52 replies to this topic

[paultpa]

Hello Techs,

 

 

It's been quite awhile.  I need your help about what's going on.

 

My HD space is always low or gone. Before I started doing even more uninstalls I wanted to open a conversation.

 

Opening properties on my :C drive shows no available space, yet I save almost nothing to my HD, and I have removed apps to clear room that always fills up.

 

I could not download any of the applications you wanted. 

 

I am happy to post up any logs you want that I can, within the Win7 OS on a laptop PC, 64 bit, 4GB memory. 

 

Thank you, please advise next step.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Juliet]

Hello
I'm going to see if I can get this topic moved to the windows forum first, let's make sure it isn't a system problem.
To work with you and see if there is malware on your machine we will need to be able to download a few tools.

[paultpa]

_{Good morning and thanks.} 

 

_{FYI, I have Malwarebytes but it is an out of date database and my low disk space will not allow an update.}

 

_{I also have Avira.  I cannot see what version.} 

 

_{If you recommend any new downloads I'll uninstall some other things, but my HD is very clean, I save everything to flash drives.}

 

_{Thanks again.}

[paws]

Hi pautpa,

Sorry to hear of the issues you are finding with diminishing disc space and the free space becoming filled up quickly even when you have removed unwanted applications.

 

Malicious code present on your computer has the ability to do this, but before Juliet can work her magic and help you remove any malicious code that may be present we need to free up sufficient space on your computer so that you can download the scanning and cleaning tools that will enable her to see what is going on inside your computer.

 

Here's an outline of a plan of campaign for your consideration:

 

1 Check your system images and disc images to make sure you can locate them easily, if you have the ability to verify them then please do so. If for any reason you do not have system or disc images then it is recommended that you make some immediately, Keep at least one copy safe offsite on removable media (external hard drives (USB) are very useful for this) if you don't have a system image or Win 7 repair disc then make them now.

(Start>Computer>Right click C drive>Properties>Tools>Back up now>System image, and then follow on screen directions (you can use similar instructions to create a System Repair Disc.

I  usually advise my customers that they should have at least 3 copies of their important stuff on different media....( they rarely follow this advice.... but it's still good advice!)

 

2  If you have your data files on a separate partition that you have not yet imaged it would be wise to check your backups, make sure they are are all complete and include everything you need.

 

3 Locate and keep safe all your installations discs and product serial keys/numbers (including that for Win 7 itself)

 

4 We will now try to free up some free space, so using some of the previous steps this time it should be:

(Start>Computer>Right click C drive>Properties>General>Disk Cleanup (this will initiate a scan and then produce  some data for you including how much space it is likely to free up and how it is made up, if the saving is worth while then you can go ahead with the cleanup)

 

5 Let us know much disk space you have managed to free up.

 

6 Now we will try and consolidate the position by checking your hard drive for errors and consistency.

the steps are:

Start>Computer>Right click C drive>Properties>Tools>Error Checking>Check Now> place a tickmark in each of the options> click start, accept the warning by clicking on Schedule disk check click apply/start>OK and restart your computer. This procdure will take several hours to run and you will not be able to use your computer whilst it is running, Do not interupt it or try to restart your machine( the procedure will restart your machine when it has finished)

 

7 Next open a command prompt with elevated privileges ( Start> type in cmd and on the dropdown menu right click on cmd or cmd.exe and click  Run as Administrator, click OK, and at the DOS like box type

sfc /scannow

and press enter key

The utility will check all protected Windows system Files and repair them if damaged or replace them if missing.

 

Finally check your remaining hard drive space, is it showing a reasonable amount of free space?

 

Take a screen dump and attach it to your reply so we can see the amount of free space you have available

 

Regards

paws

[paultpa]

Sunday 19 Aug 18

 

 

Good morning Techs:

 

 

Sorry about the long response time.  I've been unavailable and will be most of next week on odd numbered days.  Be assured though that you and this problem are at the top of my priority list.

 

-  in an effort to create ,ore space, I put my paging file size down to 0 a week ago.

 

-  I do not have enough disc space to do a restore

 

-  I do a disc cleanup every time before shutdown.  I do another after booting up.  This latest cleanup gave me back 6.29kb.

 

-  properties for C: right now shows available disc space (as of this moment) as 356kb.

 

-  I am signing off to do step 6 and will be back tonight.

[paws]

Something is very wrong with your Windows installation.

Can you check two things please?

 

1 How many system Restore Points do you have and what is the earliest date, and how much disc space have you allocated to System Restore

 

2 Do you have a back up system that for some reason is backing up to your hard drive.

 

Can you take a screen dump please so we can see what is taking up the space on your C drive.

Regards

paws

[paultpa]

Paws:

 

 

I have zero restore points.  Note that I changed my paging file size to zero as this started.

 

No backup.

 

Sure.... a screen dump of what specifically?  Do you want me to open every folder and show every file with sizes?  Tell me what you want and I'll do my best to get it for you in this WIN7 machine.

