Windows Folder 20GB+ in size...

Question

Hello,

I am running Windows XP Pro SP2 [skinned with WinBlinds]. I recently discovered I had lost a great deal of my hard drive space on my primary drive C, and found that my Windows folder was over 20 GB in size. I deleted all my temporary internet and windows files but it is still this large. I've run several different anti-virus and anti-spyware programs [such as AVG, avast!, Spybot, etc] and have not found anything except a few tracking cookies and adware [all removed]. My drive is also 40% fragmented, and refuses to defragment due to “insufficient contiguous space.” The only lead I have to this are several invisible files, e.g. “C:\Windows\G” that are 1.5 GB in size each. They are not hidden, and only detectable by my defragmenting program. Below is a picture that better illustrates this situation. I would appreciate any help anyone could give me.

Thanks

RoHe · Answer

Don't see files with similar names like "G" on my system with XPpro SP2. I don't use WinBlinds so you might want to check with them to see if these are their files.

Open the Windows folder and click Tools>Folder Options
Click View tab
Uncheck "Hide protected operating system files" and click OK
If those files show up in the folder now, you might want to copy them off onto CD and delete from the HD. See if it defrag will run now.

Or you could try running defrag with the 'force' switch to force it to run with low disk space.
Click start>run
Type in: c:\path\defrag c: -f
( NOTE: "c:\path\" is the path to defrag.exe on your hard drive, so be sure to insert the correct path in this command)
Click OK

Ron

Delierious · Answer

I'd be tempted to open Windows Explorer, right click each folder on the C drive and choose 'Properties'. This will give you an idea as to where the mysterious folders (or sub-folders) C:\Windows\Y (etc)' are residing.

JamesMB · Answer

I was able to see them by using 'Show System Files' in the folder options.  They were just...files....Deleting them seems to have done the trick...nothing bad has happened yet. Thanks for your help ^^ Message Edited by JamesMB on 01-09-200708:08 PM

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Windows Folder 20GB+ in size...

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