Vista - Allocation units

06-23-2009

On Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:51:37 -0400, "mazorj" <mazorj@xxxxxx>
wrote:

Quote:

>
> "Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@xxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:2htv35dmjv1ismeg55v38btbgvbf55obvm@xxxxxx

Quote:

> > On Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:34:39 -0400, "mazorj" <mazorj@xxxxxx>
> > wrote:
> >

Quote:

> >>
> >> "Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@xxxxxx> wrote in
> >> message
> >> news:d4hs35h9nviutigmuj4gn9k5r6vvtegqnu@xxxxxx

>
> ...

Quote:

> >> > In my view, and that of many of us here, Norton is the *worst*
> >> > anti-virus program available. I wouldn't rely on what it tells
> >> > you.
> >>
> >> How current is that view? There was a time when Norton was indeed
> >> mediocre after resting on their laurels but they seem to have
> >> gotten
> >> their act together lately.

> >
> > They are, in general, a lot worse than mediocre.
> >
> > However, bear in mind that the latest version, AntiVirus 2009, has
> > gotten much better reports from several people, several of whom I
> > trust. However I have no personal experience with it, and I am not
> > willing to use it myself, nor even to yet recommend it to anyone
> > else.

>
> I'm using NIS 2009. NIS 2008 came with the machine but I checked
> reviews before renewing my subscription and updating it. Almost
> everyone seems to agree that it's much improved over the old Norton
> with its well-deserved poor reputation.

Yes, as I said, I've heard much the same thing from others I respect.

Quote:

> It may not be everyone's #1
> pick, but there's no reason to shun it as in the past. If it comes
> bundled, it's certainly good enough as your starting point.

It's not that I shun NIS 2009 or Norton AntiVirus 2009. It's that I
shun Symantec. They have been an extremely poor and unreliable company
in recent years, and until they convince me that are much better than
they used to be, I won't have anything to do with them or any of their
products. Norton AntiVirus 2009 *may* be a first step for them to
convince me of that, but it's not enough for me yet. I'm waiting to
see what the future brings.

Quote:

> However, I'm a belt and suspenders type on security. No reason why
> you cannot and should not have an arsenal of several security
> sweepers. I had SpySweeper and ZoneAlarm running on my XP machine
> back when Norton was sucking wind in the security apps market. (Just
> don't run two firewalls at once.) And yes, theoretically I might
> still have malware even though three separate, reputable sweepers
> couldn't find anything, and theoretically there might be one obscure
> program out there that could catch it; but with three sweepers in
> action, I'm already verging into diminishing returns. If my 200 GB
> "vanishing unused disk space" problem is due to malware rather than
> some obscure process run amok, I'll never find it.
>
> Anyway, thanks for the comments.

You're welcome.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

06-23-2009

"Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:s4q145pbkf9al8vhu9n8uj56eod6dovphm@xxxxxx

Quote:

> On Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:51:37 -0400, "mazorj" <mazorj@xxxxxx>
> wrote:

Quote:

>> I'm using NIS 2009. NIS 2008 came with the machine but I checked
>> reviews before renewing my subscription and updating it. Almost
>> everyone seems to agree that it's much improved over the old Norton
>> with its well-deserved poor reputation.

>
> Yes, as I said, I've heard much the same thing from others I
> respect.

BTW, I wouldn't bother with Norton 360. Too much "suite bloat". NIS
is the one to get if you're focused on security.

Quote:

>> It may not be everyone's #1
>> pick, but there's no reason to shun it as in the past. If it comes
>> bundled, it's certainly good enough as your starting point.

>
> It's not that I shun NIS 2009 or Norton AntiVirus 2009. It's that I
> shun Symantec. They have been an extremely poor and unreliable
> company
> in recent years, and until they convince me that are much better
> than
> they used to be, I won't have anything to do with them or any of
> their
> products. Norton AntiVirus 2009 *may* be a first step for them to
> convince me of that, but it's not enough for me yet. I'm waiting to
> see what the future brings.

