Sign on question. Administrator/User!

I could have sworn when I first got my computer about 3 years ago, that when I signed on. It was as administrator. Last year after I had a few virus problems that people here helped me remove. I noticed I was signing on as a user, not as administrator. At first it didnt really bother me, but I kept wondering what happened. It wasnt until I started noticing a big difference in the lack of Hard Drive space I had left. right now, other then the operating system and about 20 or so programs I added since. I only have about 10 free Gigs out of a possible 40. I figure the operating system and the other programs Ive added could take between 5 to 10 Gigs of space themselves. But otherwise, I only have about 1 or 2 Gigs of stuff saved in folders on my desktop. Where could the other nearly 20 Gigs of free space have gone to? Is there anyway for me to possibly check the system to find out whats taking up all that other space?

 

If XP try Start>Run>and type in control userpasswords2 and hit OK.
You should see a list of users (Administrator and ASPNET which should be left alone, and possibly Guest) + any you have created. The Administrator account you see in the list is normally hidden unless you start in Safe Mode. Unless you see an unusual looking name in the list or second Administrator account there is no phantom user so that won't explain your space problem.

I like Windirstat for a graphical look at the size of files on my HD. Just install and run and then click around on the large blocks to see which files are taking up space. You may have some old pictures/music/video you have forgotten about or perhaps an unusually large Temp folder.

 

Ok, thank you for you help thus far. I did the "control userpasswords" thing you suggested. And I see 4 different categories there.

1 - administartor administrators ( which is higlighted )
2 - ASPNET users
3 - Guest guests
4 - User debugger users; administrators

Does that last one seem normal to you?

 

User would have to have been created by you or someone who used your computer. That User account also has administrator privileges.

Open My Documents and go into My pictures. Look at the address bar in the My Pictures explorer window. It should look something like C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator or User\My Documents\My Pictures. Are you signed on as Administrator or User?

Next go to My Computer then C: drive then Documents and Settings folder and right-click each the Administrator and User folders and select Properties to see how large they are; that should tell you if a particular account is taking up an unusual amount of space. An unused or rarely used profile should take between 50-200mb. I should think one of them should be this small.

 

Thank you for your assistance thus far sach2

Ok, when I go into my documents and then my pictures. Its saying, User. Not Administrator.

I also did the 2nd thing you suggested, and I found 4 different folders.

1 - Administrator, its the smallest at only 6 Mbs
2 - All Users, it says 120 Mbs
3 - Guest, only 16 Mbs
4 - User, has the largest at 2.6 Gigs.

Still none seem to account for the nearly 20 Gigs of space that are missing.

Someone at another forum suggested it could have come from my doing a system restore when I had some virus problems I fixed last year. If I had a lot of stuff on my hard drive when I did that. Could that account for the missing space? And is there anyway to reclaim that space? lol

 

All of those sound just right. You are using the User account and it has administrative privileges(meaning you can exercise full control over your computer rather than a limited account which may be restricted from executing some programs). The 6Mb "secret" Administrator account only shows as a login option in Safe Mode and is there if something goes wrong with your system or profile.

You are fairly sure you have a 40gb drive.
2.5 GB goes to overhead (just the way it is ) so 37.5GB
2.6 GB for your profile and personal files so rounding down to include other profiles 34GB

I would get a size for the two biggest folders on your computers WINDOWS and Program Files both can be found in My Computer>C: drive. Let's add the total for these two and subtract from 34GB to see what we get.

 

Amust is actually a good little program to get a pie chart of your folders. The size information is hard to decipher but it might help you quickly locate a folder that is taking up a good amount of space.

 

Yep, Im sure I have a 40 Gig HD. When Ive run the defragger, it shows me the size and how much is empty. ( thats how I know how much space is taken up )

Ok, the Windows folder shows 15.3 Gigs ( sounds way too large, doesnt it? )
and Programs folder shows only 1.61 Gigs

I also installed and ran that program Windirstat, that you suggested. Only problem is, I dont really know how to read it. Its showing C-drive at 21.4 Gigs.
And most of that, 15.3 Gigs is for Windows, & 1.6 Gigs in program files, just like above.

 

15.3 GB for Windows sounds about 10+ GB to high. In WinDirStat the first subfolder of WINDOWS should be the largest, which folder is it?

In the upper pane highlight the large subfolder. In the lower pane it should now have a white outline/border click on a few of the largest blocks and they will be highlighted in the upper pane--what are the names of the files and their size? Is there one large file or a whole lot of MSI or MSP files?

