XP Windows folder uses up all space on C drive

[glasgow]

Hi all, we have a PC with XP Pro. The Windows folder is constantly expanding
to use up all free space. I have run Disk Cleanup several times, moved as
much old stuff away as I can, etc. But every time I make free space, the
Windows folder expands to use it all, within an hour or so. The drive is
37Gb+, and Windows folder is now bigger than 23 Gb. It has gained 6 Gb in the
last four days.
I have tried going through this folder and manually looking at the size of
each folder, but am getting nowhere. I have made sure all "show hiddens" are
working.
Does anyone have any idea what's happening ? This has only become a problem
in the last few weeks. Thanks.

 

[Keith Wilby]

Hi all, we have a PC with XP Pro. The Windows folder is constantly
expanding
to use up all free space. I have run Disk Cleanup several times, moved as
much old stuff away as I can, etc. But every time I make free space, the
Windows folder expands to use it all, within an hour or so. The drive is
37Gb+, and Windows folder is now bigger than 23 Gb. It has gained 6 Gb in
the
last four days.
I have tried going through this folder and manually looking at the size of
each folder, but am getting nowhere. I have made sure all "show hiddens"
are
working.
Does anyone have any idea what's happening ? This has only become a
problem
in the last few weeks. Thanks.

Have you checked for malware and the like?

 

[Elmo]

Hi all, we have a PC with XP Pro. The Windows folder is constantly expanding
to use up all free space. I have run Disk Cleanup several times, moved as
much old stuff away as I can, etc. But every time I make free space, the
Windows folder expands to use it all, within an hour or so. The drive is
37Gb+, and Windows folder is now bigger than 23 Gb. It has gained 6 Gb in the
last four days.
I have tried going through this folder and manually looking at the size of
each folder, but am getting nowhere. I have made sure all "show hidden" are
working.
Does anyone have any idea what's happening ? This has only become a problem
in the last few weeks. Thanks.

Do an advanced search for all files created in the last four days. That
should locate the folder where they're being created.. I suspect it'll
be a TIF, or other temp folder.

 

[John McGaw]

Hi all, we have a PC with XP Pro. The Windows folder is constantly expanding
to use up all free space. I have run Disk Cleanup several times, moved as
much old stuff away as I can, etc. But every time I make free space, the
Windows folder expands to use it all, within an hour or so. The drive is
37Gb+, and Windows folder is now bigger than 23 Gb. It has gained 6 Gb in the
last four days.
I have tried going through this folder and manually looking at the size of
each folder, but am getting nowhere. I have made sure all "show hiddens" are
working.
Does anyone have any idea what's happening ? This has only become a problem
in the last few weeks. Thanks.

"I have tried going through this folder and manually looking at the size of
each folder, but am getting nowhere." This program should let you get
somewhere pretty quickly: http://windirstat.info/

 

[glasgow]

Thanks Keith, yes, the PC has Sophos and I have installed and run
Malwarebytes. All clear.

 

[glasgow]

Thanks Elmo. Have done an advanced search for all modified files and all new
files for today's date. Thought that was enough, as I have created and lost
about a Gb of space today alone.
Nothing appears wrong.

 

[glasgow]

New info : it appears it is only in the "user" profile that this happens. I
have been working this afternoon in administrator profile, (moved away 1+ Gb
of Outlook .pst to make space), and the created space is not disappearing.
But it will when I log back on as the user.

 

[glasgow]

Many thanks John. Have downloaded and run this. Am presently working on some
failed windows updates. When done, will log back in as the user, which I am
sure will cause the free space to disappear, and will note the exact time.
Then I will narrow the search for files around that time stamp.

 

[Randem]

If your windows folder is expanding it is most likely from temp files or
Windows update unistall folders, which can be deleted if you are sure you
never want to uninstall a windows update. you wont see the folders unless
you turn on viewing of system folders and then they should appear in blue
when you open the windows folder. That is most likely where all your space
is going.

--
Randem Systems
Your Installation Specialist
The Top Inno Setup Script Generator
http://www.randem.com/innoscript.html
Find Out What Your VB Program is Really Doing
http://www.randem.com/rstools.html

 

[Antares 531]

If your windows folder is expanding it is most likely from temp files or
Windows update unistall folders, which can be deleted if you are sure you
never want to uninstall a windows update. you wont see the folders unless
you turn on viewing of system folders and then they should appear in blue
when you open the windows folder. That is most likely where all your space
is going.

This caught my attention. I have hundreds of those blue file names in
my WINDOWS folder. I don't anticipate ever wanting to go back to an
earlier version or remove an update. Can I safely delete these blue
fine names from my WINDOWS folder?

