I was trying to figure out why I was running out of disk space on my laptop,
and noticed that the C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows folder
was using a whopping 23GB! However, when I explored that folder, I couldn't
find anything that was using the space -- the files must be hidden from me,
even though explorer is set to show me hidden files. Anyone have any idea
what's going on?

jbeezy wrote:
> I was trying to figure out why I was running out of disk space on my laptop,
> and noticed that the C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows folder
> was using a whopping 23GB! However, when I explored that folder, I couldn't
> find anything that was using the space -- the files must be hidden from me,
> even though explorer is set to show me hidden files. Anyone have any idea
> what's going on?

Have you unhidden "protected operating system files" as well? From
Explorer, click Organise > Folder and Search Options, View tab, and make
sure "Show hidden files and folders" is selected (from what you say, it
probably already is), and also make sure "Hide protected operating
system files" is not ticked. That might make some more files visible.

It is also a good idea (although not required to solve your current
problem) to untick "Hide extensions for known file types" as well.

Mark.

Hey Mark,

Thanks for the response. Yeah, I've got it so that all the OS files are
shown to me. Still, though, the Temporary Internet Files uses 23 GB (when
getting the folder properties), but none of the files within the folder are
anywhere near that size (there are only 50 files, the largest of which is
29KB). I tried the windows disk cleanup tool, but that only freed a few
hundred MB.

Josh

"Mark Bourne" wrote:

> jbeezy wrote:
> > I was trying to figure out why I was running out of disk space on my laptop,
> > and noticed that the C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows folder
> > was using a whopping 23GB! However, when I explored that folder, I couldn't
> > find anything that was using the space -- the files must be hidden from me,
> > even though explorer is set to show me hidden files. Anyone have any idea
> > what's going on?
>
> Have you unhidden "protected operating system files" as well? From
> Explorer, click Organise > Folder and Search Options, View tab, and make
> sure "Show hidden files and folders" is selected (from what you say, it
> probably already is), and also make sure "Hide protected operating
> system files" is not ticked. That might make some more files visible.
>
> It is also a good idea (although not required to solve your current
> problem) to untick "Hide extensions for known file types" as well.
>
> Mark.
>

Something in the "Temporary Internet Files" folder must be "stuck".

Try moving the "Temporary Internet Files" folder to a different location,
and then move it back to the default location. For example, from under
C:\Users\(You)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows, to
C:\Users\(You)\AppData\Local\Temp, and then back to
C:\Users\(You)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows . Doing this will
essentially create a new Temporary Internet Files folder.

To do this, though, don't use Windows Explorer, but go to IE7 > Tools >
Internet Options. On the General tab, click
on Settings, under "Browsing history". Then click on Move Folder...

"jbeezy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:E9B0A647-50A9-4C23-B276-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hey Mark,
>
> Thanks for the response. Yeah, I've got it so that all the OS files are
> shown to me. Still, though, the Temporary Internet Files uses 23 GB (when
> getting the folder properties), but none of the files within the folder
> are
> anywhere near that size (there are only 50 files, the largest of which is
> 29KB). I tried the windows disk cleanup tool, but that only freed a few
> hundred MB.
>
> Josh
>
> "Mark Bourne" wrote:
>
>> jbeezy wrote:
>> > I was trying to figure out why I was running out of disk space on my
>> > laptop,
>> > and noticed that the C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
>> > folder
>> > was using a whopping 23GB! However, when I explored that folder, I
>> > couldn't
>> > find anything that was using the space -- the files must be hidden from
>> > me,
>> > even though explorer is set to show me hidden files. Anyone have any
>> > idea
>> > what's going on?
>>
>> Have you unhidden "protected operating system files" as well? From
>> Explorer, click Organise > Folder and Search Options, View tab, and make
>> sure "Show hidden files and folders" is selected (from what you say, it
>> probably already is), and also make sure "Hide protected operating
>> system files" is not ticked. That might make some more files visible.
>>
>> It is also a good idea (although not required to solve your current
>> problem) to untick "Hide extensions for known file types" as well.
>>
>> Mark.
>>

dean-dean,

thanks a ton for the help. I did what you suggested, and it made the problem
a lot more obvious. As soon as I moved the temp folders through IE options,
all of a sudden a hidden folder "Virtualized" appeared in my OLD temporary
internet files folder, taking up the 23GB of space.

