files relating to 20GB not located

[sunkesrao]

Hi
I am new to this forum and I thank you all for giving me this opportunity.
I am a novice as far as computer problems are concerned. I am using a Toshiba Satellite A135 laptop whose Hard disk is 73Gb and Ram 1GB. I have Windows Vista.

1.     When I open 'My computer' and see the files and their sizes, they all add up to 12 GB and free space available is 40GB. I am unable understand what happened to the remaining 21 GB. I solicit your help and guidance.

2.     Computer is very slow in booting (8minutes) and often internet sites (if I open more than 1) says "not responding". System is functioning slowly. What  to do?
sunkesrao

[geek hoodlum]

First of all, welcome to Computer Hope! If you have time, please introduce yourself here: Welcome new users -- introduce yourself

1.     When I open 'My computer' and see the files and their sizes, they all add up to 12 GB and free space available is 40GB. I am unable understand what happened to the remaining 21 GB. I solicit your help and guidance.

Is your drive has been partitioned? For example, you have 80GB hard disk but in My Computers you'll see two drives, C: and D:

Can you check also if there is an unallocated drive? right click My Computers > Manage > Disk management

2.     Computer is very slow in booting (8minutes) and often internet sites (if I open more than 1) says "not responding". System is functioning slowly. What  to do?

You need to check 1st if your computer is 100% free from virus. Suggest to follow the steps here: Read this before requesting malware removal help

[sunkesrao]

b]First Name?     Rao
Do you have pets nil
How many hours a day do you spend on the computer? 5
How many computers do you own?  1
What is your favorite color  Blue
What kind of music do you like?  rap
What are your goals        service to others
Who are your heroes?  nil
What kind of sports are you into?Cricket, Football, Chess, Bridge
Do you have any piercings   No
Left hand or right handed?    Right
Any tattoo's?  Nil
What is your favorite website? Yahoo
Playing any computer or console games if so which ones? no
Married?   yes
Have kids? yes
What languages do you speak? English, Hindi
How many keys are on your keyring? one
What is your favorite beverage? king fisher
What is your hair color? black

[sunkesrao]

Thanks for the reply.
My computer has no partitions.
sunkesrao

[sunkesrao]

Thanks. Anti virus(COMODO) is and m Anti Malware are running. Scanned the computer yesterday.
Verified 'Disk Management' and there is only one Drive with 73.06Gb. Used space is being shown as 33GB which i could not account for.
sunkesrao

[patio]

System Restore points...swap file...and any automated Vista backups probably account for the missing space...

[Geek-9pm]

How many keys are on your keyring? one
What is your favorite beverage? king fisher
What is your hair color? black

Would his choice of beer be a factor?   
http://www.kingfisherbeerusa.com/

[sunkesrao]

Thank you. what I shall I do with System restore points and Vista auto backups?

[GX1_Man]

You can remove all system restore points and start fresh BUT you need to make sure you do not have an infected machine.

The swap file may be large and the process slow due to a small amount of physical RAM.

Try running CCleaner (www.ccleaner.com) to remove unneccesary Windows debris, temp files, etc. and use it to check the registry for problems. (It's free!)

Even though Malwarebytes does an excellent job, I would download and run Spybot just to make sure. I hope Comodo is good enough, but I would run all of these scans in safe mode.

Let us know.

GX_1

[Allan]

You can remove all system restore points and start fresh BUT you need to make sure you do not have an infected machine.

This is accomplished by going to System Properties - System Restore and disabling System Restore. All restore points will be deleted as soon as you click on APPLY or OK.

The swap file may be large and the process slow due to a small amount of physical RAM.

What?

Try running CCleaner (www.ccleaner.com) to remove unneccesary Windows debris, temp files, etc. and use it to check the registry for problems. (It's free!)

It will serve no useful purpose, but feel free to do it.

Even though Malwarebytes does an excellent job, I would download and run Spybot just to make sure. I hope Comodo is good enough, but I would run all of these scans in safe mode.

Spybot is old school. The two best of breed malware utilities are MalwareBytes and SuperAntispyware. Also you need a top notch anti virus utility.

Let us know.

GX_1

[sunkesrao]

Thanks. I got more than 5 Gb recovered. I have run CCcleaner also. Any other suggestions?

[BC_Programmer]

Spybot is old school. The two best of breed malware utilities are MalwareBytes and SuperAntispyware.

[citation needed] 

Spybot is simply another program. That's it. how long it's been around is irrelevant. GX1_Man's point is that Spybot can detect a lot of stuff that malwarebytes won't find at all (since MBAM is for malware, not spyware) and SAS might not find either (due to differences in their engines).

[d34thp1ng]

I dont know if you still need help but you could always use a program like Space Sniffer ( http://www.uderzo.it/main_products/space_sniffer/index.html)

It will show you where the space is being used.

[sunkesrao]

Thanks a lot. Space sniffer gave me all the data.