Help! C-disk full - what can I delete please?

Lynne in NZ

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Hello My C Disk only has a couple of hundred MB's of space left?! Over 10GB of free space has disappeared?!?! I tried a system restore but it would not let me go back beyond the beginning of April and it did not help. I have also deleted AVG because since downloading the free 2013 version my computer has been very sluggish and it was always updating. Now have AVAST. How do I find where all this data has been stored? Did check the c-disk and under Documents and Settings in the Local Settings Temp folder there is a text document that is dated yesterday when I did the system restore called toolbar-log. It is 25.3 GB???? Can someone help please before my computer stops?! Thank you, Lynne in NZ
 
Solution
Toolbar.log?

Yeah. Go ahead and delete that. If it was important to some program, it'll just make a new copy, and if it's a dropping from a virus, it'll at least let you download MSE and run it.

Lynne in NZ

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Hi DarkSable

Thanks for that! Will download and run full scans.

The software suggested by smeezekitty has identified a text document (probably the one mentioned in my initial post) as the largest user of resources. Does anyone have any idea what it is and why it is so large please? Thank you.

Now have fewer than 300 MB's left in C Drive!!!

 

lon0

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A text document? What is it called?
The only legitimate thing I can think of atm is that it is a log file for something, usually of this size it will be for an antivirus program. Generally they don't bloat like that though, apart from Symantec (damn you!).
Also, where is it located?

Obviously disregard all of this if it is flagged up by the antivir scans and removed :D
 

Lynne in NZ

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[/quotemsg]
A text document? What is it called?
The only legitimate thing I can think of atm is that it is a log file for something, usually of this size it will be for an antivirus program. Generally they don't bloat like that though, apart from Symantec (damn you!).
Also, where is it located?

Obviously disregard all of this if it is flagged up by the antivir scans and removed :D[/quotemsg]


Hi lon0

Having run malwarebytes as suggested by DarkSable, it identified 37 items, which have now been deleted but there was not enough room in the C Drive to run the Microsoft Security Essentials!

I am beginning to think this file is definitely the problem and deleting it will fix everything ... as long as it does not create new ones because I do not really understand what it is and why it is so large. I am loathe to open it just yet in case it is a can of worms!! Checking the Properties though shows it was originally created in December 2011 so may have been filling up for some time and it is only as the C Disk has become full that its presence has become apparent.

I like your suggestion that it is something to do with an anti-virus because I have wondered if it is AVG, which I've now deleted.

The document is in C: Documents and Settings_Owner-1_Local Settings_Temp and is called toolbar-log. It is 25.3 GB!!!!!!!!!!

Help! Only 225MB left in C-Drive!

Thank you for your input. I guess I am hoping now that someone can just tell me it is okay to delete it!
 

lon0

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A text document? What is it called?
The only legitimate thing I can think of atm is that it is a log file for something, usually of this size it will be for an antivirus program. Generally they don't bloat like that though, apart from Symantec (damn you!).
Also, where is it located?

Obviously disregard all of this if it is flagged up by the antivir scans and removed :D[/quotemsg]


Hi lon0

Having run malwarebytes as suggested by DarkSable, it identified 37 items, which have now been deleted but there was not enough room in the C Drive to run the Microsoft Security Essentials!

I am beginning to think this file is definitely the problem and deleting it will fix everything ... as long as it does not create new ones because I do not really understand what it is and why it is so large. I am loathe to open it just yet in case it is a can of worms!! Checking the Properties though shows it was originally created in December 2011 so may have been filling up for some time and it is only as the C Disk has become full that its presence has become apparent.

I like your suggestion that it is something to do with an anti-virus because I have wondered if it is AVG, which I've now deleted.

The document is in C: Documents and Settings_Owner-1_Local Settings_Temp and is called toolbar-log. It is 25.3 GB!!!!!!!!!!

Help! Only 225MB left in C-Drive!

Thank you for your input. I guess I am hoping now that someone can just tell me it is okay to delete it![/quotemsg]

Yep, looks like it is a log file from AVG, found someone else who had a similar problem as you here:
http://forums.avg.com/ww-en/avg-forums?sec=thread&act=show&id=185248
It looks like you are safe to delete it, if it won't allow it then use malwarebytes tools 'file assassin'.
If you have removed AVG and it is recreated then run Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebytes again.
 
In My Computer, click on Tools then Folder Options and then the View menu. Tick to Show hidden files and folders and untick Hide protected files, click Apply and OK your way out. Go into the Windows folder and highlight all the blue entries at the top of the list and delete them. Go into the Software Distribution folder and delete the entire contents. Empty the Recycle Bin and restart the computer.

