size of used capacity is larger than expected: means virus infected??

[Matt]

My machine is windows XP. In windows explorer, I see the used capacity in
drive C is 20 GB. I know the
number is not that huge, and when I right click the files in drive C, it has
only 12 GB. Does it mean my computer has virus? I did the virus scan but
nothing was found.

any suggestions i can do? or tools to check? any advises?? thanks!!

 

[Jerry]

Please explain your thinking as to why you think your problem is caused by a
virus.

 

[JAX]

Hello Matt,

One thing that may be eating all that space is "System Restore". By default,
SR is allocated 12% of the total drive. If you are satisfied with the way
your computer is running, you may want to do a "Disk Cleanup" and on the
"More Options" tab, choose the "Clean up" option for SR.

HTH, JAX

 

[Star Fleet Admiral Q]

The way I see it is this:
You have a 20GB drive, 12GB is in use, leaving 8GB free - a large
portion of the 12GB is most likely due to system restore (restore
points). Seems like a normal system to me.

 

[Matt]

sorry, its my mistake that I didn't make it clear.

I have a 30GB drive with single partition (drive C) only. When I go to
windows explorer, and the chart on left hand side shows that the used size
is 20GB. I know the number should be smaller than that. Therefore, in
windows explorer, I selected all files in drive C, and try to see the
capacity. The total capacity of files in drive C is only 12GB.

I didn't do any system restore myself. It doesn't make sense total capacity
of all files is 12GB, but the number showed 20GB.

Please advise more... thanks!!

"Star Fleet Admiral Q"

 

[Malke]

sorry, its my mistake that I didn't make it clear.

I have a 30GB drive with single partition (drive C) only. When I go to
windows explorer, and the chart on left hand side shows that the used
size is 20GB. I know the number should be smaller than that.
Therefore, in windows explorer, I selected all files in drive C, and
try to see the capacity. The total capacity of files in drive C is
only 12GB.

I didn't do any system restore myself. It doesn't make sense total
capacity of all files is 12GB, but the number showed 20GB.

Please advise more... thanks!!

"Star Fleet Admiral Q"

Did you enable Show Hidden Files (in two places) from the Folder Options
applet in Control Panel?

Malke

 

[Nathan McNulty]

You are not including several things. Your PageFile which can be upwards
of a Gigabyte or more, your MSOCache if you have installed Office, your
Service Pack Uninstall files if you have installed a Service Pack, your
Windows Update Files, your Hibernation file if support is enabled, and
possibly your System Restore files.

I would run Disk Cleanup (Open My Computer, Right Click on C Drive,
click Properties, Click Disk Cleanup. See what you can clear out. You
can try scanning for viruses and malware. Also, check any P2P Software
you have installed as they seem to enjoy downloading crap that it hides
from the user too.

 

[fm]

sorry, its my mistake that I didn't make it clear.

I have a 30GB drive with single partition (drive C) only. When I go to
windows explorer, and the chart on left hand side shows that the used size
is 20GB. I know the number should be smaller than that. Therefore, in
windows explorer, I selected all files in drive C, and try to see the
capacity. The total capacity of files in drive C is only 12GB.

I didn't do any system restore myself. It doesn't make sense total capacity
of all files is 12GB, but the number showed 20GB.

Please advise more... thanks!!

The easiest way to find your disk-used and -free is to right-click the
C: drive in Explorer, and select Properties.

You don't have to do System Restore yourself in order to get your disk
eaten by them. You really should be doing a Disk Cleanup before getting
back to this thread...