my hardrive shows that i have 70GB and i used up 12GB, but the thing is i installed Windows Vista only recently and i didn't install anything else, i only used it for work so i don't have time to install games and download other stuff etc so basically it's a fresh copy, i don't have any viruses cuz i have the essential programs installed such as Advanced Windowscare Pro, AVG Antivirus, Spyware Blaster, Ads Aware.........

So basically my Vista is fresh and clean, no problems watsoever.........here's the problem, since i didn't install or download anything big such as games or movies, i shouldn't use up 12GB of my hardrive, i went in the hardrive and selected all the files and click properties and it showed that i only used up 3.8GB, whereas if i go to 'My Computer' and look at the hardrive it shows 12GB, i hope that doesn't sound confusing but can anyone explain this to me and tell me how to fix it?

Hey CC,

Don't believe I've had the pleasure, so my personal welcome to PCHF.

First of all, having the programs is no guarantee of immunity, believe me. .

However, your situation does not read like a malware problem. When you installed Vista, did you reformat the HDD or did you do an upgrade?

It would be helpful to know what other programs you have on your PC, the manner that you used to determine the disk space usage is not an acurate depiction, and does not take into consideration system files.

Vista alone requires 15 Gig free and a minimum of 20 gig HDD for the home So it is not inconcievable that with some registry use and your other programs it has taken up 12 Gig. The clean minimum install of Vista is over 4 Gig.

Looking forward to your reply,

TTFN

LGW

hey chaos, haven't had the pleasure either, so hola and welcome to PCHF.

I think what he is saying, LGW, if I may interject, is that when he selects all files and folders, he is only showing 3.8 gigs, but is shows over 12 on the c drive.

If that IS the case, I would wonder if you were were showing all the hidden files and folders on your explorer window. To do so, open explorer, tools > folder options > view > makes ure that 'show hidden files and folders' is ticked. Then give it a crack and see what you come up with.

The one thing that confuses me is that when you select 'c', you ARE selecting all hidden files and folders and anything else that resides on that drive, so that is most definitely accurate.

Thanks,

v

yes Valis, that's wat i mean, if i look at the 'C:/drive' on My Computer or if i right click 'C:/drive' and view the properties, it shows i have used up 12GB, but if i "Go inside" the C:/drive and select all the folders and files and view the properties, i only see that i used up 3GB....in other words the extra 9GB just used up randomly, at least that's wat i think.....i don't think the hidden files will use up 9GB, that's a bit too much, like i said i didn't install any program, i only installed the scanning programs which i've already mentioned, nothing else, it's as if i just installed Vista yesterday so i didn't install any games or any other programs at all, nothing. I did reformat my hardrive, i deleted all the partitions etc so it's a pure fresh copy.

as lady green witch stated, it's not inconceivable that the install of vista and all it's extras will take up 12 gig......if you want to check for malware, click on the 'prework' link in my signature and follow the instructions, and then post back with the avg and hjt logs....but as you said, it's a clean install, so I doubt it's malware. I would just say it's vista, personally.

thanks,

v

Hey Guys,

I understood what chaos was talking about, as I said before, it is an inaccurate check at best. I agree with Valis, that 12 Gig isn't that shocking. Just to be sure, also run a defragmentation on the system, that will give you an idea of exactly what is taking up space, and how much. It is also a good idea to do after any fresh OS install.

Looking forward to your reply,

TTFN

LGW

thx for da replies guys, i did a defrag and checked the hardrive size by properties and by selecting all the folders and view the properties and they both showed pretty much the same size now..........i guess it's alrite, thx for the help.