I date the downslide of Norton, which had very good DOS utilities, to
around the time of the Symantec takeover.

06-28-2009

"Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:c9vh35ld027kvgpi4h35oia1k3jpeec1uo@xxxxxx

Quote:

> On Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:39:53 -0400, "mazorj" <mazorj@xxxxxx>
> wrote:

....

Quote:

>> "3. After the downloads and reboot (not immediately but a few
>> hours
>> later), I started getting messages that my C: drive had zero
>> available
>> bytes. Explorer also reported zero available bytes and so did
>> PowerDesk. Deleting files had no effect.
>> ...
>> Prior to the onset of this problem, my HD was only about 1/3 full
>> so
>> whatever is eating up disk space all of a sudden is doing it at a
>> prodigious rate - in days or even hours.
>>
>> Shadow files may be eating up some space, but what could possibly
>> eat
>> up 2/3 of a 324 GB HD in a few days???

>
> Spyware infection. What anti-spyware programs do you use? Are they
> kept up to date?
> ...
> Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
> Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Well, it wasn't malware but you were right, Ken, in that the loss of
"allocation units" was due to C: filling up. It turned out to be
embarrassingly simple, although I had tried all kinds of ways to spot
the mysterious "dark matter" monster file(s) and how they were
created. I used several file management tools to list recently
created files, watched reads/writes with Task Manager and other
monitors, but no luck. It wasn't until I fired up Defrag-a-File
tonight that the answer became apparent. All the space that
previously had shown in white as unused was marked in red as a
fragmented file or files.

Clicking anywhere on this whopping big stretch of red space showed the
same filename - procmon.pmb in C:\Windows. It had been created
6/10/09, the same day I did the monthly MS downloads and right about
the time that my empty disk space suddenly evaporated. It was 200+
GB, which is the amount of available space that had disappeared.

Apparently either something I downloaded triggered the boot monitoring
process that then created this file after I did the post-download
reboot; or I initiated boot monitoring before that reboot (although I
don't remember doing so and can't imagine why I would have).

Bottom Line: procmon.pmb was deleted without any hassle from OS user
rights/protections, the missing available space has been restored and
defragmented, and I assume I'll be no worse off for doing so.

I'm filing this After Action report so that you and the others here
can add this to your personal knowledge base of file management, not
to mention the Defrag-a-File trick. And believe me, after sweating
this one out, I'm not ever going to forget it!

06-28-2009

On Sun, 28 Jun 2009 03:39:02 -0400, "mazorj" <mazorj@xxxxxx>
wrote:

Quote:

>
> "Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@xxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:c9vh35ld027kvgpi4h35oia1k3jpeec1uo@xxxxxx

Quote:

> > On Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:39:53 -0400, "mazorj" <mazorj@xxxxxx>
> > wrote:

>
> ...

Quote:

> >> "3. After the downloads and reboot (not immediately but a few
> >> hours
> >> later), I started getting messages that my C: drive had zero
> >> available
> >> bytes. Explorer also reported zero available bytes and so did
> >> PowerDesk. Deleting files had no effect.
> >> ...
> >> Prior to the onset of this problem, my HD was only about 1/3 full
> >> so
> >> whatever is eating up disk space all of a sudden is doing it at a
> >> prodigious rate - in days or even hours.
> >>
> >> Shadow files may be eating up some space, but what could possibly
> >> eat
> >> up 2/3 of a 324 GB HD in a few days???

> >
> > Spyware infection. What anti-spyware programs do you use? Are they
> > kept up to date?
> > ...
> > Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
> > Please Reply to the Newsgroup

>
> Well, it wasn't malware but you were right, Ken, in that the loss of
> "allocation units" was due to C: filling up.

Glad to hear it wasn't malware. Yes, as I tried to explain, using
allocation units *means* the drive is filling up. That's what
allocation units are.

