# Disappearing Hard Drive Space



## Tony Stark (Nov 18, 2003)

Help!

This is the 2nd time I have posted in hopes that someone can figure out this problem.

I keep losing Hard Drive Space and Disk Clean Up keeps popping up (Alot of times with all 0s).

I have scanned numerous times for the Hantaner Virus and found nothing.

I have to run clean all bat (Which I highly recommend) which clears up the problem temporarily.

I am sure this is a virus, but nothing is catching it.

Please help me, this is very irritating.


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## Moby (Mar 19, 2002)

You can get a second opinion virus scan here if you haven't already done so
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp
What windows do you have? Do you use system restore if ME or XP?


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Have you tried to determine which folder has all the space allocated, and looked to see if there are any clues as to what program is generating the files?


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## Ari (Aug 27, 1999)

I don't know if any of this was mentioned the first time you posted but I would check/keep an eye on your Temporary Internet Files and your Temp directory.

Another possible culprit is messenger programs like Yahoo, MSN, ICQ etc. Most, if not all of them have the option of storing every single message, I believe they all default to off for that option but it would still be worth checking.

While I can't think of the names of any right now, I know there are programs that you can download that will scan your HDD and give you a chart of how much space is being used where. Grab one of those and run it. Then when you get the disk full warning run it again and compare the results, at a minumum that'll tell you (and us) where the space is going and that'll help track down what is actually causing it.

Edited to add. Credit to John for the where/why idea, I just expanded on his idea.


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## Tony Stark (Nov 18, 2003)

Trend Micro was one of the first ones I ran the last time I posted it found nothing then. I'm willing to try it again though.


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## Tony Stark (Nov 18, 2003)

When disk cleanup pops up it will show files in the Recycle Bin and Temp Folder.

This is usually when my Hard Drive space drops.

I had my my computer folder open and on the C Drive Icon. When the Disk Cleanup window popped up, the Hard Drive free space dropped over 50 mb.

This is why I believe it's a virus, not just the Temp folder or Recycle bin.

The files in my recycle bin are usually 2mb or less at any given time.


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## Tony Stark (Nov 18, 2003)

Please let me know if you find the name to one of those programs, I would definitely be interested in tracking down the culprit of all these problems.


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## Ari (Aug 27, 1999)

I did a quick search and found these 3 programs that might be worth trying. All of them have a free trial period so you won't need to lay out any bucks.

http://www.foldersizes.com/
http://showsize.com/gindex.shtml
http://www.poweradmin.com/default.asp

I don't know anything about any of them except what's listed on thier site.


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## Ari (Aug 27, 1999)

Have you by chance checked to see just how much room your swap file is taking up at any given time? If your drive space dropped by 50MB just by opening the disk cleanup folder, the system writing to the swap file could account for it.

You could try setting your system to a fixed size swap file, if I remember right, setting both min and max size to exactly twice what your system ram is is the best setting (of course it might have been 1/2). I really don't remember which it is. I used to keep my system that way but since I got a larger HDD I just have it partitioned with 5 GB for OS, 33 GB for everything else and a 2 GB partition for the swap file and temp directory for CD burning.


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## Tony Stark (Nov 18, 2003)

I ran this yesterday and was surprised to see it get 5 viruses that Norton missed (With the most recent Updates) It didn't get rid of the problem though.

Strangely, it see to pop up like crazy while I was scanning, like it was running for it's life.

I ran a program called Norton Clean Sweep today and oddly enough it hasn't happened since.

I will let you know if it reoccurs.

By the way, never use a program called Spamfighter Pro, it screwed up all kinds of stuff on my computer until I uninstalled it.


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## Tony Stark (Nov 18, 2003)

I had to sound Computer stupid (Which I am) put where would I go to check my swap file?


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## Tony Stark (Nov 18, 2003)

Well, darn it, it still is happening. Please keep searching for me.

Thanks


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## Moby (Mar 19, 2002)

What windows do you use? If not win98 and system restore is turned on, how much hard drive space is allocated to it?
You wont see the actual restore folder as it is hidden but it could have gb's of stuff in there.
I wont ask again


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## Tony Stark (Nov 18, 2003)

I Have Windows 98. How can I view the restore file?


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## pronute (Feb 13, 2003)

Windows 98 does not have system restore. How much main memory do you have in your system? I ask because if you don't have enough Windows has to cache to the hard drive with temporary files, when you shut down these files are supposed to be deleted automatically by Windows, however Windows 98 to ME does not always do this if the computer shuts down to quickly. Go to Windows update and install the patch for this ( I dont recall the name of this update) ** With Windows 98 64 to 128MB of main memory is to little 256 to 512 works great, not to exceed (512) and a hard drive with a capacity of at least 20GB, 64GB max.


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## Tony Stark (Nov 18, 2003)

This just won't go away! I've run diagnostics, virus scans, spyware scans, run every disk cleaner known to mankind and my disk cleanup is still popping up and my hard drive space is still shrinking!!!!

This has got to be a virus. But why is it still getting missed?

Please help!


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## 5mi11er (Aug 11, 2004)

If it is a virus or multiple viruses, the only sure fire way to actually find them is to clean boot from a CD-ROM with updated virus scanning ability. Otherwise, there are plenty of places for viri to hide once executed during bootup of the infected computer.

Even this won't guarantee that you can eradicate them. The only sure fire way to do that is to fdisk, format, reinstall. From virus free sources (disks, CDs). Don't attempt to create them from the infected machine and expect them to be virus free.

Good luck,

-Scott


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