[evilfantasy]

Almost forgot this.........

Your Java is out of date
Older versions have vulnerabilities that malware can use to infect your system. It is possible that you may be running Java code in your applications that absolutely require a specific version of the JRE to run. Please follow these steps to remove older version of Java components and update

Updating Java:
* Go to Start > Control Panel double-click on Add/Remove programs and remove all older versions of Java.
* Check for any item with Java Runtime Environment (JRE or J2SE) in the name.
+ The current version is Java 6 update 3
* Click the Remove or Change/Remove button.
* Repeat as many times as necessary to remove each of the Java versions.
* Reboot your computer once all Java components are removed.
* Download the latest version of Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 6
* Click the Free Java Download button.
* Click the Download Now button.
* When the Software Installation dialog box opens. Click on the Install Now button.
* Follow the prompts to complete installation.

[northernsongs]

I updated Java and ran chkdsk, but it didn't change anything. I hardly every use the webcam, so it;s not plugged in all the time... same with bluetooth. I don't plug in anything at all for that.

[alex]

What size capacity is this drive in a formatted empty state?

NTFS format?

[northernsongs]

Yes, NTFS.. 69.0 GB.

[alex]

Okey doke. I'm with EF in that it could be malware but we can try some other things that won't upset anything.

But it could also be the hdd failing physically. If you've anything on it that you simply can't lose then please back up asap.

Okay, you're going to lose a fair few gig once the o.s is installed on the hdd, along with drivers and updates and any office software etc.

But you should still have around 60gb when this is all installed. Going down to nothing suggests there's some software running in the background that has been installed, unknowingly, by you. (I use the term "installed" loosely). It could very well be p2p related....

I see you've already ran chkdsk, nice one.

Firstly, download CCleaner and run it with the boxes that are ticked by default as the only things you're going to clean.

Please now run a rollback on windows to the earliest restore point and let me know the results.

[northernsongs]

I ran the CCleaner which free about 850 MB. I couldn;t find a restore point, the laptop's only three months old, so I couldn't do anything.

[northernsongs]

Since my last post an hour ago, the free space on C: went down from 901 MB to 90.8 MB. I didn't save or download anything and did nothing out of the ordinary.
Update: Within a minute it went back up to 627...

[evilfantasy]

Still seems like malware.

Have you ran any spyware scans? There are a lot of instructions but it only takes a second. I need the log which is included in the instructions.

Download Superantispyware (SAS)

SUPERAntispyware Free Edition

Install it and double-click the icon on your desktop to run it.
* It will ask if you want to Update the program definitions, click Yes.
* Under Configuration and Preferences, click the Preferences button.
* Click the Scanning Control tab.
* Under Scanner Options make sure the following are checked:
+ Close browsers before scanning
+ Scan for tracking cookies
+ Terminate memory threats before quarantining.
+ Please leave the others unchecked.
+ Click the Close button to leave the control center screen.
* On the main screen, under Scan for Harmful Software click Scan your computer.
* On the left check C:\Fixed Drive.
* On the right, under Complete Scan, choose Perform Complete Scan.
* Click Next to start the scan. Please be patient while it scans your computer.
* After the scan is complete a summary box will appear. Click OK.
* Make sure everything in the white box has a check next to it, then click Next.
* It will quarantine what it found and if it asks if you want to reboot, click Yes.
* To retrieve the removal information please do the following:
+ After reboot, double-click the SUPERAntiSpyware icon on your desktop.
+ Click Preferences. Click the Statistics/Logs tab.
+ Under Scanner Logs, double-click SUPERAntiSpyware Scan Log.
+ It will open in your default text editor (such as Notepad/Wordpad).
+ Save the notepad file to your desktop by clicking (in notepad) "File" "Save As"
* Save the log somewhere you can easily find it. (normally the desktop)
* Click close and close again to exit the program.
* Please add the log as an attachment in the next post.

Guide for attaching logs to a post

[sophus]

nothersongs, that's smells like malware, like the other's said. But you could get rid of it. First, try to discover where are all these gigabytes going by browsing folders and paying attention to it's size. For example, if you find out that windows' foler is like 50gb, then explore it further until you find the folder that cointains this huge size. If you find it, then you can be sure it's a malware. The next step is to prevent it from running when your system boots up.
Please, let us know of your progress.

[northernsongs]

The CCleaner is still running, it started more than 3 hours ago but it seems to scan the same two folders over and over again and doesn't move on to the next ones anymore. There are just pictures I took in those two folders, nothing suspicious...

Sophus, I tried that already, but I couldn't find anything suspicious... I'll check again though.