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.

Please go to the c drive, open Windows folder, then open the Temp Folder, press ctrl A to highlight all, then press Shift-Delete to delete all permanently, this will free up the C Drive Back in the XP and earlier days, this would've been a major place to look. But nowadays, that folder is rarely used. Temporary files are normally stored at C:\Users**{username} \AppData\Local\Temp** instead.

I have the same problem with my Windows 10 auto updated to whatever is current Feb1, 2018. I have a 500 Gb ssd and I usually always do a reformat reinstall to start fresh whenever I need to fix the computer. And lately it's been alot. My HP 550 fills up in what seems like over night when it gets a little over half full. It's right abput the time Windows installs the "New Windows" free upgrade. Not saying that it's the update's fault, just stating that the virus like activity happens when My installs are done and there's no reason for added files from my part. It doesn't happen right away, and I was careful about installing questionable content, but it reeks of foreign body objects using my computer as a host. The first time was 2 weeks ago, I traced it down to IIS app folders and deleted them. About 70 Gigs. But the folders that were again created bearing the iis and app names this time were empty this time around. Well, at 85=90 percent full, I'm pretty much forced to wipe and reinstall and this doesn't sound like something a virus would want. I'll wait a day and have to make a decision. Thank you.

Solution !! EASY !!! Hey guys. I have been facing the same problem where My C drive keeps filling up without any reason and you cannot locate the unwanted files either to delete those from C drive. But I found a very simple solution after a lot of research. When your C drive is full, Go to *Windows Defender Security Center (Just type in windows search at bottom). *Click device performance and Health. *You will see "Storage capacity" has a (!)mark. *Click on storage capacity. And it will show you all types of files and data those are stored in C drive. Just select the "Temporary files and other files you want to delete" and delete them ...BOOM !! YOUR C DRIVE IS back to normal now !! Enjoy ur PC ..... Thank you.

Thank you. I will remember and try it next time. I've been able to track down the cause and a cure but i'm unable to explain the why. For me, I've been trying to install a web server for a while now and Enabling IIS server seems to trigger it on one computer but not another. My entire file/folder tree gets duplicated into hidden folders inside iis apppool directories. sometimes right clicking and checking properties will expose the file sizes and sometimes it shows 0 bytes. Deleting them hasn't caused any repercussions. By enabling hidden files viewable the root is located at the Users directory. C:\Users\here . I find these folders suspicious because cross reference to the same or similar DefaultAppPool on another computer shows them to be a few megabytes not scores of gigabytes. If it is legit, it's a little overkill on MS's part. It's been a few days now since I deleted the files and more importantly, I disabled IIS. We'll see what happens. I installed iis on another server to monitor this on two fronts.

Solution !! EASY !!! Hey guys. I have been facing the same problem where My C drive keeps filling up without any reason and you cannot locate the unwanted files either to delete those from C drive. But I found a very simple solution after a lot of research. When your C drive is full, Go to * Windows Defender Security Center (Just type in windows search at bottom). *Click device performance and Health. *You will see "Storage capacity" has a (!)mark. *Click on storage capacity. And it will show you all types of files and data those are stored in C drive. Just select the "Temporary files and other files you want to delete" and delete them ...BOOM !! YOUR C DRIVE IS back to normal now !! Enjoy ur PC ..... Thank you. This may or may not work, but if it does, it will only be for Windows 10. The Windows Defender Security Center app was introduced in Windows 10, version 1703. The option described here sounds most like "Disk Cleanup," which may or may not work, depending on what files are causing the problem. The best solution is to use a utility like TreeSizeFree to determine the actual files taking up space. https://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/

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.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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51 answers

Anonymous

2017-12-22T02:13:41+00:00

Please go to the c drive, open Windows folder, then open the Temp Folder, press ctrl A to highlight all, then press Shift-Delete to delete all permanently, this will free up the C Drive

Back in the XP and earlier days, this would've been a major place to look. But nowadays, that folder is rarely used. Temporary files are normally stored at C:\Users**{username}\AppData\Local\Temp** instead.
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Anonymous

2018-02-02T09:20:55+00:00

I have the same problem with my Windows 10 auto updated to whatever is current Feb1, 2018. I have a 500 Gb ssd and I usually always do a reformat reinstall to start fresh whenever I need to fix the computer. And lately it's been alot. My HP 550 fills up in what seems like over night when it gets a little over half full. It's right abput the time Windows installs the "New Windows" free upgrade. Not saying that it's the update's fault, just stating that the virus like activity happens when My installs are done and there's no reason for added files from my part. It doesn't happen right away, and I was careful about installing questionable content, but it reeks of foreign body objects using my computer as a host. The first time was 2 weeks ago, I traced it down to IIS app folders and deleted them. About 70 Gigs. But the folders that were again created bearing the iis and app names this time were empty this time around. Well, at 85=90 percent full, I'm pretty much forced to wipe and reinstall and this doesn't sound like something a virus would want. I'll wait a day and have to make a decision. Thank you.
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Anonymous

2018-02-06T01:02:25+00:00

Solution !! EASY !!!

Hey guys. I have been facing the same problem where My C drive keeps filling up without any reason and you cannot locate the unwanted files either to delete those from C drive. But I found a very simple solution after a lot of research. When your C drive is full, Go to *Windows Defender Security Center (Just type in windows search at bottom). *Click device performance and Health. *You will see "Storage capacity" has a (!)mark. *Click on storage capacity. And it will show you all types of files and data those are stored in C drive. Just select the "Temporary files and other files you want to delete" and delete them ...BOOM !! YOUR C DRIVE IS back to normal now !! Enjoy ur PC .....

Thank you.
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Anonymous

2018-02-06T01:24:42+00:00

Thank you. I will remember and try it next time. I've been able to track down the cause and a cure but i'm unable to explain the why. For me, I've been trying to install a web server for a while now and Enabling IIS server seems to trigger it on one computer but not another. My entire file/folder tree gets duplicated into hidden folders inside iis apppool directories. sometimes right clicking and checking properties will expose the file sizes and sometimes it shows 0 bytes. Deleting them hasn't caused any repercussions. By enabling hidden files viewable the root is located at the Users directory. C:\Users\here . I find these folders suspicious because cross reference to the same or similar DefaultAppPool on another computer shows them to be a few megabytes not scores of gigabytes. If it is legit, it's a little overkill on MS's part.

It's been a few days now since I deleted the files and more importantly, I disabled IIS. We'll see what happens. I installed iis on another server to monitor this on two fronts.
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LemP 74,985 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2018-02-06T03:05:08+00:00

Solution !! EASY !!!

Hey guys. I have been facing the same problem where My C drive keeps filling up without any reason and you cannot locate the unwanted files either to delete those from C drive. But I found a very simple solution after a lot of research. When your C drive is full, Go to *Windows Defender Security Center (Just type in windows search at bottom). *Click device performance and Health. *You will see "Storage capacity" has a (!)mark. *Click on storage capacity. And it will show you all types of files and data those are stored in C drive. Just select the "Temporary files and other files you want to delete" and delete them ...BOOM !! YOUR C DRIVE IS back to normal now !! Enjoy ur PC .....

Thank you.

This may or may not work, but if it does, it will only be for Windows 10. The Windows Defender Security Center app was introduced in Windows 10, version 1703.

The option described here sounds most like "Disk Cleanup," which may or may not work, depending on what files are causing the problem.

The best solution is to use a utility like TreeSizeFree to determine the actual files taking up space.

https://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/
Was this answer helpful?

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