Gordon

 

[Twayne]

If your windows folder is expanding it is most likely from temp files
or Windows update unistall folders, which can be deleted if you are
sure you never want to uninstall a windows update. you wont see the
folders unless you turn on viewing of system folders and then they
should appear in blue when you open the windows folder. That is most
likely where all your space is going.

6 GB in 4 days etc isn't going to be explained by update uninstall
entries. Including 2 SP uninstalsl, my entire list of such entries only
comes to 826 Meg uncompresed, and 517 Meg on disk. So there's no 6 GB
coming from those even in any LONG period of time, let alone 4 days.

It's not going to be temp files growing at the rate the OP has discussed
wither unless he's a huge torrenter and it would still be pushing it
since he'd have downloaded that much in files and would know he did the
very large downloads. No way normal surfing can account for it.

Notice the OP isn't indicating he's tried many of the suggestions being
made and is probably either just trolling around or left the room
completely. I feel pretty certain he has malware so until he exhausts
that route I think he's wasting time on other things. Or worse, I
suppose it might be some sort of file corruption sending counters
screwy.

HTH,

Twayne`

 

[Pauli Taglia]

6 GB in 4 days etc isn't going to be explained by update uninstall
entries. Including 2 SP uninstalsl, my entire list of such entries only
comes to 826 Meg uncompresed, and 517 Meg on disk. So there's no 6 GB
coming from those even in any LONG period of time, let alone 4 days.

It's not going to be temp files growing at the rate the OP has discussed
wither unless he's a huge torrenter and it would still be pushing it
since he'd have downloaded that much in files and would know he did the
very large downloads. No way normal surfing can account for it.

WHA? You're questioning the opinion of a professional technician???

Tsk, tsk. ;->

 

[Randem]

Yes, you can. I have deleted all my Windows Update Uninstall folders and
have gained back some serious gigage...

--
Randem Systems
Your Installation Specialist
The Top Inno Setup Script Generator
http://www.randem.com/innoscript.html
Find Out What Your VB Program is Really Doing
http://www.randem.com/rstools.html

 

[Randem]

Also your Recycle bin consumes real estate a serious amount. Even though you
have no data in your recycle bin it does not release the gigs it consumes.
My Empty recycle bin still had 28GB locked away.

1 - Open CMD prompt from Start->Run
2 - Open Task Manager and Kill Explorer Process
3 - In the CMD window type rmdir /s c:\Recycler
This may take some time to complete. It must complete before you do
the next step
4 - In the CMD prompt type Explorer

You will have deleted all the stored files in your recycle bins storage.

BTW: NEVER listen to those who only complain about others post and have no
solution themselves. They are just attention starved at home and need
attention here...


--
Randem Systems
Your Installation Specialist
The Top Inno Setup Script Generator
http://www.randem.com/innoscript.html
Find Out What Your VB Program is Really Doing
http://www.randem.com/rstools.html

 

[glasgow]

Follow up - the answer.
It turns out this was an Offline Files Storage problem. The PC was
synchronising files from an old server. It happens that another PC within the
network has been downloading music files (about 17GB) and storing on an old
network drive, so his PC would not be caught with the MP3s. The PC giving me
problems was copying over all that stuff because of configs done years ago.
Being put into C:/Windows/CSC/ folder.
So I have solved my problem, and given management a staffing problem to deal
with

To Twayne : "Notice the OP isn't indicating he's tried many of the
suggestions being
made and is probably either just trolling around or left the room
completely. I feel pretty certain he has malware so until he exhausts
that route I think he's wasting time on other things."
Erm, I think you're an idiot. Said in a nice way. I have replied to all the
previous posters, replied that I had scanned and found no evidence of malware
or viruses, replied to Keith Wilby, Elmo, and John McGaw. I have been out on
site since 8 o'clock this morning, confirming that the remote work I did last
night has cleared the problem, at least partially and temporarily until I can
deal with all the issues this has raised.
Why on earth would you suggest I was "trolling around" ??? Get a life.

 

[glasgow]

Many thanks Elmo, this pointed out the C/Windows/CSC folder as the increasing
folder. That helped me research why. See solution post below.

 

[glasgow]

Twayne,
"It's not going to be temp files growing at the rate the OP has discussed".
Absolutely right.
I was quite perplexed to read the rest of your comments, basically attacking
me. You can see my response in my post with the solution to the problem.

 

[glasgow]

Thanks LCD.
Sophos shows up clear, also we have removed the drive and scanned on our own
machine using Eset ESS. And have installed and run Malwarebytes, so am fairly
confident the drive is clean. But will be following up later.