Harddisk Space Eaten Alive Need Help

Power down you system and then power back up. Is the space still missing?

If yes, do the below:

First, please follow ALL the steps in this Sticky thread READ ME FIRST BEFORE ASKING FOR SUPPORT: Basic Spyware, Trojan And Virus Removal
If you already have any of the programs linked in the tutorial please double check your version to make sure you have the latest one and that you have any/all updates for the programs.

NOTE: In order to resolve the issues you are having it is very important that you at least try to perform all the steps as outlined. If you have any difficulty please post back letting us know what steps you have completed, what you found while doing the scans if anything and details about any problems you have encountered in completing the steps. The more details you can provide the better.


After doing ALL of the above if you still have a problem:

Make sure you have HijackThis 1.99 and follow the guidelines on where to install it and how to post a log as an attachment. This is all covered in the sticky thread NO HIJACK THIS LOG FILES BEFORE READING THIS: HJT Tutorial & LOG File Posting

Now post a HijackThis log as an attachment to your message (Do not post the log inline). All running programs should be closed, including your web browser, e-mail. Close before running Hijack This!

To repeat: Do NOT run Hijack This from the Desktop, a temp folder, or a sub-folder of C:\Documents and Settings, or choose to run it directly from the downloaded ZIP file. Place it in its own folder, for example C:\Program Files\HJT

 

Do you use this SmartBar program?
C:\Program Files\SmartBarXP BETA4.9\SmartBarXP.exe


Do you know what this sbmthread.exe file is?
C:\WINDOWS\system32\sbmthread.exe

Is there a reason that you skipped the TrendMicro online scan?

 

Not from the stand point of what we can see on the malware front. It could be a hidden virus or trojan. Did you do a full system virus scan? Have you tried a few of the Alternative Scans from the READ ME FIRST?

If so, it could be a hardware problem. Are you actually seeing new files been created that are taking up space? Is your c:\pagefile.sys getting way to big? (Be careful it is pretty large normally so the words way to big mean really big). How big? Is it the thing that is growing constantly?

 

Okay! But make sure you get everything updated again! And get all protections in place. Refer to: How to Protect yourself from malware!

And by the way: I never ever reformat unless there is no other choice. I disagree that it is necessary once a year. The PC I'm on right now has been running for 16 months with high usage. No formatting and no problems.