Fictiously occupied space in C disk

My computer often reminds me that C is short of space. But the disk has 6G space and is only for the system. I check folder by folder of the disk. When I come to C:\Documents and Settings, I right click the folder named after my account and chooses "properties ". It says that "size on disk" of the folder is 540 MB. However, when I left click and get into the folder, it only contains five subfolders: Desktop, Favorites, My documents, Start Menu, and Windows, with the sizes 23MB, 470KB, 0KB, 196KB, and 0KB respectively. The sum of these five numbers is much smaller than 540MB.

So I really do not understand. If the folder really occupies 540MB space of C disk, then what in hell does it contain? More importantly, could I have any way to free the fictiously occupied space? Really hope some experienced expert could help me.

 

It sounds like you don't have Windows set to show hidden files and folders. Try this. Open your My Documents folder (or any other folder). Click Tools>Folder Options and then click the view tab. Where is says "hidden files and folders ", tick the line that says "show hidden files and folders ". Click apply, then OK. Then check the contents of the Documents and Settings folder and see how many folders are in it.

 

Thanks

Really thanks, Zander. You do teach me something.

I do what you teach. Then there is a hidden folder named "Local Settings" occupying 520MB. Then I click into the folder. There are two subfolders within it, with names "Application Data" and "Temp ". But they occupy 9.15MB and 1.52MB respectively, the sum of them is much less than 520MB. So the problem is still there.

How to release the rest space?

 

Hi, Foodbird. Welcome to Windows BBS!

Have you emptied your Recycle Bin lately? If you want to empty your Recycle Bin, then right-click on the Recycle Bin icon on your main Desktop screen and select "Empty Recycle Bin ".

If your computer has otherwise been running stable (no recent crashes), then perhaps you can turn off System Restore, restart your computer, and then turn System Restore on again. That will clear all previously saved System Restore points so be sure your computer is stable before clearing them.

System Restore may be accessed as follows.
Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore

Perhaps you have temporary files that are consuming lots of space. A handy utility for cleaning out temporary files is ATF Cleaner by Atribune. If you use ATF Cleaner to clear out stuff, then restart your computer afterwards to finish.

Please let us know whether any of these suggestions helps you free up your disk space or not.

 

By the way, if you use ATF Cleaner's "Select All" option to clean out temporary files (and then restart your computer afterwards), then you will likely have to manually type login information at web sites you use (such as user IDs and passwords) the next time you visit those sites (because ATF Cleaner clears out cookies that store that information).

 

Hi Foodbird

There should be quite a few more folders in your username folder than you report, and they are likely System folders which are not being shown. Go back to the View tab in Folder Options and uncheck 'Hide protected Operating System files' then click OK.

Any change?

 

Thanks mailman and Noahdfear.

I tried step by step to follow what mailman instructs. Turn off "system restore ", restart, turn on it, install Atfcleaner and run it, and restart again. It turns out that the problem remains there. The folder named after my account still occupies 550MB space of C. But I learn how to use "system restore ", which makes me feel less blind about the computer.

Then I tried what Noahdfear teaches. Man! I do find something. Now within folder "Local Settings ", a subfolder named "Temporary Internet Files" that occupies 500MB space. That is the ghost I am seeking! I have a strong impulse to delete all the files of the subfolder. But I cool down and think I'd better to ask you experts first. Could I do that to release 500MB space in C disk?

Thanks a gain, guys.

 

Go to your Control Panel, then open Internet Options. On the General tab, click the Settings button in the Temporary Internet Files field.

Select the option 'Every Visit to the page'
Change the amount of space to be used to 50MB
Click OK.
Now click Delete Files, then check the box to delete offline content and click OK.
If you've never cleared cookies, you should click the Delete Cookies button as well. Be warned, sites that 'remember' you will forget you and you will need to login again upon return.

 

Thanks a lot, noahdfear. I do what you instructs and find now the free space of C disk suddenly increase almost 500 MB.

 

Hmmm... I just tried ATF Cleaner with the "Select All" option under the main tab and that deleted the contents of my Temporary Internet Files folder.

Perhaps that didn't work for Foodbird because Foodbird's Internet Explorer was open when ATF Cleaner was run or because Foodbird did not have "Hide protected Operating System files" unchecked.


Anyway, Foodbird, I'm glad you got your problem resolved. Thanks for following up!

 

Perhaps Foodbird just didn't understand how to use ATF Cleaner properly, and did not click Empty Selected.

Here's my standard speech for ATF cleaner.

Download ATF Cleaner by Atribune and save it to your Desktop.
Double click ATF-Cleaner.exe to run the program.
Check the boxes to the left of:

Windows Temp
Current User Temp
All Users Temp
Temporary Internet Files
Prefetch
Java Cache
Recycle bin


The rest are optional - if you want it to remove everything check "Select All ".
Finally, click Empty Selected. When you get the "Done Cleaning" message, click OK.

 

Thanks, Dave.

I hope you don't mind I "stole" your canned instructions for my use (and modification).

 

Thanks, you two guys. This is a good place to learn.

I do remember I have check "select all" and "empty selected ".

 

You're welcome. Don't mind at all.