I think this is the right place to post this, if not let me know.
So, a couple of days ago I got a message from Windows saying I was low on hard drive space and needed to do something. This was odd, since last I knew I was up around 20GB or so free on my 80GB hard drive. I check, though, and I'm indeed down under 1GB.
So, I quickly delete some stuff to get me up to a couple of GBs more. A day or so later, though, I notice I'm down very low again. I update Norton, run a virus check, nothing found. I do a Disk Cleanup in Windows, and it says I have like 15GB in the Temporary Files area. I check to clear this out and restart, but despite doing that I'm still only around 1GB afterwards.
Of note, when I select all the files and folders inside of my C drive and check their properties, it comes out to only about 54GB (and the D drive which is Recovery is only about 5GB out of 10GB). So, it appears there's a couple dozen GBs that mysteriously appeared, and are sitting somewhere that I'm not seeing them.
I haven't really done anything significant recently that I can think of which may have caused anything, and I'm really at a loss as to what to do. Any help would be appreciated.
I don't see any signs of a Norton problem here which is what we are here to help with but I'll make the following suggestions:
<< I do a Disk Cleanup in Windows, and it says I have like 15GB in the Temporary Files area. >>
Did you use the View Files button to see what the files were and any details of them that might explain where they are coming from?
I am not certain about Disk Cleanup but it is not uncommon for WIndows not to delete temporary files until after a certain period of time has passed in case they are in fact needed currently. I can't remember the details of this but it may be that it leaves at least one day before it deletes files.
You can always locate the Temp file using Windows Explorer and delete files manually although you may have to adjust settings in Windows Explorer / View Folders to show hidden and system files and this can be dangerous if you do not know what you are doing.
Do you have any kind of logging turned on in Windows or in Norton that could be generating files?
These days 80GB is getting small even on a laptop, which I suspect you have. Do be careful not to delete anything that might be part of recovery -- some laptops have a couple of hidden partitions, not just one. Someone has been commenting to me elsewhere on this with a new Lenovo Ideapad.
These are just some thoughts that I hope my help you resolve things but if they don't I suggest you try out the Compuserve Forums I know for Laptops and for PCHardware -- you don't need to be a member any more; just log in with an AIM ID and make a password. From either of those forums you will find links to other WUGNET forums dealing more with Windows etc.
Well, the reason I posted here was I figured it was some sort of virus, since I can't really think of any other reason for all that space to suddenly start disappearing like that.
It's still at around 1GB this morning, which on the bright side means space didn't disappear while it was off over night, but also means those 15GBs or so that might have been hoped to free up from what the temporary files were.
Yeah, it's a laptop, bought around a year or so ago, and haven't had any problems with it to this point. I do have stuff on it I could delete to free up space, but, if space keeps disappearing like that, just deleting stuff to free up space so more space can disappear again won't really help too much.
I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens today I suppose.
<< Well, the reason I posted here was I figured it was some sort of virus, since I can't really think of any other reason for all that space to suddenly start disappearing like that. >>
OK -- but please tell us what Norton application you are using -- NAV? NIS? N360? .... -- and what version of it -- check Help/About. Also what version of Windows you have including Service Packs.
If you are worried about infestation and Norton has not detected anything it could be other malware -- what firewall are you operating? -- and so you might run Malwarebytes after downloading and updating it and see if it picks up any trojans or other malware.
<< but also means those 15GBs or so that might have been hoped to free up from what the temporary files were. >>
Sorry but I don't quite understand what you are trying to say here .....