 

The first sub folder of Windows is Installer, which takes up 11.9 Gigs of the 15.3 Gigs. 99.9% of that is a blue sub folder called Files, with MSP files that range in size from 114 MBs down to 512 Kbs.

Not a lot of help, right?

 

I think we have to be wary of deleting the files without figuring out why you have so many and which are registered. It is probably due to a failed MS update/patch.

I would try to figure out by size/date if many of them are the same. In WinDirStat you could click on .MSP in the right pane with the file type color keys. This will highlight the MSP files in the lower pane; are many of them the same size? If they are right-click one and select Explore Here. On the View tab select Details then Arrange by Size. Is there one size file that stands out as having many duplicates, is the date the same?

 

one quick question before I do as youve suggested. When I first go to start the WinDirStat program, it shows 38.8 Gigs on the C-drive. 14 are free, so then 24.8 Gigs are taken up. But when ive ran the program, C-drive only shows 21.5 Gigs. Shouldnt it show 38.8?

 

Under Options you can select Show Free Space.

Edit: And just so you know, right now your System Restore space probably is set at 12% of your HD (about 4.5GB) so you can reduce that to say 6% and immediately free up 2.25 GB. That would be plenty considering your user profile is not that large.

 

To the right of the screen on the WinDirStat , it shows a list of stuff. One of them is "windows installer patch". when I click on that one, low and behold. It highlights the entire area where all those msp files are located. Sure enough, when I double clicked on the ones that are 114 MBs & 110 MBs, it says the upgrade patch can not be installed. does that mean it keeps downloading & trying to install a program. the same program over and over again?

 

Yes, that's what it means. Unfortunately, I can't remember the remedy. I'll have to look around, maybe google "failed updates taking space" will give you a few ideas in the meantime. I've seen threads about it here at MG but I just can't remember the solution.

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Also, on the previous question about the total space not showing up, you can also check "show unknown" in Options and with that added in it should equal your whole HD. I think the unknown is MFT(MasterFileTable).

 

Ok sach2, Ive got to head off to bed, hopefully we can continue this tomorrow. Thanks for your help thus far.

 

Good Morning!

I'm going to be busy all day. Be back tonight. I guess the first place to start would be to go to Windows Update using Internet Explorer and click on View Update History. This should give you a list of updates. I haven't had a failed update in a while but it says click on the red X next to a failed one to see how to fix the problem. See if that gives you any hints.

It won't list sizes but I would think that you may have a few listed several times. Write down the names so that you can figure out what programs they apply to. I'll try to find similar threads here at MG that had someone losing HD space to a failed update repeatedly re-downloading itself.

 

Hi sach2

Ok, that will be cool! There are a total of 12 MSP files at 114 MBs. They all say they are from a failed install due to either the program they are trying to update is missing, or they are the wrong update for the program update. They are all dated July 27, 2007 and say they are Installer Patches for Office 2003. I also have 36 files at 110 Mbs with the same date, July 27, 2007. At least I know why they all failed to install, it is because I removed Windows Office, because I never use it & it was taking up a lot of space.

So I guess now the question is, can I delete the failed update files without causing any problems.

 

As far as I can tell you can since you are not using Office. MS recommends searching the registry to see if an MSP is registered before deleting it.

This link (scroll down for attachment) has a little program that will list every registered MSP on your system.

Both work by looking for references to the MSP in the registry and if one is found they recommend not deleting it. Neither is particularly handy as they don't provide a printable list you could compare before deleting.

I think you can safely delete the 12 and 36 copies in bulk since they only effect Office not Windows itself. Just be careful not to delete any other MSP or MSI in that folder. One other possibility would be to create a folder on our Desktop and move the 48 file into it and restart Windows to make sure everything works ok before deleting the folder.

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These two seem to only explain about 5.5 gb.

 

Hi again Sach2

I tried that lil program you suggested, but it didnt appear to work for me. I think since it doesnt seem very secure to delete those files, that Im going to leave them alone for now. I wanna thank you for your time and effort that you put in trying to help me out. Hope you have a very happy holiday season

Troy

 

Your welcome. That program works by showing you at the right of the box the MSP file that is registered on your computer. Every time you hit ok it shows a patch file name on the right; these are the MSPs that should not be deleted. Any MSPs not shown in the box and listed in the Installer folder can be deleted. Awkward, I know.

You have enough room for now. Maybe after the Holidays post a new thread asking about deleting orphaned MSPs in the title. Someone with experience may have a definitive answer.

Have a good Holiday season.