Drive Space disappearing...

[BadBigBen]

I guess everyone is stumped once in a while... so am I at present...

here the Problem:

When I log on to the NET (WWW) I experience a DRIVE SPACE DEPLETION... and I am not speaking about the Temp Files that fill the Cache when you surf and a measly 500 mb or so...

I am experiencing GB drainage, slowly but surely, like 1GB per half hour or so... and can't find the culprit nor where it goes... it does not matter if the browser or any other application is running or not, I just need to be logged onto my provider...

Viral Scans, Malware scans, etc. turn up >NIL... (I got AntiVir & Ewido running in the Background, and my Pagefile is on a seperate partition...)

So I am asking anyone who may have experienced similar occurances and fixed it, or anyone who has knowledge as to what it may be, that I need to look for...






Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[bcastner]

Is this an office machine?
There may be an internet activity / history logger installed by management.

 

[bcastner]

Also, check for a Rootkit:

http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/RootkitRevealer.html

 

[BadBigBen]

Hola, BCastner...

1.) no this is not an office machine... it is my own private PC...

2.) both Rootkit revealers that I use, RootkitRevealer and HookAnalyzer, both are negative...

3.) I forgot to mention that upon a reboot, the drive space is returned, as if nothing had happened...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[bcastner]

Download and run Sysinternals Filemon on that bad boy:

http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Filemon.html

 

[linney]

Have you installed any new software lately or has some program gone haywire with its logging file running amok?

Before you reboot try this program and see if you can locate the GB of data being created and stored somewhere.

This program might be useful for any diagnosing of Disk Space usage.

http://www.digallery.com/diskdata/

Also this program.

FileMon to monitor the file changes.

http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Filemon.html

Have you tried running ChkDsk to check your drive for errors. Right click your Drive icon/ Properties/ Tools/ Error Checking.



310353 - How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310353&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

316434 - HOW TO: Perform Advanced Clean-Boot Troubleshooting in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316434&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

310560 - How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310560&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

 

[maxthedork]

Does your memory usage also jump through the roof when you do this? Something like this:?

Memory Utilization

This screen capture was taken just at the point when IE was launched on one of our users' computers. It turned out she had a browser hijacker called pxwma.dll. Check your running processes for pxwma and kill it.

 

[maxthedork]

By the way, I've never had ANY spyware/malware detector ever find pxwma.dll. I had to find it via google searches on the running processes on her machine. Google pxwma.dll and you'll come up with some good info on it.

 

[BadBigBen]

Thanx for all the good advice...

unfortunately I am heading for a REPAIR install, due to the fact that I mucked up, and killed more than I planned on... Some services now will not start, and one of them is the one controlling the TCP/IP Protocol, ergo no Internet at home...

@Max - no Memory usage stays the same, no increase at all there...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[TheLad]

Could it be your pagefile using up all of your diskspace?

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"Insert funny comment in here!"
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[linney]

Can you save your bacon via System Restore, perhaps even from Safe Mode if it wont complete in Normal Mode?

Any backups?

 

[BadBigBen]

@The Lad - read the first post, PageFile on a seperate Partition and fixed... so that is not the prob... thnx for the input non-the-less...

@Linney - The only Data I am worried about are my eMails and certain settings... other Data is always kept seperate on a second or third HDD... tried the Repair and am getting the dreaded STOP 7E error (Intel IDE Driver)...

Thank the powers, I finally got my Linux install running correctly, so that at least I am able to do some Internet and get at the eMails etc... I guess now it is time to do a CLEAN INSTALL instead...



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."