Re: Mysterious file crowding my laptop's hard drive - HELP!!!

On Aug 4, 12:18 pm, "Twayne" <nob...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"JazzyJeff" <seal...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:fb26dc34-c62a-4504-8306-786fb0094752@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx





On Aug 3, 6:58 pm, "Twayne" <nob...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"JazzyJeff" <seal...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:55829275-e4c5-4d5e-901a-733efa58f82e@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

My HP dv6149's hard drive appears to have only 10GB of space
remaining. When I use Disk Size Manager (DSM) to view the contents
of my hard drive, it shows that a file in the 'Install'
sub-directory of 'WINDOWS' has a 50GB file in it by the name
'[File]'. This file apparently cannot be deleted, viewed or
manipulated any way. It also doesn't appear when viewing this
sub-directory in the Windows Explorer, neither does the Windows
Explorer figure this file into the total size of everything in this
sub-directory. Is this a ghost or a file generated by a virus or
something?

Hmm, interesting. Before I go further, let me say: Don't discredit
the things Shenan provided for you; go ahead and try them out, as he
hasn't suggested anything harmful in any way that I can see. I just
don't understand how he is addressing you problem and instead has
probably assumed you have a full disk drive you need to free up some
space on.

If my questions seem a little odd, I'm just trying to cover all the
bases:

Checking my own system, I do not see a folder/directory called
"Install" under C:\Windows\. There IS a folder called "InstallER"
however. Did you literally mean "Install" or did you maybe leave off
the "er" at the end?

Are you certain it's in the C:\windows folder and not a different
one?

Do you actually mean 50 GigaBytes? Not MegaBytes? 50 Gig is a
humongous size for a file, and even for a folder, for that matter. My
largest file in the Installer folder is around 54 Meg. The largest
folder in the entire Windows folder is System32 at 1.93 Gig.

Are you certain it is a "file" and not a "folder"?

When you say you can't see it in win Explorer, have you set it up to
display hidden files, all known file extensions and all hidden system
files? If not, then that may explain why you aren't able to see it.
The three settings are located in the View tab of win Explorer's
Tools; Folder Options. They're spread out in the list, so you have to
look for them. Setting those three options properly will enable you
to see every folder and file on the disk drive.
You may want to put them back to their original settings when you're
done.

-- Exactly HOW and with WHAT have you tried to delete the file?

You say only DSM sees this file? How about after making the settings
to reveal all files in windows Explorer? Does win Explorer it see
the file now?
Can you delete it now?
If you get any error messages, please quote them as exactly as you
can.

My initial feeling is that you have a virus, trojan, worm or some
other sort of malware in general.
Have you scanned with an anti-virus program? Are the definitions up
to date? And what is the name of the program?

Have you scanned for spyware and general malware? With updated
programs? What programs did you use?
If you haven't done so, you should now. The general concensus is
that at least 3 anti spyware programs are necessary to cover all the
bases; no program yet can find everything.

If you have any questions, feel free to post back for answers. I
haven't included a bunch of links and references because I don't yet
know what you have and don't have so I'm just saving myself a little
typing and research right now<g>.

Go through all the suggestions above and respond back with the
results for each one. Include any/all relevent information you can
think of, especially error messages and what happened just before
and just after the error message appeared?
Then we can go forward from there is necessary.

HTH,

Twayne`

Sorry I confused you on the directory names. Well, Norton AntiVirus
doesn't pick this up either when I do a manual scan. I tried booting
up in safe mode as was suggested before but that didn't get me any
more access to this file (and yest it is a file, not a folder) than
what DSM gave me. Heck, at least I got to see where this thing is.

You didn't answer what the exact folder name is; "install" or
"installer"?

Nor did you cover:

When you say you can't see it in win Explorer, have you set it up to
display hidden files, all known file extensions and all hidden system
files?
Have you scanned with an anti-virus program? Are the definitions up
to date? And what is the name/version of the program?

Have you scanned for spyware and general malware? With updated
programs? What programs did you use?
If you haven't done so, you should now. The general concensus is
that at least 3 anti spyware programs are necessary to cover all the
bases; no program yet can find everything.

Plase reread the post and respond to all the information requested.
There are just too many different things to go over and those help
narrow things down.

HTH,

Twayne`- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Aah, well, the file directory is 'Installer', hidden file display is
on and I've turned it off and back on to confirm that, I've manually
scanned everything with Norton AntiVirus and everything on that is up-
to-date. I'm using Spybot Search & Destroy to handle the spyware and
it's mostly been picking up the analytic 'bots' found on websites but
not much else. Hope I'm using the best utilities for this stuff.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: msoe.dll
    ... I don't think he wants to install IE5, and that wouldn't fix his OE message store in WinXP SP1. ... Double-click to expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE folder, ... On the Windows Setup tab, click to select the Microsoft Outlook Express ... Antivirus software invades the Outlook Express program to try and intercept ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6_outlookexpress)
  • Re: Mysterious file crowding my laptops hard drive - HELP!!!
    ... sub-directory in the Windows Explorer, ... Did you literally mean "Install" or did you maybe leave ... My largest file in the Installer folder is around 54 Meg. ... You are aware that if any of them are dialer bots, ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics)
  • Re: Solution found to one kind of error C00D11B1 !!
    ... and Windows Live OneCare for security. ... Under "Hidden files and folders" CLICK Show hidden files and folders ... In Folder Options window, select Okay ... Opened Windows Media Player. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsmedia.player)
  • Re: 16 Bit Error
    ... I do have the pss folder and replaced both .ini files, ... meant for earlier versions of Windows. ... sure that the directory path exists, and disk space is available. ... other programs I have tried to install give me the same error. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • RE: Help!SOS!Hardest Senario-Cant start up!-computer reboots halfway through setup
    ... Insert the Windows XP startup disk into the floppy disk drive, ... If this does not fix your issue I suggest that you do a parallel install ... rename the system folder to something besides windows or winnt. ... Once you are done you can try and reboot ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.setup)
Loading