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[gimlet]

One factor to "file size says X but more-than-X disk space is missing" is that disk space is allocated in blocks, so any unused space on a block that's been allocated for a file is unusable, but not counted in the size that's listed for the file.  On a huge file, it's trivial, but if you have a ton of small files it's pretty significant.  On Windows I think the default is 4096 bytes.  So in an extreme case, if you had 100,000 1 byte files looking at the file sizes you'd think you only used 100,000 bytes, but really you just lost 400 megabytes of usable disk space...

One thing I periodically do is search for big files - use the windows search, put a big number in the "search options -> size" like 50000 Kbytes, will find all files 50,000,000 bytes or larger, then see what the heck those are - is it something I downloaded and forgot about, is it some huge error log something is creating, whatever.

Other things to check - empty the recycle bin, clean out your TEMP directory, check what files your antivirus program might have put in quarantine.  At various times each of those things used up a scary amount of my disk space.  Oh, and Chrome, which not only loves to use up all my RAM but it likes to keep a copy of every update it ever made - I had well over 1G of those at one time too.

[wierd]

NTFS defaults to 512bytes for allocation unit size, unless the volume is epically huge, or you set it to something higher manually when you format.

FAT based filesystems tend to use 4k allocation units for drives up to 20gb in size, then use 16k, or 32k cluster sizes for very very large disks.

The big bloat in the filesystem is the MFT table when using NTFS.  It is the journal, metadata repository, and inode chain storage system for NTFS. When you start using things like Alternate Data Streams (ADS), and other whizbang features of NTFS volumes, the MFT can grow to gargantuan sizes. Normally this isn't a problem, but I have seen it happen more than once on volumes that get a lot of traffic. (Lots of files written then deleted, with the drive pushed to being nearly full repeatedly.)

As for the WinSxS folder, Microsoft has a support article on the matter.
https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2795190

This is probably the source of your size incongruity. Looks like NTFS hardlinks, and the way the explorer shell accounts for them are to blame. Really, a hardlink should only consume an additional 512 bytes-- just enough for the inode allocation and metadata, but microsoft apparently doesnt know how to do symbolic linking the right way.

[ShadowHammer]

-snip-

After running Disk Cleanup as recommended by Microsoft to deal with WinSxS, I have ~32 free GB... even though it didn't actually do anything about the size of the WinSxS folder ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Thanks for the link.

Unfortunately, a new problem has arisen: the amount of free space is fluctuating seemingly at random, by up to 2 GB at a time. It's possible that this was the "disappearing memory" problem all along, and I just happened to check it when it was at low points in the fluctuation. Oh well, it isn't actually causing issues now, so that's good.

-snip-

Alright, makes sense.
I will keep these suggestions in mind and hopefully get some time and motivation to do them, thanks for the advice.

[Azerty]

Hello!

I've a serious issue with my computer (OS: Windows 7 Ultimate), related to this one:
since mid-january, sometimes, after a variable length of time, my GUI completly stops working: I cannot open an icon of the Desktop and, when I try to open explorer in cmd.exe, I run into the "Registry Key" issue, but I can open other files while using cmd; this problem resolves itself after rebooting.

These last days it got more serious: now, when I boot, explorer is not launched automatically and, even after I launched it with taskmgr, I cannot even open any file nor run an application because of issues of "image", thing which already happened once before I did a system restaure.

Even after I run a scan with Avast! and I delete the malware found, the issue still remains.
Each time I attempt to open regedit or regedt32, I open the executable file content as if it was a text file, complete with the "This program cannot run in DOS mode" message inside the text.

I lastly noticed more noise from the processor and, from taskmgr, more UC use than usual.

I would like to find a way to fix permanentely the issue, without system restaure every two weeks.

[Thief^]

Your best bet would be to reinstall Windows. Or at the very least run a windows repair (from the install disk). Something's royally fucked as a result of malware, and removing the malware hasn't undone the damage (and from the sound of things, removing the malware hasn't actually removed the malware either, given the problem keeps returning).

[dennislp3]

Sadly removing malware and viruses and the like are much harder than simply running a scan. To fully and properly remove a virus or malware you often have to run multiple scans with different programs and/or locate and manually delete files and registry entries related to said virus or malware.

Worse yet is that sometimes these things attach themselves to critical files or registry entries which means when they are cleaned off the PC then the PC is essentially rendered crippled in some manner because of compromised or missing files.

Long story short...yes...reinstalling windows is your best and likely only bet.

