Member Avatar for twoyorkie

My wifes laptop was short of harddrive space so I thought i would investigate .........so i got rid of all the silly pictures and stuff and unwanted,unused programmes,but it oly left about 10% of free space on a 40gb drive !!!
So i thought that windows maybey was hanging on to temp files ...but no.......
The i discovered 2 things .....1 that when investigating C:/ drive 3 of the 6 items __docs and settings,window and a small boot file 4kb were in BLUE FONT COLOUR ,unlike the usuall black ad that the windows folder was 23.1GB with 22,250 files and 2.040 folders when on my laptop running identical OS it was 7.58GB with 34,604 files and 2,717 folders !!!!! HELP please techies !!!! There is probably a simple answer .....but not for my brain ....!! cheers guys !!!:-O

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Thread summary: a 40 GB laptop shows very little free space; the C:\Windows folder reports ~23.1 GB while manual totals of its subfolders come out much smaller; several cleanups and antivirus scans have already been run. noted the blue font on system folders; and suggested update caches and checking details; flagged the color as meaningful.

What's most likely: NTFS compression or other filesystem attributes are affecting how Explorer reports totals, and Explorer's per-folder summing can miss files that are compressed, reparse points/junctions, or protected by ACLs. Windows update uninstall folders, the Installer cache, sparse files, or even filesystem corruption (bad MFT entries) can cause a parent folder to show a much larger or different number than the sum of visible subfolders.

Non-destructive diagnostic steps (do these first):

  • Confirm whether compression is applied (folder Properties → Advanced) and compare Size vs Size on disk in Properties for the Windows folder.
  • Produce a list of compressed items with the built-in tool:
    compact /s:"C:\Windows" > C:\Windows_compression_report.txt

    Inspect that report for unexpectedly compressed subtrees.

  • Run a visual disk-map tool (WinDirStat/TreeSize Free) to locate the largest on-disk consumers without deleting anything.
  • Run a filesystem check (chkdsk /f) if totals still look inconsistent — cross-linked or corrupt metadata can make Explorer lie about sizes.

Safe next steps and cautions: avoid blindly deleting $NtUninstall* or files from C:\Windows\Installer — that can break uninstallers or updates. If compression is the culprit and uncompressing is desired, free or move enough user data off the drive first (uncompressing will raise actual disk usage). If the above diagnostics still don’t locate the space sink, imaging the disk and a controlled reinstall or professional inspection is the safest way to restore accurate reporting.

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Member Avatar for amlife

There is nothing to worry about, your 40 GB is relatively small.

When you want to compare the size of your Windows folder with another on different computer, you should also consider Service pack level on both machines, SP2 or SP3 + System updates on the other machine.

Keep in mind, Is the other laptop has the same installed applications ? those apps will take lots of disk space too.

If you open you windows folder you will find lots of cashed windows updates folder which is considered to be left overs of Windows updates installation files.
Those folders will have names like this $NtUninstallKB960715$

it starts with $ ...

However I recommend to backup your computer by either copying to USB drive, External Hard drive, or burning them on DVDs ..

Member Avatar for twoyorkie

Thanks Amlife for your input.......
Her PC is running XP Pro and with all Windows updates and SP3 !!
My PC is running XP Media Center with all updates and SP3!!

I have downloaded the windows clearout tool from MS and completed on both ........
My PC has a larger HDD but I have vastly more big programs i.e Photoshop,Corel,etc etc ......
So I still do not understand the BIG differences and the lack of HDD space on her machine ,running not so big and hungry progs !!! What about the font colour thig then ?? any ideas ??? Cheers

Member Avatar for twoyorkie

any more ideas anyone please ????????

Member Avatar for caperjack

hi, i have no idea why the blue font!but open the windows folder ,go view click details ,then click on size to show the large file from top to bottom and you may find the reason for the large size of the windows folder.
oh, and my windows xp pro folder is only 3.3 gig

Member Avatar for twoyorkie

Thanks Caperjack......I have checked each and everyone of the folders on Windows folder and according to my reckoning they do NOT add up to the 23.1 GB shown in properties....when asked they add up as normal then go from about 4 gb to 20+ Gb in a quick leap !!!! I still think this Blue font colour thing is significant !! I have run disk cleanup again and windows setup cleanup utility with no better results ......................

Member Avatar for twoyorkie

Yep done all of that !! along with Mallware,AVG ......no ....it appears to be a weard one !!!..... any ideas please people !! I usually go for the obvious route but it now is getting frustrating as there is some very unexplained stuff going on

Member Avatar for cguan_77

try to download atf cleaner... it might help to increase your hdd space...

or you go to command prompt..
then at c:\
type dir /s /w /p

then manually check each folder...how many bytes its consuming.. then if that particular folder got something suspicious that it's consuming a lot of bytes.. then check it ...

Member Avatar for pritaeas

hi, i have no idea why the blue font!

Blue font normally means the file is compressed.

Member Avatar for twoyorkie

thanks Pritaeas ,Thought the blue font was significant !!
Been through all files (bloody ages) after running ATF (thanks Ciguan-77) and still no more the wiser .......
this ridiculous....Fdisk coming up soon !!!

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