Quote:

> It turned out to be
> embarrassingly simple, although I had tried all kinds of ways to spot
> the mysterious "dark matter" monster file(s) and how they were
> created. I used several file management tools to list recently
> created files, watched reads/writes with Task Manager and other
> monitors, but no luck. It wasn't until I fired up Defrag-a-File
> tonight that the answer became apparent. All the space that
> previously had shown in white as unused was marked in red as a
> fragmented file or files.
>
> Clicking anywhere on this whopping big stretch of red space showed the
> same filename - procmon.pmb in C:\Windows. It had been created
> 6/10/09, the same day I did the monthly MS downloads and right about
> the time that my empty disk space suddenly evaporated. It was 200+
> GB, which is the amount of available space that had disappeared.
>
> Apparently either something I downloaded triggered the boot monitoring
> process that then created this file after I did the post-download
> reboot; or I initiated boot monitoring before that reboot (although I
> don't remember doing so and can't imagine why I would have).
>
> Bottom Line: procmon.pmb was deleted without any hassle from OS user
> rights/protections, the missing available space has been restored and
> defragmented, and I assume I'll be no worse off for doing so.
>
> I'm filing this After Action report so that you and the others here
> can add this to your personal knowledge base of file management, not
> to mention the Defrag-a-File trick. And believe me, after sweating
> this one out, I'm not ever going to forget it!

Thanks very much. I hadn't been aware of this issue, but I just read
some more about it here:
http://forum.sysinternals.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=12517

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

06-28-2009

"Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:69ue455lloed782foe8ce0hg5li4b01ci5@xxxxxx

Quote:

> On Sun, 28 Jun 2009 03:39:02 -0400, "mazorj" <mazorj@xxxxxx>
> wrote:

....

Quote:

>> I'm filing this After Action report so that you and the others here
>> can add this to your personal knowledge base of file management,
>> not
>> to mention the Defrag-a-File trick. And believe me, after sweating
>> this one out, I'm not ever going to forget it!

>
> Thanks very much. I hadn't been aware of this issue, but I just read
> some more about it here:
> http://forum.sysinternals.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=12517

That's where I learned its source and that it was okay to delete it.

Some of us do perform our homework before taking any actions or
posting here. ;-)

06-23-2009	#11 (permalink)
Ken Blake, MVP n/a posts	Re: Allocation units On Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:51:37 -0400, "mazorj" <mazorj@xxxxxx> wrote: Quote: > > "Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@xxxxxx> wrote in message > news:2htv35dmjv1ismeg55v38btbgvbf55obvm@xxxxxx Quote: > > On Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:34:39 -0400, "mazorj" <mazorj@xxxxxx> > > wrote: > > Quote: > >> > >> "Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@xxxxxx> wrote in > >> message > >> news:d4hs35h9nviutigmuj4gn9k5r6vvtegqnu@xxxxxx > > ... Quote: Quote: > >> > In my view, and that of many of us here, Norton is the worst > >> > anti-virus program available. I wouldn't rely on what it tells > >> > you. > >> > >> How current is that view? There was a time when Norton was indeed > >> mediocre after resting on their laurels but they seem to have > >> gotten > >> their act together lately. > > > > They are, in general, a lot worse than mediocre. > > > > However, bear in mind that the latest version, AntiVirus 2009, has > > gotten much better reports from several people, several of whom I > > trust. However I have no personal experience with it, and I am not > > willing to use it myself, nor even to yet recommend it to anyone > > else. > > I'm using NIS 2009. NIS 2008 came with the machine but I checked > reviews before renewing my subscription and updating it. Almost > everyone seems to agree that it's much improved over the old Norton > with its well-deserved poor reputation. Yes, as I said, I've heard much the same thing from others I respect. Quote: > It may not be everyone's #1 > pick, but there's no reason to shun it as in the past. If it comes > bundled, it's certainly good enough as your starting point. It's not that I shun NIS 2009 or Norton AntiVirus 2009. It's that I shun Symantec. They have been an extremely poor and unreliable company in recent years, and until they convince me that are much better than they used to be, I won't have anything to do with them or any of their products. Norton AntiVirus 2009 may be a first step for them to convince me of that, but it's not enough for me yet. I'm waiting to see what the future brings. Quote: > However, I'm a belt and suspenders type on security. No reason why > you cannot and should not have an arsenal of several security > sweepers. I had SpySweeper and ZoneAlarm running on my XP machine > back when Norton was sucking wind in the security apps market. (Just > don't run two firewalls at once.) And yes, theoretically I might > still have malware even though three separate, reputable sweepers > couldn't find anything, and theoretically there might be one obscure > program out there that could catch it; but with three sweepers in > action, I'm already verging into diminishing returns. If my 200 GB > "vanishing unused disk space" problem is due to malware rather than > some obscure process run amok, I'll never find it. > > Anyway, thanks for the comments. You're welcome. -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience Please Reply to the Newsgroup
My System Specs

