Your videos did not work for me on Linux. It would suggest uploading to YouTube. As for the deleting the files, I would use a live usb stick with your flavor of Linux and then try house cleaning.

Have you tried Clear recent history (ctl+shft+del)? One of the items on that is Offline web site data. Removing that should dispose of many files.

Did you run a hard drive check via chkdsk.exe ?

Thank all of you three for your answers!

@Terry: Clear recent history (ctl+shft+del) I've tried many times to no avail.

@Cor-El: left chkdsk.exe (c: /r) running overnight. After four hours it stopped scanning at stage 2 citing an unknown error...

@jonzn4SUSE: I'll try USB-linux next

Is there a good antivirus scanner that I can run from an usb stick on WinXP (without installing it on my system first)?

You could try doing a permanent delete of the cache2 folder. Select it using a single mouse click or using the arrow keys, then hold down the Shift key, then press the Delete key. Windows should ask for confirmation. This method bypasses the Recycle Bin so hopefully it resolves the issue of space still being consumed.

@jscher2000: this way is known to me, but it doesn't work with this folder - it shows the deleting process window but never any progress even after 3 hours.

I have only the foggiest memory of Windows XP, but might any of the event logs (eventvwr) have entries that might explain the failure to delete?

Have you considered using a console window (cmd.exe)? You need to use cd to navigate to the profile folder first to avoid accidentally deleting the C drive.

@jscher2000: I don't see any information in eventvwr in regard to delete error

Cmd I've tried with the same result

Maybe there is still an XP support forum somewhere that could help.

I would normally try to run chkdsk.exe and remove the files as administrator (i.e. run cmd.exe as administrator) in case of such issues.

Thank all of you three for your answers! @jonzn4SUSE: I'll try USB-linux next

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=USB-linux

Thank you all very much for your support! With it I have finally solved this problem, that have been persistent for years! Here is how.

As my old BIOS version doesn't support USB-boot, and I've replaced my old DVD-drive for an extra hard disk a few years ago, Linux was no option. But chkdsk was the solution. As I wrote earlier it stopped on stage 2 every time, so I couldn't make the check in my laptop. Therefor I've removed my hard disk, connected it via an adapter to another laptop with Windows 11 and made a successfull check with a huge amount of repairs. It took 16 hours overnight! After installing the hard disk back into my laptop, the folder "entries" became availible again, although to see the millions of files there explorer needed 4 hours. A standard delete process was not availible, because some of the files could not be deleted. This I've solved through cmd-panel: "rmdir /s /q entries". 10 hours later my drive was finally half-empty!!!

Huge thanks to all of you! You ideas inspired my thinking! Chapeau!