Last night I performed three system restores because I was looking for something.  After finding it at a restore point from a few months ago, I restored my computer back to how it was before I started.  Everything was fine except my computer says I am now using 40 GB more memory than I was before I started.  I've looked through my program files as well as the add/remove software list and have found nothing different.  Why is there suddenly 40 extra GB of memory on my computer, and where is it so I can take it off?

if you cant find anything using explorer you could try some hard drive viewer like sequoiaview, but it sounds like it's not going to be something so simple.  Maybe check how much space you are allowing for system restore on your drives, and your pagefile size.  That's a lot to lose though, so it's probably something else has messed up.  Maybe a service pack issue or something.

Thanks sstteevvee.  I'll look into it.

you will need to delete your restore points and start making new ones. your restore files are taking all that space

Where can I find those files on my computer?

if you go to control panel, (select classic view), system, system restore tab, then 'settings' will tell you how much space you are allowing for system restore, and you can change the amount allowed there.  turning off system restore back on the main system restore tab and then turning it back on again will delete all your restore points.

Thanks a lot sstteevvee.  That solved my problem.

there is no need to change to classic view next time, to get to your restore just right click "my computer">properties>system restore

Awesome.  Thanks a lot.

good luck

i just meant control panel classic view, not windows.  You should change that to classic view even if you dont have a problem cos the other view sucks!  

I beg the differ on that one

But all it does is make you guess which category the thing you want is in.  I assumed everyone used classic view and thus asking for help while using category view could be confusing.  Guess some people do use the other view, though in 5 years you're the only one i've come across  

in 5 years you have not met anybody that has figured it out?  
 
first let me say that from my computer>manage I can go straight to where I want to go to and bypass the unneeded step of going to control panel however should I need to go there:
 

 
but if there are places I use regularly then I just make a quick shortcut in quick lunch and thats even faster  
 
for things like turning off PC and all that I have shortcuts in quick lunch, I rarely use the start menu

no i've figured it out myself in the past, but i always forget so it's easier for me to just use control panel for everything.  What i meant was the 'category view' for the control panel that they introduced in xp, but it seems you dont actually use it anyway.  
 
that's a lot of shortcuts...  must make reformatting a pain in the arse

nop again no need to reformat when you have clone sitting around