lost capacity

[Gallagher]

Hello all, I'm a novice with a big problem. I have an old IBM with max. capacity of 9.41GB. Until yesterday, I had approx. 4.5 GB unused. Now I have only 265MB available. My Os is Windows 2000 Pro, I run AVG antivirus,spybot and spy blaster. Several things happened yesterday: 1: Tried to download AVG updates several times but received error messages; I then went to their web site and ran Vcleaner in safe mode. Then was able to down updates? 2: Tried to down a learning tool-"Excel viewer" for MS web site but cannot find it. 3: Comcast my ISP, has sent their "Desktop Doctor" to help their clients; which I also downloaded. As an aside, I now have a squiggly icon in my tray that reads"Protecting your email config-never protected"? 4: I share a partitioned computer; I went to my friend's side and found a message in IE that AVG had detected the virus I-Worm/Bagle and was now in the "Vault". Are any of these occurences related to my lost capacity? Thanks

[Raptor]

Data downloaded causes the Hard Disk Drive's storage free space to decrease. That is rather logical.

You should do a thorough scan for Viruses, Trojan Horses and Spyware with the following scanners;

Virus scanners
AVG Free
-- Anti virus scanner
Trend Micro Housecall
-- Online anti virus scanner.

Anti spy/malware
Microsoft Antispyware
-- Anti spyware scanner. Windows XP Home and Professional only.
Spybot Search & Destroy
-- Anti spyware scanner
Adaware SE Personal
-- Anti spyware scanner

Firewalls
Use both a hardware and software firewall.
Be advised as dual software firewalls may cause problems

ZoneAlarm Free
-- Free firewall - more user friendly
Sygate Personal
-- Free firewall - more configuration options

Removal tools
The following files are not substitutes for the ones described above.
They are either diagnostic tools or removal tools for malware of a certain kind

HijackThis
-- Manual malware remover. Post the HijackThis log generated only if requested!
McAfee Stinger
-- Virus removal tool. No substitute for a fully functional virus scanner!
CWshredder
-- CoolWebSearch removal tool. Widely known and persistant Hijacker.

Also use the following tools:

Easy Cleaners
-- Freeware registry scanner
Registrar Lite
-- Excellent replacement for Windows Regedit
Crap Cleaner
-- Freeware registry scanner/history cleaner

Caution is advised when using these programs!
Create backups of all important files before proceeding.

Defragmenting and uninstalling programs you no longer require is also a good idea.

[Mac]

When did you last run chkdsk and defrag the drive?

[Gallagher]

Raptor & Mac... Problem solved...I did a scan for virus, spyware, adaware, defrag, etc...to no avail. I then went to my program files and checked the properties for any size abnormalcy and deleted those programs not needed. Came upon a SPAMfighter program I had downloaded Wed. and the size was 3.76 GB....there was my problem. Much thanks to both of you for your input and guidance!

[Raptor]

Come back anytime.

[merlin_2]

Shell corupted........