[WINXP] C: drive space slowly reducing

recoN · 9th April 2010, 8:07 PM

Hi yall, not sure if this is the correct section, but I've recently begun having a problem where when I get into windows after turning on my computer my C: drive space slowly reducing down to 50mb or less.

So far I've formatted C: and ran AVG free virus scan to no avail.
Right now I'm running Spybot S&D but as I assume this only scans C: for spyware, which would already had been removed in the the format.

Ideas?

Help appreciated, thanks

Vegemiteman · 9th April 2010, 8:10 PM

Are you opening apps and files? If so it could be your page file growing but that would be very unusual for it to grow that quickly.

Try turning off the page file and see how it goes

K.I.L.E.R · 9th April 2010, 8:14 PM

Under Vista and Windows 7:-
Go to: Control Panel\Performance Information and Tools
Click on "Open Disk Cleanup" on the sidebar.

Should be similar on XP.

You can free up anywhere from 5GB+ on a large drive. I have to do this myself semi-regularly as I find that space disappears quickly on my C: as well. It's got nothing to do with spyware, at least on my system. Windows logs can take a huge amount of space, in fact they take up > 3GB in a couple of months.

recoN · 9th April 2010, 8:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vegemiteman

Are you opening apps and files? If so it could be your page file growing but that would be very unusual for it to grow that quickly.

Try turning off the page file and see how it goes

Thanks for the replies.

How would I go about changing the page file?

A disk cleanup removes temporary files etc located on the C: drive doesn't it? which would had been removed when I formatted.

Arg It's going down again

luke o · 9th April 2010, 9:09 PM

Run Disk Clean Up... read what it actually does. You should run this every few weeks anyway.

Uninstall undeeded applications.

Go into Control Panel --> System --> Performance settings --> Advanced --> Virtual Memory and set your page file to static size. 2GB should be fine, maybe 4GB if you feel generous.

You may also want to lookup disabling System Restore (or in disk cleanups second tab deleting all but the most recent restore point).

Report how you go...

recoN · 9th April 2010, 9:42 PM

Such speedy replies

thank you for your time!

System restore I disabled and disk cleanup both ran with it continuing to decrease.

Changed virtual memory to 1gb(Don't have a lot of space on the c: partition, 10gb in total not including windows) and I just watched it go from 6.91gb to 6.90gb while doing nothing.

=\

edit: Now its going between 6.90 and 6.91!

power · 9th April 2010, 10:50 PM

install something like SequoiaView to see what's using the space.

Also I recommend CCleaner over plain old disk cleanup.

luke o · 9th April 2010, 11:06 PM

Uncle torrence downloading by chance? Sounds suspiciously like something is downloading from the "intarwebs".

recoN · 10th April 2010, 12:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by power

install something like SequoiaView to see what's using the space.

Also I recommend CCleaner over plain old disk cleanup.

I've installed Sequoia and the largest files seems to be "pagefile.sys"(virtual memory?) and driver related things like physx for nvdia and driver.cab

Also, as I've said I have formatted and nothing is installed. No uncle torrence here.

luke o · 10th April 2010, 12:06 AM

Odd, only thing I can think of for a fresh install is windows update downloading about ~300MB of updates. Good luck with your problem mate.

bumography · 10th April 2010, 1:09 AM

Havent got anything that saves logs do you?
eg. Peerguardian can use a few gigs in a few months

Oblong Cheese · 10th April 2010, 7:30 AM

http://windirstat.info/

To see what's using up all your disk space. If you are running Vista/Win7 then I would suggest you Run As -> Administrator to make sure you're seeing as much as you can.

If the total size calculated by that utility is less than what Windows is reporting, I'd be getting cynical and assuming a trojan/rootkit or something else good at hiding itself.

Nobody's asked yet, how big is your C: drive?

power · 10th April 2010, 9:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oblong Cheese

http://windirstat.info/

To see what's using up all your disk space. If you are running Vista/Win7 then I would suggest you Run As -> Administrator to make sure you're seeing as much as you can.

If the total size calculated by that utility is less than what Windows is reporting, I'd be getting cynical and assuming a trojan/rootkit or something else good at hiding itself.

Nobody's asked yet, how big is your C: drive?

he's already run sequoiaview which does the same thing.

