Solved Questions about files in D: Drive and in D: Drive $RECYCLE BIN

Is the D: a partition that you created or is it a recovery partition?

Since the files are in the recycle bin, you could delete them.

Thanks for your reply. D: Drive on my computer is the recovery drive. Do you know how/why those files got into the recycle bin? I may worry needlessly, but I wonder how those files ended up in the recycle bin and why they're in all of the folders on D: Dive. Maybe they're included with the operating system and enable universal use of the computer?

The recovery partition is just that- it's used to recover Windows if you have a problem. You shouldn't need the files in the recycle bin but I'd just leave everything as it is.

The S-1-5-etc. files are registry entries.

OK. I'll do that whereas they're taking up space even though just a small amount. I don't know why my computer has been acting strangely but will mark this post as solved. Thanks for your input.

Good. You must have a very small hard drive if the D: is taking up the most space.

In regards to Firefox, try clicking on Tools and selecting Clear Recent History.

I deleted those files in D:RECYLE.BIN but after running WinDirStat again saw they were back in there. On a hunch I scanned for root kits, and the results showed ten files associated with Trojan.Siredef.C in C:RECYCLE.BIN. I never saw them in the recycle bin when I opened it to empty, so I guess they were hidden somehow. When I checked after running WinDirStat, I saw the same files listed under D:RECYLCE.BIN:

S-1-5-21-567398978-342643398-1543718891-1000
and below that: desktop.ini


D:\$RECYCLE.BIN\S-1-5-21-567398978-342643398-1543718891-500
and below: desktop.ini

When I opened the D:RECYCLE Bin the files were listed and I deleted them.

Do you think those files are something to do with a user identity? If so, would they also be in the registry? If this is something I should ask elsewhere, and advice is welcome.

I think you need to run malwarebytes on your C: and D: drives.

I deleted those Trojan files from both C: and D: drive recycle bins but they keep appearing. I'll run a Malwarebytes scan and see if that removes the files permanently, and if not I'll try posting to a Malwarebytes forum.

In any case, let us know the results.

I did various scans for malware and found only two potentially unwanted programs: PUP.Optional.WebCake.A which is basically adware and PUP.Optional.Tarma.A which is really not a threat. I used a couple of anti rootkit scanners and only got false positives identifying four unsigned drivers. I'll keep trying and the realization came to mind that my computer has never been quite right since the Comcast installer came that day last December....

You can try using the Windows Disk Cleanup tool in Accessories to remove temporary files and empty the recyle bin on any partition. Reboot after running it.

Did you try my suggestion concerning FireFox?

I regularly clear recent history, cookies, etc. in Firefox. I'll try using the Windows Disk Cleanup tool to remove temproary files, and this is something I regulary do. I'll see if that doesn't permanently empty the D: recycle bin. I also have a huge number of Firefox bookmarks and they might be causing some of the problem.