[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.

[evilfantasy]

CCleaner is still running?

What about Superantispyware.

[northernsongs]

I checked again... the ProgramData folder is more than 45 GB.

[northernsongs]

Originally Posted by evilfantasy CCleaner is still running? What about Superantispyware.

Sorry, I mixed them up... Superantispyware is still running.

[northernsongs]

Okay, I narrowed it down to a folder.. The McAfee Logs folder is 45.3 GB.

[evilfantasy]

You should empty McAfees quarantine/virus vault (whatever mcafee calls it)

SAS will report it's contents as malicious.

3 hours is entirely too long though still. You may want to run SAS in safe mode.

I am wondering if it is McAfee that is constantly writing to the disk and filling it up?

Is it a paid version?

[northernsongs]

The newest log is steadily increasing in size right now, so it definitely is McAfee logging something all the time. Can I stop it somehow?
I don;t know if it;s a paid version... I didn't set the laptop up.

[evilfantasy]

There should be an icon in the task bar for mcafee, right click it and stop or shut it down. See if that improves things. Just don't do too much web surfing with no AV/firewall running.

[northernsongs]

It seems to have stopped logging for now... McAfee's been a bit screwy for some time, doesn't let me update and I don't trust it anymore in general.
And is there any way I can get rid of those logs?

[northernsongs]

Okay, another 13 KB just got added to the log. As far as I know, McAfee's not running anymore though.

[evilfantasy]

The protection is shut down but the service is probably still running.

If it is buggy why not get rid of it. McAfee is not the most liked security suite to have.

Use the McAfee Consumer Product Removal Tool to ensure it is removed properly.

Then I would suggest replacing it with
Avast! 4 Home Edition
and
PC Tools Firewall Plus 3.0

Both free and Vista compatible.

Don't know if this is the cause but it definitely won't hurt.