I haven't quite figured out what these files are about (I'm new to vista),
but I'll do some research before completely removing them from my system...
Either way, thanks a lot for helping me figure out what was going on.

Josh

"dean-dean" wrote:

> Something in the "Temporary Internet Files" folder must be "stuck".
>
> Try moving the "Temporary Internet Files" folder to a different location,
> and then move it back to the default location. For example, from under
> C:\Users\(You)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows, to
> C:\Users\(You)\AppData\Local\Temp, and then back to
> C:\Users\(You)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows . Doing this will
> essentially create a new Temporary Internet Files folder.
>
> To do this, though, don't use Windows Explorer, but go to IE7 > Tools >
> Internet Options. On the General tab, click
> on Settings, under "Browsing history". Then click on Move Folder...
>
> "jbeezy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:E9B0A647-50A9-4C23-B276-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Hey Mark,
> >
> > Thanks for the response. Yeah, I've got it so that all the OS files are
> > shown to me. Still, though, the Temporary Internet Files uses 23 GB (when
> > getting the folder properties), but none of the files within the folder
> > are
> > anywhere near that size (there are only 50 files, the largest of which is
> > 29KB). I tried the windows disk cleanup tool, but that only freed a few
> > hundred MB.
> >
> > Josh
> >
> > "Mark Bourne" wrote:
> >
> >> jbeezy wrote:
> >> > I was trying to figure out why I was running out of disk space on my
> >> > laptop,
> >> > and noticed that the C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
> >> > folder
> >> > was using a whopping 23GB! However, when I explored that folder, I
> >> > couldn't
> >> > find anything that was using the space -- the files must be hidden from
> >> > me,
> >> > even though explorer is set to show me hidden files. Anyone have any
> >> > idea
> >> > what's going on?
> >>
> >> Have you unhidden "protected operating system files" as well? From
> >> Explorer, click Organise > Folder and Search Options, View tab, and make
> >> sure "Show hidden files and folders" is selected (from what you say, it
> >> probably already is), and also make sure "Hide protected operating
> >> system files" is not ticked. That might make some more files visible.
> >>
> >> It is also a good idea (although not required to solve your current
> >> problem) to untick "Hide extensions for known file types" as well.
> >>
> >> Mark.
> >>
>
>

This discussion has been very helpful, but I'd like to jump in with my own
recent troubles along the same lines.

As a user of Windows 98 until a week ago I am freaking out at how much disk
space has been disappearing from my hard drive. I installed my printer driver
(all of 28k) and lost 2.5 gigs off the C drive! Then I defragmented the disk
thinking I'd gain something back, and I lost another 3 gigs! It seems like
every Update and Install takes a couple of gigs off the main harddrive. I am
so accustomed to keeping track of my harddrive space in Win98 that this is
unnerving me. If I can't see where the space is going, I think something
horrible is wrong. At this rate my 362 gig drive will be gone in a couple of
months just from normal usage.

I have unchecked my C drive for recovery points. Will this stop the gigabyte
bleeding? Until I read this post I was thinking this all had something to do
with the change from Fat32 to NTFS harddrive formatting. By the way, does
that have anything to do with the way the disk space is used up?

--GregC

I was also having the problem of my hard drive getting very bloated and could
not find the problem files. Mine were in App data/local/temp. After I
unchecked the "hide protected operating system files" I could see them. There
were several huge files with a .tmp extension. I deleted all but the one made
today and my local folder went from 80GB to 2GB. Any idea what these files
could be?
Also, these files do not get cleaned up when I do a disk cleanup - very
annoying.
Grace

"Mark Bourne" wrote:

> jbeezy wrote:
> > I was trying to figure out why I was running out of disk space on my laptop,
> > and noticed that the C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows folder
> > was using a whopping 23GB! However, when I explored that folder, I couldn't
> > find anything that was using the space -- the files must be hidden from me,
> > even though explorer is set to show me hidden files. Anyone have any idea
> > what's going on?
>
> Have you unhidden "protected operating system files" as well? From
> Explorer, click Organise > Folder and Search Options, View tab, and make
> sure "Show hidden files and folders" is selected (from what you say, it
> probably already is), and also make sure "Hide protected operating
> system files" is not ticked. That might make some more files visible.
>
> It is also a good idea (although not required to solve your current
> problem) to untick "Hide extensions for known file types" as well.
>
> Mark.
>