So about 3 days ago I did a disk defragment on my drives...So today i did it again and I gained some space... so do I have like a virus? because I know how viruses duplicate themselves and shit and take up space too.
I wouldnt think defragging would gain you much space...I thought it just organized it better.
Depends on what you are doing with your system. Are you using something like Media Center to record shows? Are you installing and removing programs or files allot?
Disk clean or System Mechanic, etc would gain you space by removing junk from your system.
Depends on what you are doing with your system. Are you using something like Media Center to record shows? Are you installing and removing programs or files allot?
Disk clean or System Mechanic, etc would gain you space by removing junk from your system.
Viruses are so small that they will not take up much space at all, ranging from a small 4kb payloader to 2.5mb at max. I'm not an expert on viruses but I have fair programming knowledge to tell you that your probably looking at temp files getting out of control - winblows and internet explorer (junk) love to chew up your HD with useless crap. Check the following and delete:
C:\Temp
C:\WINDOWS\Temp
C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5
C:\Documents and Settings\YOURACCOUNTNAME\Local Settings\Temp
C:\Documents and Settings\YOURACCOUNTNAME\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
This sometimes contains junk you may/or may not need so don't mess with it unless you have a fair idea:
C:\Documents and Settings\YOURACCOUNTNAME\Local Settings\Application Data
Additionally, new programs and installers that require you to unpack them first such as ATI drivers will neccesarily take up space on your c drive, for example C:\ATI.
Defragmenting may save you space, but you may also loose space depending on how it reorganizes the files and the cluster size you are using. I've seen both. At any rate, if you had a virus you would have many worse symptoms then disappearing HD space.
C:\Temp
C:\WINDOWS\Temp
C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5
C:\Documents and Settings\YOURACCOUNTNAME\Local Settings\Temp
C:\Documents and Settings\YOURACCOUNTNAME\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
This sometimes contains junk you may/or may not need so don't mess with it unless you have a fair idea:
C:\Documents and Settings\YOURACCOUNTNAME\Local Settings\Application Data
Additionally, new programs and installers that require you to unpack them first such as ATI drivers will neccesarily take up space on your c drive, for example C:\ATI.
Defragmenting may save you space, but you may also loose space depending on how it reorganizes the files and the cluster size you are using. I've seen both. At any rate, if you had a virus you would have many worse symptoms then disappearing HD space.