I would advise you use Firefox with ad block plus and the pop up blocker add-on. that is the combination I use to prevent most of that stuff as well as a few other add-ons.

You get those things from clicking on or downloading things and the best bet to ensure you don't get them is to just be smart and careful about what you click on and download. I have not had a virus or malware in years just by taking a few simple precautions and being careful with what I download.

[miauw62]

My go-to combo is usually Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and SUPERantiSpyware.
There's this new thing that's in beta called HerdProtect which seems pretty cool. Apparently it doesn't clean up the infections entirely yet though (e.g. if a virus disables task manager, you'll have to clean up with MBAM to re-enable it).

If nothing else helps, there's always ComboFix, but it's sort of a weapon of last resort and MAY cause your computer to not work properly afterwards.

[Azerty]

I found WinZipper and Yet Another Cleaner installed themselves, and, each time I attempt to remove YAC in Normal mode, and even though I have Admin rights, the uninstaller still says I'm not Admin; I can delete it in Safe Mode, however, with the System Restore, the malware application still remains.

And I heard deleting WinZipper could mess up with explorer.exe; could someone tell me how to remove safely this application from my computer? And could these application caused this issue about esplorer.exe?

[wierd]

Sounds like the software is abusing the system's security features against you, by invoking some group policy shenanigans.

Hunt down each and every .exe and .dll file associated with that garbage, then in safe mode you should apply a filesystem security exclusion on them FORBIDDING them from having execute, assigned to the EVERYONE group.  After that, when you try to boot in normal mode for removal, (so you have full access to the registry) they wont be able to execute any of their code, and wont be able to hook those services to use against you.

BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THE DENY ATTRIBUTE, ESPECIALLY ON THE "EVERYONE" GROUP!

Deny takes priority over Allow, even when explicitly assigned!!  *ONLY* do this to the application's exe and dll files!

[Levi]

Anybody happen to know how to turn off forever the Windows 8 "search pane"?  I had to upgrade to windows 8 at work and literally everything is enraging me.

Edit:  Also is there a way to prevent my taskbar items from popping up a preview whenever my mouse hovers over them?

Edit 2:  Starts pulling hair out.  I swear I had gotten rid of the dumb new start menu and the charms, but I rebooted and they all seem to be back.  Any ideas how to kill all these things.  I miss XP.   

Edit 3:  I think I got my start menu back(thank god). 

Edit 4:  Oh god now I can't paste a file from one folder to another, it claims the drive is "Unavailable" but its clearly on crack.  How on earth did Microsoft think it was a good idea to release this crap?

[dennislp3]

I have stuck with windows 7...and I likely will for a very long time...windows 8 is just...eww from all experiences I have had with it

[Aklyon]

Is it at least 8.1, not just 8 Levi? I heard that was more reasonable,for 8 at least.

[Thief^]

As for Edit 4... that's not a normal Windows 8 thing, that's a PC problem...

At least Windows 10 will be a free upgrade for Windows 8 users, so those that hate the start screen can have a traditional start menu again.

[Levi]

As for Edit 4... that's not a normal Windows 8 thing, that's a PC problem...

I think it might have something to do with admin privileges and copying from a network drive.  Its stupid though, because I can copy other files into that folder just fine, just not ones from the network drive.  God I wish we used linux here.

Edit:  Seems I can copy the files to the c:/temp/ folder, and THEN copy them to the intended folder.  For reasons?

Edit 2:  Okay, I think I've fixed most of the annoying things and only wasted about 1 day on it.     

[Sappho]

Anybody happen to know how to turn off forever the Windows 8 "search pane"?  I had to upgrade to windows 8 at work and literally everything is enraging me.

Edit:  Also is there a way to prevent my taskbar items from popping up a preview whenever my mouse hovers over them?

Edit 2:  Starts pulling hair out.  I swear I had gotten rid of the dumb new start menu and the charms, but I rebooted and they all seem to be back.  Any ideas how to kill all these things.  I miss XP.   

Edit 3:  I think I got my start menu back(thank god). 

Edit 4:  Oh god now I can't paste a file from one folder to another, it claims the drive is "Unavailable" but its clearly on crack.  How on earth did Microsoft think it was a good idea to release this crap?

I feel your pain. I recently got a new computer with Windows 8. Fortunately, following the instructions on this page allowed me to make my new computer feel more or less like my old Windows 7 one: http://blog.laptopmag.com/make-windows-8-like-windows-7

It doesn't fix everything, but it fixes most of it. Gives you a normal start menu and gets rid of all the hideous crap that 8 comes with.