Here's a problem that I haven't been able to resolve for the last two months. I've researched this problem on this forum and nothing been able to solve it yet. My work computer's c-drive keeps filling up to capacity. I have a 235 GB hard drive with very few programs loaded onto it and almost no picture or video files taking up space. The computer is hooked up to a network here where I work, but nobody else has this problem. Even if I'm able to free up several GB's of space, the c-drive will fill up in just a couple of days. I think I might have a virus. These are the measures I've tried to correct this issue: Ran Disk Cleanup which freed up about 2 GB's initially. After a couple of days, the c-drive filled back up again. Subsequently, running Disk Cleanup only free's up a few MB's now. Ran MalewareBytes, Eset online scanner, and Super-AntiSpyware programs to try to identify a virus, but neither of them can find anything other than cookies. I've also run these programs in Safe Mode. My Microsoft Security Essentials program had been removed, and I can't get it to re-install. I even tried several work-arounds listed on this forum to install it, but I still get error messages when installing. Tried the "Fix It" function Tried System Restore but apparently that's been disabled too since there are no restore points to be found Disabled the Hibernate function to free up several GB's, but the computer quickly filled-up within a couple of days. Disabled the Backup function. Deleted temp files from my user profile I also run into problems trying to install the security updates from the Windows Update function. I haven't been able to get the security updates to install for a couple of months now. Anything thing I do that free's up space will only work temporarily. The c-drive will continue to fill up in a matter of minutes or hours even if I'm away from my computer during that time. The strangest part is that if I right-click on the c-drive in My Computer, it will show that the 232 GB hard-drive is nearly or completely full (0 bytes). If I open the c-drive, select all the files and folders in it and right-click, it only shows about 51 GB's of storage space used. This does affect my computer greatly when trying to save or print even small files that only take up a few KB's. Is there any other fix that I haven't tried yet? I ran the WinDirStat utility but that doesn't show me anything other than the 51 GB's taking up storage space. Also, my hard-drive is not partitioned.

You may need to show hidden files. Type Folder Options in the search box above the Start button and select View, Advanced Settings and verify that the box before "Show hidden files and folders" is checked and "Hide protected operating system files" is unchecked. You may need to scroll down to see the second item. You should also make certain that the box before "Hide extensions for known file types" is not checked. Let’s check a folder where something is obviously wrong. Your system32 folder (C;\windows\system32) should be nothing like 51.8gb. On this computer it is 4.2gb (or 4239.8mb). The larger sub-folders are: Driver store 1766.2mb 2789 Files 1405.8mb Config 381.9mb Winevt 119.3mb Drivers 65.4mb Spool 62.3mb No other folders over 50mb What are the corresponding figures on your computer?

Please try running TreeSize as Administrator again. This time, wait for it to finish processing. It was was still counting the Windows folder when you took that screenshot. When it is done, none of the folders will have an hourglass icon next to them, and the last folder, Users , will not have a size of 0 Bytes . If your HDD has a lot of files on it, scanning could take several minutes. Sorry for the delayed reply. I ran it again as Administrator and it took about 48 hours for it to finish processing. This time it found 118 GB's filling up a folder in the Windows > Service Profile s > Network Service > AppData > Local > Microsoft > Windows > Temporary Internet Files > Content.IE5 (see attached screenshot). There are over 4 million files, and by what I can see when opening the folder, it's mostly made up of .js & .jpg files. I just tried to delete the contents of this folder and the computer has been stuck on the "Preparing to delete" phase for about the last hour. I will keep you posted on whether or not I was able to delete the contents using the conventional method.

Please try running TreeSize as Administrator again. This time, wait for it to finish processing. It was was still counting the Windows folder when you took that screenshot. When it is done, none of the folders will have an hourglass icon next to them, and the last folder, Users , will not have a size of 0 Bytes . If your HDD has a lot of files on it, scanning could take several minutes.

Type Disk Management in the Search box above the Start button and click Create and format hard disk partitions. Please post an image of what you see.

Here is a picture of the scan I did as Administrator. Now, it's only showing 21 GB's used, but note at the bottom where is shows only 440KB's of free space on the 232 GB drive.

