Derek891

Hello Alan. Thanks for replying to my post. Thanks for the link to Treesize. I downloaded it and ran it to get an idea of where my problem might be, I just wish I would have done it sooner. I'll answer your last question first and move up from there. 1.) The drive in question is C: drive and has a capacity of 902 GB. You might think I'm quibbling over 6.5 GB out of 902 total, but my real concern is how fast this happened. 2.) Windows 8 Update and HP Software Update are both set only to notify me of any available updates, leaving it up to me to choose when to download and install them. Wouldn't want it any other way. 3.) After my re-install both Windows and HP had set one restore point each; however, after I had removed all the bloatware and used CCleaner and Defraggler to clean everything up, I set my own restore point named "Clean Install". I then used CCleaner to remove the two previous restore points, leaving just the one I created. It was at this point that my data total was 44.5 GB. I have followed your advice and stopped using Defraggler until I can sort this out. I'm going to try and attach a screenshot of the results from Treesize. Maybe you can spot something that stands out as abnormal for Windows. I guess I'm just going to keep running Treesize and keep comparing the results. Thanks again Alan.

Hello to everyone. I'm having a problem as described in the topic title, and hopefully someone can point me to the cause. First, a little background. About two months ago I bought an HP Envy DV7-7333CL laptop. Windows 8 preinstalled with all the Microsoft and HP bloatware. Smooth sailing until last weekend when I lost my network connection and no matter what I tried, I could not reconnect. Out came my old HP Mini so I could get online and do some troubleshooting. Microsoft's support site was of little help, so I ended up on HP's support site. Found the appropriate topic and went down their 8 point checklist. If this doesn't work, then try this, and so on and so on. Ended up at the last step, which said I needed to re-install Windows(**GROAN**). So about three hours later I had a brand new, bright and shiny Windows 8 OS. Another couple of more hours to apply Windows updates, bring Norton Internet Security up to date, re-install several system drivers from HP, update some but not all of the HP freeware, and re-configure all the items in Control Panel to my liking. At this point, I decided to uninstall some of the bloatware I would never use, like the trial version of MS Office, HP Music powered by Meridian, and 16 or so Wild Tangent Games. After this I installed Piriform's CCleaner and Defraggler to clean up the file system, the registry, and do a thorough disk defrag. At this point, my hard drive had 44.5 GB of files. Now, on to my problem. A couple of days later, I did another full defrag (not the quick defrag) and noticed my hard drive had gone from 44.5 to 45.5 GB. In had not installed any new apps or downloaded any large files. I thought this was a little odd, maybe one of Windows little quirks, so I decided to start keeping track of my hard drive's data. Here's where things get interesting. Went from 45.5 to 46.2 GB after doing a quick defrag (the first time I used this option) before shutdown on the same day. Went from 46.2 to 47.1 GB after doing another quick defrag immediately after startup the next day. Went from 47.1 to 47.5 GB after doing another quick defrag before shutdown that same day. Went from 47.5 to 48.4 GB after doing a Windows Update (8 important plus 1 optional update). This was on Wednesday morning (8/13/2013). Went from 48.4 to 48.9 GB after doing a quick defrag before shutdown on the same day. Today I started up and decided to do a full defrag instead of the quick defrag. I sat there the entire time and watched as my data total climbed from 48.9 at the start to 49.2, then 49.4, then 49.6, then 49.8, then 50.0, and end up at 50.9 GB when the defrag finished. A total of 1 GB in one session! I wouldn't believe it unless I sat there and watch it happen right before my eyes. So what is wrong? It should be known that after I downloaded and installed Defraggler, I left all the settings as is. Also, I ran CCleaner prior to each defrag session. And I never ran the Windows Defragmenter since the re-install. Has anyone on the forum experienced anything similar to this? Should I have configured Defraggler differently prior to using it? Or is it Windows 8 doing something I'm totally unaware of? I'm aware that the paging file could be a part of this. I'm also aware that Windows squirrels away all sorts of log files on a continual basis. But gaining 6.5 GB of data in just a few days is just a bit too much. And to repeat, I did not install any new programs or download any files since this problem began. I'm going to sit back a couple of days and let everyone come up with their theory on this. I just want to know if Defraggler is doing something wrong, or if Windows is just being Windows? Or did the FBI sneak 6.5 GB of kiddie porn past Norton Internet Security and will be breaking down my door at 3 AM this evening? If I'm still here on Friday, I'll check in and see what all of you think the problem is. Thanks for reading this and hopefully someone can help.

I just signed in so I thought it appropriate to say hello to everyone. I've been using CCleaner since 1999 on Windows 98SE and recommend it to everyone. I hope I can not only learn a few things here but also offer help to others. I'm off to the Defraggler forum to ask a few dumb questions about how to configure it. I'll pop back in when I get that sorted out. Bye for now!