I'm back again, as it turns out my previous problem is not fixed after all.
To reiterate it, the space on my hard drive seems to be magically disappearing; last night, I had 21 GB left, and this morning, I have 19.6. To clarify, I am not looking for suggestions on how to free up space; instead, I would appreciate advice about what could be using the space and how I would stop it from doing so.
Information about the issue itself:
-Hard Drive space is being used up (without me doing so) at a fluctuating rate; previously, it seemed to be at a rate of an alarming several gigabytes an hour, but it may have slowed down, or perhaps my initial estimate was quite high.
-At first I believed this to only happen while the computer was running; however, I seem to have lost a gigabyte and a half last night, while the computer was not running.
-Occasionally, the fluctuation actually reduces the amount of space used (ie, while writing this, it went from 19.6 GB free to 19.7, and then down even more to 18.6). It is definitely on an overall downwards trend (over the past ~week, it's gone from ~32 GB free to ~19.6 at the time of writing).
-I have used TreeSize Free to attempt to narrow down the place where the space is being used from: it appears that it is something in System Volume Information. I will continue testing this to see if I can narrow it down further.
-System Volume Information is filled with a bunch of seemingly random files, with sketchy names like {453b6c9a-b17...
-When I attempt to access the System Volume Information, I get the "access is denied" pop-up, despite being on the administrative
account. The folder has the "lock" icon on it.
Things I've tried:
-I ran Disk Cleanup to attempt to free up space; while it was successful in doing so, the problem did not go away, and I continue to rapidly lose space.
-I attempted running malware scans with Avast, MalwareBytes, and SUPERAntiSpyware; several items (a Trojan, a "Trace.Known Threat Sources", and hundreds of cookies) were found and quarantined, but this did not stop the issue.
-However, the scans were running simultaneously for about an hour and a half; while they were running, the rate of space disappearing may have been reduced.
Unfortunately, I don't have reliable numbers to check if it really was reduced, or if it was just me.
Other issues (included for possible relation):
-Adware: I have had problems with this for some time. Website redirection when I click links (obviously to a website not linked to by the link), popup ads on websites that don't do those (ie, xkcd.com). There is probably other malware on the system as well.
-Despite finding several items, the previously mentioned SUPERAntiSpyware scan did not stop this problem.
-Not genuine Windows notification: quite recently, my computer has started telling me that I'm not running a genuine copy of Windows, despite the fact that I am.
-Unable to update: the little update notification icon appears beside the shut down button; when I shut the computer down, it shows the 'installing updates' screen, but when I start it up again, the update will not have installed, and it will try to install the same one again the next time I shut down.
-I can't seem to update manually; the updates thing-y doesn't appear when I search "updates" in the start menu.
-A couple days ago, after some research on the Microsoft website, I manually downloaded a patch that was recommended to fix the issue. It failed to install.
-I also attempted to use the Microsoft "Fix it" troubleshooter, but it apparently failed to install, reporting error code 2738.
-I tried fixing this with another Microsoft "Fix it" thing-y, apparently made for fixing error 2738, which failed to solve the problem.
Any and all advice is appreciated.
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Topic: The Generic Computer Advice Thread (Read 552352 times)