C-drive keeps filling up

Anonymous

Here's a problem that I haven't been able to resolve for the last two months. I've researched this problem on this forum and nothing been able to solve it yet. My work computer's c-drive keeps filling up to capacity. I have a 235 GB hard drive with very few programs loaded onto it and almost no picture or video files taking up space. The computer is hooked up to a network here where I work, but nobody else has this problem. Even if I'm able to free up several GB's of space, the c-drive will fill up in just a couple of days. I think I might have a virus. These are the measures I've tried to correct this issue:

Ran Disk Cleanup which freed up about 2 GB's initially. After a couple of days, the c-drive filled back up again. Subsequently, running Disk Cleanup only free's up a few MB's now.
Ran MalewareBytes, Eset online scanner, and Super-AntiSpyware programs to try to identify a virus, but neither of them can find anything other than cookies. I've also run these programs in Safe Mode.
My Microsoft Security Essentials program had been removed, and I can't get it to re-install. I even tried several work-arounds listed on this forum to install it, but I still get error messages when installing.
Tried the "Fix It" function
Tried System Restore but apparently that's been disabled too since there are no restore points to be found
Disabled the Hibernate function to free up several GB's, but the computer quickly filled-up within a couple of days.
Disabled the Backup function.
Deleted temp files from my user profile
I also run into problems trying to install the security updates from the Windows Update function. I haven't been able to get the security updates to install for a couple of months now.

Anything thing I do that free's up space will only work temporarily. The c-drive will continue to fill up in a matter of minutes or hours even if I'm away from my computer during that time.

The strangest part is that if I right-click on the c-drive in My Computer, it will show that the 232 GB hard-drive is nearly or completely full (0 bytes). If I open the c-drive, select all the files and folders in it and right-click, it only shows about 51 GB's of storage space used. This does affect my computer greatly when trying to save or print even small files that only take up a few KB's. Is there any other fix that I haven't tried yet?

I ran the WinDirStat utility but that doesn't show me anything other than the 51 GB's taking up storage space. Also, my hard-drive is not partitioned.

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51 answers

Anonymous

2015-01-21T17:02:31+00:00

You may need to show hidden files. Type Folder Options in the search box above the Start button and select View, Advanced Settings and verify that the box before "Show hidden files and folders" is checked and "Hide protected operating system files" is unchecked. You may need to scroll down to see the second item. You should also make certain that the box before "Hide extensions for known file types" is not checked.

Let’s check a folder where something is obviously wrong. Your system32 folder (C;\windows\system32) should be nothing like 51.8gb. On this computer it is 4.2gb (or 4239.8mb). The larger sub-folders are:

Driver store                                     1766.2mb

2789 Files                                        1405.8mb

Config                                             381.9mb

Winevt                                              119.3mb

Drivers                                                65.4mb

Spool                                                  62.3mb

No other folders over 50mb

What are the corresponding figures on your computer?
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Anonymous

2015-01-21T16:38:12+00:00

Please try running TreeSize as Administrator again. This time, wait for it to finish processing. It was was still counting the Windows folder when you took that screenshot. When it is done, none of the folders will have an hourglass icon next to them, and the last folder, Users, will not have a size of 0 Bytes. If your HDD has a lot of files on it, scanning could take several minutes.

Sorry for the delayed reply. I ran it again as Administrator and it took about 48 hours for it to finish processing. This time it found 118 GB's filling up a folder in the Windows > Service Profile s > Network Service > AppData > Local > Microsoft > Windows > Temporary Internet Files > Content.IE5 (see attached screenshot). There are over 4 million files, and by what I can see when opening the folder, it's mostly made up of .js & .jpg files.

I just tried to delete the contents of this folder and the computer has been stuck on the "Preparing to delete" phase for about the last hour. I will keep you posted on whether or not I was able to delete the contents using the conventional method.
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Anonymous

2015-01-16T20:32:30+00:00

Please try running TreeSize as Administrator again. This time, wait for it to finish processing. It was was still counting the Windows folder when you took that screenshot. When it is done, none of the folders will have an hourglass icon next to them, and the last folder, Users, will not have a size of 0 Bytes. If your HDD has a lot of files on it, scanning could take several minutes.
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Anonymous

2015-01-16T19:46:16+00:00

Type Disk Management in the Search box above the Start button and click Create and format hard disk partitions. Please post an image of what you see.
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Anonymous

2015-01-16T18:03:56+00:00

Here is a picture of the scan I did as Administrator. Now, it's only showing 21 GB's used, but note at the bottom where is shows only 440KB's of free space on the 232 GB drive.
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