due to my deleting files). The files are in the Unused Desktop Shortcuts folder on my Desktop and include files such as:

VideoPak, l3codecx, ac3filter_0_70b, QTPluginInstaller, RCSetupG, ac3filter_1_01a_rc5, socksproxysearch, ytb01_efgsip, xvid, XviD-1.1.2-01112006, flvplayer_setup, klcodec310b, winamp508e_full_emusic-7plus, winamp53_pro, vidalia-bundle-0.1.2.14-0.0.11, DivXPlay, DivX521XP2K, DivXInstaller, wmp10, a folder called TMPGEnc, a folder called VDownloader, and a folder called AvidFreeDV_1.6.1.

I have Disk Defragmenter open and that shows how much free space I have on my hard drive down to two decimal points (i.e. 29.32). So, let’s say Disk Defragmenter says I have 29.32 GB free when I go to delete the files. After I’ve deleted them, it’s either still 29.32 GB or it’s slightly less, like 29.30 GB. Everything else seems to be working fine. When I delete files from My Documents folders, the Free Space stats change. It’s only when I delete these Unused Desktop Shortcuts files, and occasionally when I delete a file from my desktop.

I restore my computer using System Restore immediately after deleting the files and seeing that the stats don’t change, because System Restore brings those files back. If I just deleted them, then I’d be losing 80 MB or whatever of space. Each time I restore  my computer via System Restore (until I figure out this issue), these Unused Desktop Shortcuts that I remove come back (which is what I want…until I am able to get rid of them permanently in such a way that my Free Space goes up like it should be).

What do I have to do in order to get rid of these Unused Desktop Shortcuts files in such a way that my Free Space will go up instead of stay the same or go down? I’ve scanned for viruses and malware and there is none. I am using Windows XP Service Pack 2.
Thank you for your time and willingness to assist.

[Geek-9pm]

Thank your for the post.
You have demonstrated that when you want to free up drive space, you need to focus on the big files, not the small ones. With the current size of hard drives and the way the NTFS works, 80 MB is not much.

You can gain drive space by removing some save points in the system restore service. Also, reduce the page file size
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001293.htm

BTW. now is a great time to buy a hard drive. Internal IDE hard drives are at the lowest price ever.

[Allan]

1) The shortcuts themselves are tiny any take up virtually no space.
2) After deleting large files do you then empty the recycle bin?
3) The fact that system restore creates a new restore point immediately after you delete files is a reason you don't see an increase in available space. Restore points themselves are huge and are the single largest user of disk space on many systems.

[Loochery]

Hi everyone, thanks for the replies.

Geek, I only have one system restore point. So that's not what's taking up the space. I clean my system restore points frequently

I always empty the recycle bin. I'm not the best at computers but I certainly know to do that, lol.

Allan, The files are installation programs. Most of them are 7 MB or so. It just calls them shortcuts because it's a folder Windows automatically created. They're not actually shortcuts. I don't have any of the programs installed. I should have clarified this in my first post.

I see that no file space (i.e. 80 MB) has been recovered before I do system restore, so that wouldn't play a part in making it so there is no increase in available space. Whether or not I do a system restore, the file space never changes when I delete Unused Desktop Shortcuts.

[Geek-9pm]

Removing Megabytes has little impact on Gigabytes.

Definitions of gigabyte on the Web:
    * a unit of information equal to 1000 megabytes or 10^9 (1,000,000,000) bytes
    * a unit of information equal to 1024 mebibytes or 2^30 (1,073,741,824) bytes

Also:
To free up drive space, remove large files. InNTFS a lump of small files often do not take up space that can be recovered by deleting some of the lump. Please don't ask me why, ask the people that did NTFS.
Maybe they are the same people that tell you an  airplane is full when there are still seats on it. Or something like that.

Reference only: http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs_optimization.htm
Warning. Do not read above link if you have not yet taken your medication. Some users report dry mouth and nausea.