 

BTW, to continue with the previous instructions, I ran CHKDSK.  It ran for hours as you said.  There was nothing unusual and the file summary report closed right away, saying there was not enough memory to produce a file report.

 

I was doing step 7 when I saw this.  I'll interrupt that to respond to you. 

[paws]

Hi paultpa,

Thanks for the update,

For the time being don't bother with the screen dumps ( we will see if we can approach it from a different angle)

 

I am conscious of the need to avoid suggesting that you download any tools at this time, as it looks like you just don't have the free disc space available, so we need to continue with either native Windows tools or what you already have on your computer.

 

Please continue with trying to run sfc /scannow from a command prompt  with elevated privileges, it's not a quick process, and it should take around 30 to 60 minutes, any fix it produces will be automatic and will not (usually!) require your intervention.

 

If you can't get it to complete satisfactorily then try it in safe mode...( information below if you need it)

 

1. Restart your computer.
2. Press the F8 key multiple times immediately after powering on the computer.
3. At the Advanced Options screen, select Repair your computer. ...
4. Select your keyboard and language.
5. Select Command Prompt.
6. Type the below listed command:
7. sfc /scannow /offbootdir=c:\ /offwindir=c:\windows.
8. Press Enter Key once

Can you please advise the following info:

• the size of your hard drive and your C partition if you have multi partitions
• if you have a Windows old folder
• the amount of drive space you have allocated to System Restore and if System Restore is monitoring your C drive
• on opening your C drive please view your folders and by right clicking on them and selecting Properties tot up very roughly the total of the space taken up ( accuracy is not required here!)
• On looking at the Properties of your C drive are there any taking up a lot of space? ( normally Windows will take up around 15 Gb or so with Win old about the same, the users folder could be anything...depends on how many photos, docs, videos etc you have on your machine Program Files are also a variable quantity depending on how many you have on your computer, perhaps if you could tell us the size of your major folders it would be helpful.

Don't worry if the total of the individual folders doesn't quite add up to the hard drive size, but after making allowances for any hibernation file, page file (often 1.5 times the size of your RAM) although I know you have reduced its size, the amount of space allocated to system Restore ( not more than 12.5% of total hard drive space but often reduced to considerably less with good effect) the individual folders compared with the drive space used should be within reasonable proximity.

 

Let us know how you get on

Incidentally I take it you have your Win 7 installations disc, all other discs and executables, product serial codes/keys, system images and the like, all safe, validated and up to date on removable media?

Regards

paws

[paultpa]

Good morning paws, Before I launch into your tasks I can give you some info I know and then confirm it when I'm done: - properties of my C:/ drive is 447GB and 0 free disk space - I have some apps for video editing that are beefy and can go, free ones like Filmora and Filezilla. I've been saving them as a last resort to get some space. - there is no "windows old" folder showing in my windows folder, it's probably a sub-folder - there is nothing in my folder labeled "recovery" - WIN7 was loaded into this Gateway machine when purchased, am not sure if I even have the media, it may have been an activation or download back then. I'll look. I'll get back to you on the other information asap.

[paws]

OK thanks,

Do you have a hidden recovery partition on your Gateway computer that allows the machine to be reset back to its original "factory condition"?

And if you have, do you know how to activate it?

If not then please advise the exact make and model number/series of your computer and I'll check my data sheets for that information

 

We are not at that stage yet (of having to activate it if present) but it's better to be prepared!

Regards

paws

Ps there is a 5.5 hour time difference between our locations, so I may reply when you are asleep and of course vice versa!

[paultpa]

Monday, 27 August 18

 

Good morning, apologies on the silence, spending monster hours working on employer project.

 

I cannot tell about a partition.  I thought I saw one once but I'm always poking into my directories and cannot easily recall where it may be.  Looking into control panel/system and security/administrative tools/create and format hard disk partitions, I see under "volume" where there is 100GB allocated to "System Reserved" with 70GB free, and also another unnamed volume with 18GB allocated, and 18GB free.  Using this path I see it, am not sure I can get to it.

 

My Gateway is model #NV56R

 

It runs an Intel B950 chip @210GHz, 4GB memory.

 

Roger that time difference. 

 

I thought I saw a post telling me to pick this thread up in the Microsoft Windows folder.  I do not see that post here but will put this one up, and if I can resume there I'll post up a note.  

[paultpa]

Project completed, will be here daily.

[paultpa]

I went trough your post of 16 Aug again to see what could be done if possible.  I did run the command in cmd you requested, twice, as administrator.  Both times it stopped at 26% and would not go further.  I'll try another post to see what else can be done.

[paws]

Both times it stopped at 26% and would not go further.

 

Ok all understood, that is not looking good....

Go to my post 20 th August, are you able to run sfc /scannow as set out at step 6?

 

Have you also tried to run chkdsk with the r switch from an elevated command prompt?

 

Have you made the repair discs and system images?

Regards

paws

Regards

[paultpa]

I have had success running sfc as admin and will again.  Yes, some space opened up.  I plan on repeating that again and the other steps you mentioned.  Project over, time is available, this is priority 1.