Go back into Control Panel>Power Options and disable Hibernation if it's operational. In Control Panel>Systems and turn off System restore - it isn't working for you anyway but it's taking up space. Restart the system again and you should have got quite a few Gb of free space. Then install Microsoft Security Essentials.

The above doesn't fix what's eating up space but it will free enough to help you find the answer.
 

lon0

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I'm probably going to get banned or something for this as you are a moderator, but did you read what the problem was? It's a large log file from a known bug in the antivirus. Just remove the log file.
Disabling system restore is a terrible idea, it is working for them, just not removing the log file (obviously), it only has a months worth of rollback anyway. Or at least recommend turning it back on again, it's not like it is useless space.

Laurence
 
First off, lon0 - as far as I know, no Mod in this Forum will ban you for a difference of technical opinion with another Mod.

No-one knows it all and to prove it, you seem to have missed the point the OP makes about an extreme and urgent shortage of free disk space. That was the point I addressed and left the points others were dealing with alone. Any space in these circumstances is worth retrieving for however long it takes to sort the problem and SR takes up anything up to 10%, depending on settings.

 

lon0

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Ok, that's nice to know.

I'm sorry but I disagree with your premise that I haven't addressed the issue of shortage of space, removing the log file will free up the space required and leave the resilience of System Restore.

I accept that you are trying to help in this matter and I won't clog this up with anything else. OP can decide on the path they wish to choose.

-Laurence
 

Lynne in NZ

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May 1, 2013
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Hello everyone!

Sorry for the delay, had to take a break (health issues).

Thank you for all the new responses and all the helpful suggestions, which I shall copy and keep for future reference (should I be able to help someone else and if something similar happens again to my computer)!

Following lon0's advice, which was confirmed also by smeezekitty and DarkSable, I have now deleted the toolbar-log text document and now have 25GB+ of free disk space!!!!!!!!!!!! As I had already deleted AVG the toolbar-log has not yet reappeared (and probably won't according to that link supplied to the AVG forum by lon0). As it turns out after checking the properties for the toolbar-log document it was initially created in December 2011 (probably when I updated to the AVG 2012 free edition), which coincides with the experience of the person whose message on the AVG forum lon0 posted, so it has been chugging away gobbling up space for about 16 months!

As you've probably appreciated I have very little technical experience and am very grateful for your kind help!

I was interested in the comments about System Restore, which I will bear in mind should something like this happen again as I had been madly deleting all the software I was not currently needing (intending to install again later when there was more space)! It was a matter of being able to stay online long enough to get the help needed before the computer stopped altogether!!!!

I had tried System Restore initially with no success as it would only allow me to go back to the beginning of the month (April) although the guidelines suggested it should have been possible to go back further. However, Laurence's comment that it only has a month's rollback confirms what happened.

Charlotte I have yet to check out your suggestion, but thank you!
---------------

I do have one more query please following the advice received about Microsoft Security Essentials. I was not able to install it previously (before deleting the tool-bar log document owing to the lack of space) but have now tried again and it says I need to get rid of the AVAST antivirus I had installed after deleting AVG. Apparently they will interfere with each other. Is that correct? Does MSE scan emails as well? (I checked the MSE website and it does not say anything about scanning emails that I could see.) Would it be better to now replace the AVAST with MSE?

Thanks again everyone!

Lynne
 
I couldn't tell you if MSE will scan emails, but it should scan any attachment downloaded from emails.

I personally hold that the best antivirus setup is the free setup of malwarebytes and MSE. If you want to be really fancy, you can pay about $20 for the full version of malwarebytes, which will do real-time scanning of your internet use.
 

Lynne in NZ

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Hi everyone!

Have now installed Microsoft Security Essentials after deleting AVAST and have run a scan - all clear!

Now have Malwarebytes and MSE as recommended!

Thank you all so much for your help!

Kind regards and God bless you,
Lynne

 

Lynne in NZ

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Hi DarkSable

Yes, it really is wonderful! The outcome is actually so much better than I hoped!! :bounce:

I had thought I had lost about 10GB but in fact discovered the problem had been going on a lot longer than I realized and have now recovered more than 25 GB - over half my 40 GB hard drive!!!!!!

Also, in the process, I have learned about WinDirStat, Malwarebytes and Microsoft Security Essentials so will be better able to maintain my computer in future!

I will also check out treesize, thank you for that as well!

I really am very grateful, thank you!

God bless you,
Lynne