Free disk space is good, but...?

[DukeLeto]

It seems there is a little issue with the amount of free space on my hard drive: it keeps going up.  I know you may not think that's a bad thing, but here's the catch: I haven't uninstalled anything.  There is just suddenly more free space.

The amount of free disk space on my computer has jumped from 12.3 GB yesterday to 15.1 GB this morning.  And now it's up to 16.4 GB as I write this.  I did delete the temporary internet fines (less than 100 MB) and the installer for the MoH: PA demo (about 580 MB), but both before the 15.1 GB readout.  And besides, clearly, 100 + 600 ≠ 4100.

I ran complete system scans with both Norton 2003 (with the latest definitions) and AdAware 6.0 (also with the latest updates).  Nothing.

My first thought was something to do with the virtual memory (I have it set at 512 (min) - 4096 (max)), but now it's even emptied more space than the VM could have taken up!

And the strangest thing is that I haven't found anything missing!  Everything seems to still be in its proper place, and all of the programs I've tried still run!

And that's all just a wee bit frightening, especially considering HP never did give us any sort of WinXP install disk or Recovery CD.  (Meaning: Reformat = Impossible)

[Andrew]

Maybe your files are being compressed, if you have the option checked in disk cleanup. (But it will only compress when you do a disk cleanup)

Or maybe some system restore files are being deleted. Which may be normal. Under acessories/system tolls/system restore.