"Memory space keeps decreasing".... Is this a virus?

[evilfantasy]

It could be malware but sounds more like something that is constantly writing information to the disk. A buggy program maybe that is constantly writing logs or something.

Download and run 'Windows Directory Statistics'. This program will show you what is using up your resources and hopefully narrow down what the problem is.

[deletestardotstar]

Hmm.. Thanks for the tool, evil. Its a very convenient method to have a visual glance of the memory usage. With regard to the problem, most of what i see are the expected results. Nothing unusual here.

In the event that my virtual memory might be faltering, I changed the paging file size from custom (1000 MB to 2000 MB) to System Managed. After that, located two files in the windows directory - pagefile.sys and hiberfil.sys which were occupying 753 MB and 502 MB respectively. Could they be indication of the fault? Let me know what ur thinking in case u need any more info.

(PS: Memory still fluctuating)

[evilfantasy]

This is a bit outside of my normal help zone but you might get some idea by looking at the Event Viewer (not sure)

A Faster Way Of Accessing The Windows Event Viewer (XP)

[evilfantasy]

More links.

How to view and manage event logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427

How To Use Computer Management in Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308423

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Nice program, Evil.

I've stumbled by WinDirStat before but I didn't take the time to look at it in more detail.

[evilfantasy]

It's pretty cool. I have freed up quite a bit of space with it a few times.

[deletestardotstar]

This is a bit outside of my normal help zone but you might get some idea by looking at the Event Viewer (not sure)

A Faster Way Of Accessing The Windows Event Viewer (XP)

Hey Evil,

Quick confession from my side.. I'm really not a tech-literate person. Having known that fact myself, i dived in to open the Event Viewer logs. Tracing the steps back i've tried to look at the first instances when the problem started surfacing. I have a Win XP SP 2 operating system which only recently was using my MotoROKR E6 as a mobile phone to access the internet. While using the phone as a modem, there was this one time that the Motorola Phone Tools software froze in the middle while refusing to recognise the cellphone. I then yanked the USB cable out and restarted both systems. Subsequently i started browsing the internet without a firewall or anti-virus. The latter was my initial assumption behind the strange functioning of my system. SO that's why i would continuously run scans to find the problem.

Reading the Event Viewer may probably suggest something else. Let me present it event log wise.

System Log view
For the past two weeks, there've been a series of dual errors that occur every time i start the computer:
1. A series of errors for event numbers:

• 10005

Source              DCOM
Type             Information
Description     DCOM got error "The Program cannot be started in Safe Mode attempting to start the service netman with arguments" in order to run the server: {COM object GUID}

• 7001

Source              Service Control Manager
Type             Error
Description     The DHCP Client service depends on the NetBios over Tcpip service which failed to start because of the following error: A device attached to the system is not functioning

• 7026

Source              Service Control Manager
Type                 Error
Description     The following boot-start or system-start drivers failed to load - <list of start-up applications>

• 7036

Source              Service Control Manager
Type             Information
Description     The <service name> service entered the <running/stopped> state.


2. Two rapid succession errors for event numbers:

• 104

Source              SRService
Type             Error
Description     The System Restore initialization process failed

• 7023

Source              Service Control Manager
Type             Error
Description     The System Restore Service terminated with the following error: The system cannot find the specified file


In some cases (probably just after booting?) errors begin with event 104 and immediately jumping to 10005 causing a cycle of errors.

The second set of errors (104 and 7023) seem to make sense since i disabled System Restore to use more memory space and install the required anti-virus softwares.

Considering that...

An event that describes a significant problem, such as the failure of a critical task. Error events may involve data loss or loss of functionality.

.. then is this problem something to do with some faulty memory system?

Application Log view
Exactly one day after the first set of System errors took place, i think took place the mishap where i yanked the cable out. This is logged in as errors for event numbers:

• 1002

Description - Hanging application mPhoneTools.exe, version 3.0.0.0 hang module hungapp, version 0.0.0.0, hang address 0x00000000000

After this are a series of errors with source ESENT and event numbers:

• 482
• 439

That's practically all from the Application logs - loads of ESENT errors!

In the light of all the info that i gave you, i may still be wrong in trying to link events or interpreting the errors. This is deep into the no-fly territory for me. I'm not even sure if this is the right section to post this thread. If you have made some sense of this, please do let me know what i must proceed with.

Am i supposed to use this ??

*gulp*

HELP PLEASE!! 


[/list][/list][/list]

[Skeye]

Thanks for starting this thread deletestardotstar , I am having the same problem. Wasn't sure if this was something I hadn't noticed before and was normal or what, but because I am using a friend's computer that is very low on disk space I have been monitoring the size. I am noticing how when I am on certain sites, usually graphic heavy ones, the MBs drop quick. Usually clearing the browser session gets it back up, but with a few less than when started. So there is a gradual 'eating away' of MBs. But there has also been times of major drops and raises in MBs that I have no idea why.

Thanks evilfantasy
Like the WinDirStat...now let's see if I can make sense of it and utilize it correctly. 

[deletestardotstar]

Thanks evilfantasy
Like the WinDirStat...now let's see if I can make sense of it and utilize it correctly. 

Same problem? Use Event Viewer and try back-tracking to the date you first observed the problem. You might just be able to locate the reason behind this weird behaviour. In case ur able to figure it out, do post a link to another thread or update this one. I'd like to know what you're thinking about...

[Skeye]

Same problem? Use Event Viewer and try back-tracking to the date you first observed the problem. You might just be able to locate the reason behind this weird behaviour. In case ur able to figure it out, do post a link to another thread or update this one. I'd like to know what you're thinking about...

Thanks deletestardotstar....not sure when it started really, but I'll let you know if I find anything.

My initial feeling about this is that it seems like there is something running when it shouldn't be, because I see the yellow light next to the power button flashing and hear the hard drive clicking away. And the Firefox takes a long time to come up, could be the new AVG toolbar, but it was still overall slow most often than not even before installing it.

I read recently that there are programs that access the internet even when a browser is not up, plus a Windows update recently addressed a security breach possibility of having the computer 'remotely accessed'. I recently turned off a feature in Windows that allows for remote access, to allow for someone to see your desktop and interact with your computer from theirs...not sure if that helps any, but I don't need the feature right now, so it's off.   

Get back to you sooner than later I hope. Good luck!

[Coheed015]

I'm sorry if i revived this thread but I didn't want to create a  new one if a similar topic was around. But I'm having this same issue on my pc. My hard drive decreases after every couple of minutes and continues to go down. I had ccleaner do its job and mal aware scans as well. I used Norton to clean up as well and it hasn't found any viruses. I don't know what else to do. I'm running on xp, my c drive has 18.6 g b . Any ideas on what I can do. This problem started out like 2 days ago.

[collegecase]

what model of laptop do you have?  If you have a sony viao your problem could be that the partition that holds the operating system is too small. If that is the case you need to backup everything on your computer and do a system recovery to make the two partitions that you currently have into one big partition.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Coheed015, You will need to start a new topic.

Come here:
http://www.computerhope.com/forum/index.php/topic,33586.html

And then here:
http://www.computerhope.com/forum/index.php?action=post;board=1.0