Help please

[zaggy]

I am running Win ME at work and lately it seems as though I have a virus. I have run online virus scans, norton's 2000 scan both in safe mode and not in safe mode. My norton's will run through in safe mode but not completely in regular mode. It tells me it could not run the scan due to a fatal error but does not give me the error.

I ran scans off Symantec's home page, downloaded a couple of viri fixes. Nothing showing up anywhere.

The reason I am going through all this is that on a 40 GB hard drive it shows that I have used 30.0 GB and that is up from 24.0 last week. I have removed programs not added them and can't figure out why else my machine is losing memory. It has also been running slowly as of late.

We are not on a network, we all share one computer under one name, we are a small business,. We are on a cable internet connection.

I am a complete newbie to this obviously. Any help would be greatly appreciated and if you require more information let me know.

[avenger_jcc]

try www.pcpitstop.com
thier online scanner isnt directly affected by viruses so it may find it.
also google the cleaner, by moosoft.

[prodikal]

isnt that just the needless space windows takes up ? :D

no seriously check all your programs you have installed for stuff that is large in file size that is fairly new also check this tool http://www.vtoy.fi/jv16/shtml/regcleaner.shtml this will let you look through and remove programs items from your registery

also do a scan disk and a defrag to clear up bad clusters

hope this helps

EDIT i IMO i dont think it is a virus have you downloaded stuff from dodgy websites lately or email attachments etc

[zaggy]

Thank you so much for all the help. I will try everything suggested and let you know.

[Sgt_B]

Some viruses can also cripple your anti-virus. You may want to reinstall Norton's just to be safe.

[zaggy]

I have used the Registry cleaner, done a scan disk, done numerous trojan and virus scans and tried defragging but the defrag takes forever. I gave up after 1 1/2 hours. Nothing has worked. I'm still showing 30.0 gb used up.

Anybody? :confused:

[Curious_One]

Have you tried cleaning out the cache, internet files, history, temp folders, etc. Run a scan to make sure no spyware has been installed, sometimes it can chew up space. Make sure there aren't any hidden files, large attachments in the mail, just basic things like that. You might even want to try compressing the disk. After removing a bunch of programs or stuff in general, the disk might need to reorganize itself. (not sure, but stranger things have happened.)

[Dome]

go get AVG its free and its good and it does a mini-scan on boot before anything loads

[Scorp666]

Have you tried doing a search for recently created files? That could be a way to figure what took your 6 gb

The following tool could also help you in the search of that mysterious 6 gb :

http://www.webattack.com/get/freespace.shtml

Good luck!

[zaggy]

Thanks again to everyone. You guys never fail me!

[Scorp666]

You could also use that tool :

http://www.webattack.com/get/fosi.shtml