[cybertech]

You should look at the owners guide for your router and secure it so other people can not use it.

[cybertech]

I don't think the router has anything to do with your loss of disk space but I could be wrong.

Copy the text in the quote box below to notepad.
Save the file as dir.bat, make sure to select Save as Type "All files" save it to your desktop.
Double click on the file to run it.
This will open a Command box. Wait until the prompt returns to c:\> then go to My Computer, Drive c: and find dir.txt.

Use the Reply button, scroll down to the attachments section and attach the notepad file here.

cd\
dir *.tmp /s > c:\dir.txt

Type exit and press enter to close the command box.

[sphb]

I waited for a blank C:\> prompt, but it never popped up. Also, the Command box closes itself after a minute or so...is this normal?

[cybertech]

The log looks as I would have thought it would so the file ran ok. You can delete that bat file now if you have not already done so.

I'm not sure what is going on with your machine's hard drive space.

We can try a different scan.

Download Deckard's System Scanner (DSS) from here or here to your Desktop. Note: You must be logged onto an account with administrator privileges.

• Close all applications and windows.
• Double-click on dss.exe to run it, and follow the prompts.
• When the scan is complete, two text files will open - main.txt <- this one will be maximized and extra.txt <-this one will be minimized
• Copy (Ctrl+A then Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+V) the contents of both, the main.txt and the extra.txt in your next reply.

[cybertech]

Do you have system restore turned on? If so how many restore points do you have and how much space are you allowing?

[sphb]

I think I have system restore turned on, but I don't know how much space I'm allowing. How can I check that?

Here are the logs...I'm posting them as attachments because they're so long (hope that's okay).

[cybertech]

Where do you store the backups from Nero?


Follow these steps to uninstall Combofix and tools used in the removal of malware

• Click START then RUN
• Now type Combofix /u in the runbox and click OK. Note the space between the X and the U, it needs to be there.
  

To find your system restore properties, right click on my computer, select properties, System Restore tab. Look at the Disk space usage if it's turned on.

[sphb]

Nero is part of the software that came with the external DVD writer/drive I installed about a month ago. I installed it and never used it, so I don't have any backups as yet. Do you know where I can look to find where backups might be stored? Should I uninstall this software?

I checked the System Restore tab, and it's on. The slider is set at 12%.

[cybertech]

It's ok to keep Nero, I just thought perhaps you were making backups and that was taking up the hard drive space. I'm really clueless on what is happing since it does not appear to be anything new, or at least it's not showing as new.

This: http://www.mousesoft.co.uk/index.php?mds looks like it may be useful in helping you find what you are using and in what directory.

[sphb]

I ran MouseSoft. The five largest folders are:

35770.68MB Documents and Settings Folder
3638.60MB WINDOWS Folder
3062.11MB Program Files Folder
1900.76MB RECYCLER Folder
1172.75MB i386 Folder

Is it normal for "Documents and Settings" to be so large?

[cybertech]

If you double click on Documents and Settings Folder, then keep repeating the same double click action on the largest folder you should be able to find what is taking up the space.

[sphb]

Sorry it has been so long since my last reply. Had some things come up, but I do appreciate your help in this matter. I checked out the Documents and Settings Folder, but didn't really see anything that looked odd. The largest folder at about 20GB was my music folder, but I have a lot of files, so I'm not surprised. The WINDOWS folder was the next largest at about 4GB. I'm hesitant to delete anything in that folder because I don't want to inadvertently mess something up. I guess I should just take my laptop in to a shop somewhere. It's still running pretty slow.

[cybertech]

Sounds like a good idea.