Help my hard drive memory disappears

[rainbowsky]

Hi

I am running 32 bit vista and have a hard drive memory of 69.1 GB.

I kept getting messages to say computer very low on memory. I uninstalled all programmes except those installed as factory settings, virus scanner and microsoft office. I also did disk cleanup numerous times to no avail. I couldn't understand what was taking up so much memory.

I removed all photos which freed up about 6GB so was pleased with this. However,.....only a few days later I have only 996MB left and I haven't installed anything else. The only thing was a vista update which it said was important, but surely this would not take up so much space

Please help as I don't know what is taking up space and what to do

 

[richc46]

Welcome
I do not think that you mean hard drive memory. Memory has nothing to do with the hard drive. The rest of your post is worded as though you have lost space on your hard drive, space that is unaccounted for. If I am correct this is what you do
First
Make a full anti virus scan
Then download and make a full scan with malwarebytes.
If these steps do not produce any meaningful results
Download win dir stat which will allow you to see exactly what is on your hard drive.
WinDirStat - Windows Directory Statistics
Usually when questions like this come up, it is discovered that Shadow copies are taking up room, ie the system restore points. If you want to free the space taken by system restore, turn off system restore, then boot, then turn on system restore, then make a system restore point. You do not want to remove all the points as they are there in case of emergency.
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/66971-system-restore.html

 

[Madhur B]

Hi rainbowsky,

In addition to what richc46, you can also do disc clean-up and delete Temporary files from the computer and see if the disc space increases.

Please use the following link for detailed instructions for disc clean-up:
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/76073-disk-cleanup.html

Also for Temporary files: http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/104637-temporary-files-temp-folder.html

For any further questions in future please feel free to contact us.

 

[rainbowsky]

Thank you for your replies;

Very helpful. You're right I do mean space on the hard drive.

I have downloaded malwarebytes and got rid of the stuff it suggested. I followed the directions re restore point and now seem to have another 3 GB of space. I have also downloaded the program showing what is taking up the space and I will now peruse this.

I haven't marked my post as solved yet as there are a few more things I need to do and I need to keep an eye on it but I'm on the way so thank you

 

[richc46]

Glad that you seem to be on the way to solving your problem. Come back at any time with problems or questions. Be sure to make at least one restore point, you may need it in the future.