Hello all, I'm a novice with a big problem. I have an old IBM with max. capacity of 9.41GB. Until yesterday, I had approx. 4.5 GB unused. Now I have only 265MB available. My Os is Windows 2000 Pro, I run AVG antivirus,spybot and spy blaster. Several things happened yesterday: 1: TRIED to download AVG updates several times but received error messages; I then went to their web site and ran Vcleaner in safe mode. Then was able to down updates? 2: Tried to down a learning tool-"Excel VIEWER" for MS web site but cannot find it. 3: Comcast my ISP, has sent their "Desktop Doctor" to help their clients; which I also downloaded. As an aside, I now have a squiggly icon in my tray that reads"Protecting your email config-never protected"? 4: I share a partitioned computer; I went to my friend's side and found a message in IE that AVG had detected the virus I-Worm/Bagle and was now in the "Vault". Are any of these occurences related to my lost capacity? ThanksData downloaded causes the Hard Disk Drive's storage free space to decrease. That is rather logical.

You should do a thorough scan for Viruses, Trojan Horses and Spyware with the following scanners;

Virus scanners
AVG Free
-- Anti virus scanner
Trend Micro Housecall
-- Online anti virus scanner.

Anti spy/malware
Microsoft Antispyware
-- Anti spyware scanner. Windows XP Home and Professional only.
Spybot Search & Destroy
-- Anti spyware scanner
Adaware SE Personal
-- Anti spyware scanner

Firewalls
Use both a hardware and software firewall.
Be advised as dual software firewalls may cause problems

ZoneAlarm Free
-- Free firewall - more user friendly
Sygate Personal
-- Free firewall - more configuration options

Removal tools
The following files are not substitutes for the ONES described above.
They are either diagnostic tools or removal tools for malware of a certain kind

HijackThis
-- Manual malware remover. Post the HijackThis log generated only if requested!
McAfee Stinger
-- Virus removal tool. No substitute for a fully FUNCTIONAL virus scanner!
CWshredder
-- CoolWebSearch removal tool. Widely known and persistant Hijacker.

Also use the following tools:

Easy Cleaners
-- Freeware registry scanner
Registrar Lite
-- Excellent replacement for Windows Regedit
Crap Cleaner
-- Freeware registry scanner/history cleaner

Caution is advised when using these programs!
Create backups of all important files before proceeding.

Defragmenting and uninstalling programs you no longer require is also a good idea.When did you last run chkdsk and defrag the drive?Raptor & Mac... Problem solved...I did a scan for virus, spyware, adaware, defrag, etc...to no avail. I then went to my program files and checked the PROPERTIES for any size abnormalcy and deleted those programs not needed. Came upon a SPAMfighter program I had downloaded Wed. and the size was 3.76 GB....there was my problem. Much thanks to both of you for your input and guidance!Come back anytime. Shell corupted........