My disk space gradually fills up during an online session. After a restart everything is back to normal.

My hard disk is partitioned into two NTFS drives, C: (10GB) holds Windows and all other software, D: (30GB) holds data files. Once I've started an internet connection the C: drive gradually appears to fill up. I can see this happening in My Computer / Properties. It happens even when explorer isn't running, faster when it IS running, and happens even though I'm not actually hitting any web pages. (Explorer is set to use 312Mb for temporary files but I shouldn't even be using that because I'm not actively surfing!).

After a restart I have the correct amount of disk space showing - about 5 Gb of a 10Gb partition. So it's some kind of temporary storage. I haven't been able to find the file or directory that is filling up - I tried using SEARCH for files modified on that day.

My set up is XP, IE 6, and I'm also running SYGATE firewall, PC-CILLIN virus detector, WE-BLOCKER filtering. SYGATE logs are restricted to 512KB.

(Originally posted as a reply in http://www.daniweb.com/forums/showthread.php?p=69895)

hmmmm, now this is only a possibility but it sounds like you havent got enough memory to cope with the amount of files and processes so to compensate for this information is getting shoved onto the hard drive temporarily to allow the RAM to free up a little bit. when this occurs you might notice the machine gets sluggish.

I did fix the problem - by a complete reinstall of XP.
The hardware and software setup is exactly the same as it was but no disk space problem.

hehe .. clean installation is the ultimate solution to all problems . Marking this thread as solved.