Windows XP HUGE mystery files

[Dream Operator]

Noticed last night that my 10gig partition for XP pro SP2 was full to the brim. Didn't seem right considering I install apps to another partions. I then remembered that I mistakenly installed HL2 on there. So I deleted it. Should have approx 4gigs free. Space gets eaten up fast. Have done many scans, virus, spyware, windoctor, window washer and more. Nothing reveals the problem. Until... I went to windows defrag. Shows files that I can't see in explorer (yes I have set it to show hidden files/folders).

Saved the text from defrag. Notice the large files in the Windows\ directory

Fragments File Size Most fragmented files
4,375 639 MB \WINDOWS\3
652 1.50 GB \WINDOWS\S
135 1,007 MB \WINDOWS\7
135 1.50 GB \WINDOWS\Y
59 294 MB \WINDOWS\5
56 643 MB \WINDOWS\1

There is frag info for all the normal files too, just deleted to keep this from being huge.

I have tried page file adjustments from huge to none, no resolve.

PLEASE HELP!

 

[Malak]

Run an anti-virus, anti-spyware, and anti-adware.

 

[Dream Operator]

Thx for the reply! However, it does not appear that you read my post in full.

Here is a quote from my initial post...

"Have done many scans, virus, spyware, windoctor, window washer and more. "

 

[Malak]

Originally posted by: Dream Operator
Thx for the reply! However, it does not appear that you read my post in full.

Here is a quote from my initial post...

"Have done many scans, virus, spyware, windoctor, window washer and more. "

Ahh, I missed that part. Are you trying multiple anti-virus programs? I and others have found that some can miss virii. For instance, recently my friend's machine was scanned with Norton and it picked up 3 virii. I ran AVG on it and it found 27 more.

 

[Dream Operator]

Thanks again for replying.

I had Trend Micro PC cillin 2005 installed at the time. Thought the same thing so I installed Norton System Works Premier 2005. All it found was some spyware, very minimal stuff, most if it was just Download Accelerator Plus. Not any serious spy stuff.

Can't say I didn't put in a good effort before seeking help!!!

I just installed XP x64 onto my PATA drive and am going to set that up as a non-internet os. I do sound engineering with my computer for a living, can't afford these kinds of issues. LOL, I say that as I'm commiting to using a BETA OS! As if the released versions are even stable. Oh well, gotta try out the new toys!

I'm still trying to get my 32bit setup fixed, I have a lot going on there right now.

 

[montag451]

Can you see the dates on those files.
Are they anything to do with your restore points?

Can you disable System Restore, reboot, then see if the files have disappeared.
Also, do you use disk wiping/file wiping utilities, or defrag yoots? These can sometimes leave large files on the drive.
Can you also set your pagefile to 400MB [min/max].

If the files are still there, I would try an online scan, or maybe even try an online scan first.
I believe Macafee offer a free online scan [or at least they used to!]

 

[Dream Operator]

The only way I can see that these files exists is withing windows defrag (so far anyway). No date information is given there.

System Restore has been disabled since day 1.

I could set my pagefile to 400/400. Not sure what to gain there. I have tried several different combos including same size at minimum, no page file, same size at max (4096). Initially, I thought for sure it was a pagefile issue. Adjusting the pagefile did not change anything with the files in question.

I suppose an online scan could be worth a try, though already having two different scans w/o evidence leads me to think nothing will turn up there.

I do have Norton Partition Magic 8 installed. I think thats the closest to a wiping utility. Installed Window Washer 5.5 after the problem. Selected many more items to wash than it defaults to (including pagefile).

I did have Perfect Disk 6 installed, but removed it after the issue, along with some other non critical apps hoping for something to give.

No such luck.

 

[Slikkster]

Even though these files supposedly exist, have you tried doing a count of drive spaced used by other known files/folders to see if, in fact, it adds up?

My point is that you might be seeing files that defrag creates on its own.

