DDO orphan scan is only good if you could probably write a list of 90%+ of your cc. Before that point, it's mostly useless, because you don't know what it's showing you. The duplicate scan is pretty good, though, especially if this attempt is your first true attempt at organising your downloads folder, and you had a few half-hearted attempts before.

I have 2204 files right now, and that's waaay too much. I feel like such a slattern I used to have more than 15000, though. That was probably when I only had up to Pets installed, and that's when I started feeling the lag. I got down to 3000 before Seasons, and now Seasons is lag-free with a slightly aging computer and everything turned to max, even on big or community lots. (This last leg of the cleanout should make that an and/or. Yay!)

I recommend everyone gets and uses the Compressorizer. Don't do a whole downloads folder in one go or you might run into trouble. Divide into subfolders first, even if all you can be bothered to call them is 'section a', 'section b'...

If your downloads folder is a total mess, you may be better off blowing the lot away and starting again. If there's some sort of organisation, you can probably salvage it, even if it's just that most of your files are prefaced by the creator name. Make creator folders, then, inside those, make a CAS and a Build/Buy folder if it's applicable (and a Hacks folder, too, but I don't know of many creators who are so multi-talented... there are some, though )

Then, use a program like JDiskReport to evaluate the situation. If, for example, you have a huge Peggy folder, but hate her stuff and don't use it, what's going on? Or you might see that you have a bunch of CAS stuff when you don't care too much about your sims because your real love is decorating. This also tells you the size of these folders and the amount of files in them. Generally, the size of each creator folder, or each type folder (for example, if you decide to divide by Hair, FA Clothes, Genetics, Kitchen) should correlate to how much you like and use the stuff in it. If it doesn't, why? Look at the biggest files first - do you think they're worth how much space they take up, compared to smaller files you love? If not, delete them.

I've found that if I have doubts about something, I won't miss or even remember it when it's gone. If you have doubts about deleting it, keep it in another folder and try playing with that folder taken out. Build a house, make a family - did you miss something? If so, put it back. If not, delete it!

If you have lots of files without descriptive filenames, put them all in one folder. How many do you have? If it's about 30, I'd go through them in SimPE and work out what they are and rename them appropriately. If it's more, or however much you can't be bothered to deal with, delete them all.

After you've sorted out your CC, you can use less subfolders. I'm moving mine now to function-based folders instead of creator ones. The more files there are in a subfolder, the more I want to get rid of, so that's helping to motivate me

Once you've cleaned out your downloads, try and have some self-restraint! You might think, well, I got rid of all my crappy hairs and their orphaned meshes and recolours, but now I want some more good ones to fill it out a bit more. That's fine, obviously. But if you always hated Peggy and Rose hairs, remember that! Don't go to them! Once you're happy with the amount and choice you have, when you see a new thing you want, try and think: should I delete something to replace with this? If you can't think of one to delete, maybe you don't really want it. But if you still think, after looking for things to replace, that you want it, get it, because you probably do As long as you want it, you'll use it - and as long as you're using it, it's completely worth having!

And once you have a subfoldering system, never fall into the 'well, it's mostly sorted now, what will it hurt if I dump this one little download in the main directory?'. And then I did that once more, and, ooh, just this time 'cause I'm busy, and then again, and I had to start sorting all over again.

There are basically two ways to have a good downloads folder: you can go the 'keep the zips and the pictures, subfolder by use then creator then set then item' and the 'delete everything you're not using or using very rarely and group the rest together by something' people, which is me. You might find the other method better, though it's too much work for too little gain for me, or you might do something inbetween. Good luck (And apologies for my second essay in a week on here )

I was browsing many sims sites I don't usually ever go to a week or so ago, and my virus-checker found something. I can't remember exactly what, because I pretty much squealed, flailed and hit anything that looked like an 'OMG GET RID OF IT!11!1!11' button, but I believe it was a trojan. I use Adblock plus and didn't see a single advert on the site itself, but it's really the only place it could have come from. I also went to Peggy, Parsimonious, ATS, Holy Simoly and Lyran. Peggy's the most suspect on that list, but I think people only get seizures from her, nothing else

... the shorter answer being 'yes.' XD

10 minutes? Aaah! Mine takes somewhere between one and one-and-a-half minutes (not timed it, either ) and I think that's way too long. I have 2206 downloads, 217mb, and I spend at least a minute or two every day working on lowering that. It's so nice to dress someone, make them over, decorate a house and not have to scroll through a million pages of crap (well, apart from some Maxis stuff of lesser quality XD). I don't understand how anyone could even be using twice of what I have unless they have themed neighbourhoods or many extra races or something. I don't use all of what I have, which is why I'm still getting through it. It's like all clean-outs - it's a bit painful at first, but it feels so good after that you're glad you did! XD

I read somewhere that too much subfoldering slows down loadup speeds, so I only have one extra 'level' inside my downloads folder. It's by creator if I have at least a dozen or so files by them, and then I have a 'buildandbuy' and 'cas' folder for the rest. Default replacements live in the main folder, and there's three folder for hacks, UK spelling adjustments and my face replacements

Ain't is sort of 'proper English', but only when you say 'I ain't'.

[And I just actually read the link, and it says that there ;_;]

I'll say it regardless, though. But not y'all - I can't get it to sound right in an English accent

How can something be less obtrusive and viewable to the largest audience? Even after EA's statements against paysites, I don't think many have a clue. I would bet that a large portion of the community doesn't use any sims message boards, let alone follow all this politics.

Compressorized stuff isn't so big. Skintones are still massive, most build/buy mode stuff more than halves in size, and there's a reduction in general cas stuff too. So, perhaps also advise people to use that?

Actually, hosting big files elsewhere is a great idea that I probably never would have thought of on my own... I might do that on my site.

I'm pretty sure EA can tell their lawyers which parts of their EULA to enforce and when. I really don't think it's illegal somewhere to disregard your own copyright/intellectual property? Your argument rests on someone other than EA sorting out the matter of the EULA for this game :S

What I'm saying is, if EA get rid of SimPE and SimPE-made cc, they're shooting themselves in the foot. Yes, they suck at testing their games, but they're not stupid, so they wouldn't do something that hurts them (or, they wouldn't actively, at least).

I think the difference is that that would hurt the community, not help it. Everyone making stuff for the fun of it (whether that's the fun of making stuff or playing the game with that stuff), access to all of this content for anyone who plays the game and can go online - that means a happier community. People happy with the games will speak more highly of them than someone who doesn't, meaning their friends/readers/listeners will be more likely to buy it.

TS2 is (pretty obviously) a very open-ended game, no goals, few characters. So, extra content just allows it to more personal and customised. This improves the game, meaning more people buy it and are happy with it in the long term (this is really important for a game where you're expected to buy multiple expansion packs).

So, acting against paysites =  better for community = better for sales, whereas acting against cc-makers in general = worse for both.

The point of my post: I don't think we have to worry about EA going after SimPE etc. because this would be completely against their best interests.

But if they're 'secret' gifts, they're not being advertised, so it still doesn't give an incentive to donate. It seems to me like just a genuine 'thank-you' to donators. But I prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt, so... it might not be so innocent

The best big bras do tend to be in the UK and Europe :P If anyone with big boobs needs help with sizing, brands and/or retailers of decent bras in the US, I can recommend two lj communties: this one is more general and this one is for people with a small band size and large cup size. :)