James086 · 10th April 2010, 1:37 PM

It could be your system restore files. They don't appear in your Windows directories but can take up a lot of space. Windirstat should show you if they're taking up heaps of space so I assume sequoiaview will too. To alter it
right click My Computer > System Restore tab > Settings > change the slider of how much space it can take up.

recoN · 10th April 2010, 6:01 PM

Thanks guys but I've tried everything. I needed a new computer anyway so that solves that

9th April 2010, 8:07 PM	#1
recoN Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Melbourne Posts: 1,911	C: drive space slowly reducing Hi yall, not sure if this is the correct section, but I've recently begun having a problem where when I get into windows after turning on my computer my C: drive space slowly reducing down to 50mb or less. So far I've formatted C: and ran AVG free virus scan to no avail. Right now I'm running Spybot S&D but as I assume this only scans C: for spyware, which would already had been removed in the the format. Ideas? Help appreciated, thanks

9th April 2010, 8:10 PM	#2
Vegemiteman Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Pakenham, VIC Posts: 750	Are you opening apps and files? If so it could be your page file growing but that would be very unusual for it to grow that quickly. Try turning off the page file and see how it goes __________________ Intel Core i7 950 @ 3.20Ghz Gigabyte X58A-UD3R 24GB Ram 60GB SSD/256GB SSD Radeon HD 5770 Windows Experience Index = 7.2

9th April 2010, 9:09 PM	#5
luke o Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: WA Posts: 3,140	Run Disk Clean Up... read what it actually does. You should run this every few weeks anyway. Uninstall undeeded applications. Go into Control Panel --> System --> Performance settings --> Advanced --> Virtual Memory and set your page file to static size. 2GB should be fine, maybe 4GB if you feel generous. You may also want to lookup disabling System Restore (or in disk cleanups second tab deleting all but the most recent restore point). Report how you go... __________________ i7 920@3.8ghz/thermright 120 ultra extreme/6GB Ram/6970/Dell 24" TFTx2 OCAU Camera Club Member Nikon D7100, Nikon 35mm/50mm/85mm F1.8,Sigma 10-20mm, Nikon 80-200mm F2.8, Nikon 17-35mm F2.8 (plus the kit 18-55 and 55-200mm VR)

9th April 2010, 10:50 PM	#7
power Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: brisbane Posts: 27,207	install something like SequoiaView to see what's using the space. Also I recommend CCleaner over plain old disk cleanup. __________________ this is who we are. Last edited by power; 9th April 2010 at 10:52 PM.

9th April 2010, 11:06 PM	#8
luke o Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: WA Posts: 3,140	Uncle torrence downloading by chance? Sounds suspiciously like something is downloading from the "intarwebs". __________________ i7 920@3.8ghz/thermright 120 ultra extreme/6GB Ram/6970/Dell 24" TFTx2 OCAU Camera Club Member Nikon D7100, Nikon 35mm/50mm/85mm F1.8,Sigma 10-20mm, Nikon 80-200mm F2.8, Nikon 17-35mm F2.8 (plus the kit 18-55 and 55-200mm VR)

9th April 2010, 9:42 PM	#6
recoN Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Melbourne Posts: 1,911	Such speedy replies thank you for your time! System restore I disabled and disk cleanup both ran with it continuing to decrease. Changed virtual memory to 1gb(Don't have a lot of space on the c: partition, 10gb in total not including windows) and I just watched it go from 6.91gb to 6.90gb while doing nothing. =\ edit: Now its going between 6.90 and 6.91!

10th April 2010, 12:06 AM	#10
luke o Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: WA Posts: 3,140	Odd, only thing I can think of for a fresh install is windows update downloading about ~300MB of updates. Good luck with your problem mate. __________________ i7 920@3.8ghz/thermright 120 ultra extreme/6GB Ram/6970/Dell 24" TFTx2 OCAU Camera Club Member Nikon D7100, Nikon 35mm/50mm/85mm F1.8,Sigma 10-20mm, Nikon 80-200mm F2.8, Nikon 17-35mm F2.8 (plus the kit 18-55 and 55-200mm VR)

10th April 2010, 1:09 AM	#11
bumography Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Adel Posts: 1,372	Havent got anything that saves logs do you? eg. Peerguardian can use a few gigs in a few months __________________ Another useless post for OCAU by bumography Q66600 - P335-DS39 - 48gb RAM - 150TB - 99500 GTX - Philips 199' 54:45 - Antec HE5550W PSU - Antec P180 EE66750 - G333M-S29 - 40Gb RAM - 320TB HDD - 96600GT - Samsung 22553 - Seasonic S2 4530W PSU - Silverstone TJ908 AMD X2 42000 - MA7800G-S73H- 48Gb RAM - 6.40TB HDD - 199' BenQ LCD - Coolermaster 4600W PSU

10th April 2010, 7:30 AM	#12
Oblong Cheese Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Brisbane Posts: 9,853	http://windirstat.info/ To see what's using up all your disk space. If you are running Vista/Win7 then I would suggest you Run As -> Administrator to make sure you're seeing as much as you can. If the total size calculated by that utility is less than what Windows is reporting, I'd be getting cynical and assuming a trojan/rootkit or something else good at hiding itself. Nobody's asked yet, how big is your C: drive? __________________ My Website \| My Computers \| Grado Labs Alessandro MS-1, Shure SRH-840, Topping TP30

10th April 2010, 6:01 PM	#15
recoN Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Melbourne Posts: 1,911	Thanks guys but I've tried everything. I needed a new computer anyway so that solves that