If I recall, when drives become too full, even defrag can't work correctly because it can't find space to create its own temporary files (where it does the defragging before moving to other locations on your drive).

You may be looking at the temporary files created (and then deleted) by the defrag program.

Why not try a different defragger and see what shows? Like Diskeeper Lite (free):

http://www.webattack.com/get/dkeeperlite.shtml

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Dream Operator
I do sound engineering with my computer for a living, can't afford these kinds of issues.

That's interesting. Given that those "mystery files" are in \WINDOWS... I wonder if they are simply leftover temporary files, possibly created by some sort of sound-editing app? Do the sizes of the files seem similar to the sizes of sound files that you work with? I know that some of the video-editing packages that I've used on the PC, render the output to temporary files first.

 

[Dream Operator]

Good call. I had done that as well. Just checked it again. Very strange...

The properties of c:\windows shows Size on disk of 7.37gb

Insterstingly enough, if I select only the folders within c:\windows, SOD=1.69gb

Selecting only the files within c:\windows reveals SOD=37.8mb

Defrag did not create these files, atleast not an anyway I can conceive. The problem happened well before going into defrag. Unless this is some strange issue that came from Perfect Disk 6.

I installed Diskeeper Lite. Analyzing shows the same files and file sizes.

Thanks for all the replies and advice. Sooner or later...

I know I can reformat and be done with, but I would rather find out what is going on if possible.

 

[Dream Operator]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: Dream Operator
I do sound engineering with my computer for a living, can't afford these kinds of issues.

That's interesting. Given that those "mystery files" are in \WINDOWS... I wonder if they are simply leftover temporary files, possibly created by some sort of sound-editing app? Do the sizes of the files seem similar to the sizes of sound files that you work with? I know that some of the video-editing packages that I've used on the PC, render the output to temporary files first.

Good thinking, but no. I use Steinberg's Nuendo 2. The application is not even installed to that partition. The files that are being created during recording, editing, and rendering go to select directories based on each project. All of my project files are on a seperate partition.

 

[Slikkster]

Read this thread. Obviously, it's the same problem. No real simple resolution, but you may find common things that will give you hints. Note the Recovery Console mentions, and also the Norton references.

http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/Hard_drive_fullNOT_-t7773.html

By the way, I'd recheck your folder view options. While you may have "Show Hidden Files" checked, do you have UN-checked the:

Hide file extensions for known file types

and

Hide protected operating system files

Here's a screenshot of his Explorer:

http://pages.videotron.com/steph1/print%20screen.htm

The guy who's got the same problem as you in the above thread can at least see these files in Explorer (although he can't delete them from there).

 

[Dream Operator]

Awesome! Haven't checked out the link, but looks like a good lead. I will investigate the other settings within windows and post my results.

 

[Slikkster]

Check out my last edit above about the screenshot of his explorer...virtually the same files you have.

 

[Dream Operator]

Yes, I saw that. I googled a lot before posting here, strange that forum never showed up.

I read through all the info there and linked from there. Skipped trying most of it.

What I did do was...

Enabled Sys Restore on all drives. Then I set to minimum usage. No changes. I then unticked "Hide protected operating system files" (should have thought of that a long time ago!)

The files then showed up under c:\windows. I selected all of them and deleted them. No problem!

Rebooted, files gone. Disabled Sys Restore and rebooted, files still gone!

Still unclear overall as to why they appeared. Not really sure what the "defining action" was to be able to delete them. Maybe I could have done it all along had the files been visible. I will be reading through the linked info more after I sleep, lol.

THANKS MUCH TO ALL THAT CONTRIBUTED AND BIG THX TO SLIKKSTER FOR PROVIDING THE INFO THAT LEAD TO MY SOLUTION.

I will post more if I have anything helpful reguarding this situation.

Now back to the fun of getting dualboot working with XP64 and XP32!

 

[Slikkster]

Good deal, and good luck with the dual boot.