06-23-2009	#12 (permalink)
mazorj n/a posts	Re: Allocation units "Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:s4q145pbkf9al8vhu9n8uj56eod6dovphm@xxxxxx Quote: > On Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:51:37 -0400, "mazorj" <mazorj@xxxxxx> > wrote: Quote: Quote: >> I'm using NIS 2009. NIS 2008 came with the machine but I checked >> reviews before renewing my subscription and updating it. Almost >> everyone seems to agree that it's much improved over the old Norton >> with its well-deserved poor reputation. > > Yes, as I said, I've heard much the same thing from others I > respect. BTW, I wouldn't bother with Norton 360. Too much "suite bloat". NIS is the one to get if you're focused on security. Quote: Quote: >> It may not be everyone's #1 >> pick, but there's no reason to shun it as in the past. If it comes >> bundled, it's certainly good enough as your starting point. > > It's not that I shun NIS 2009 or Norton AntiVirus 2009. It's that I > shun Symantec. They have been an extremely poor and unreliable > company > in recent years, and until they convince me that are much better > than > they used to be, I won't have anything to do with them or any of > their > products. Norton AntiVirus 2009 may be a first step for them to > convince me of that, but it's not enough for me yet. I'm waiting to > see what the future brings. I date the downslide of Norton, which had very good DOS utilities, to around the time of the Symantec takeover.
My System Specs

06-28-2009	#13 (permalink)
mazorj n/a posts	Re: Allocation units "Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:c9vh35ld027kvgpi4h35oia1k3jpeec1uo@xxxxxx Quote: > On Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:39:53 -0400, "mazorj" <mazorj@xxxxxx> > wrote: .... Quote: Quote: >> "3. After the downloads and reboot (not immediately but a few >> hours >> later), I started getting messages that my C: drive had zero >> available >> bytes. Explorer also reported zero available bytes and so did >> PowerDesk. Deleting files had no effect. >> ... >> Prior to the onset of this problem, my HD was only about 1/3 full >> so >> whatever is eating up disk space all of a sudden is doing it at a >> prodigious rate - in days or even hours. >> >> Shadow files may be eating up some space, but what could possibly >> eat >> up 2/3 of a 324 GB HD in a few days??? > > Spyware infection. What anti-spyware programs do you use? Are they > kept up to date? > ... > Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience > Please Reply to the Newsgroup Well, it wasn't malware but you were right, Ken, in that the loss of "allocation units" was due to C: filling up. It turned out to be embarrassingly simple, although I had tried all kinds of ways to spot the mysterious "dark matter" monster file(s) and how they were created. I used several file management tools to list recently created files, watched reads/writes with Task Manager and other monitors, but no luck. It wasn't until I fired up Defrag-a-File tonight that the answer became apparent. All the space that previously had shown in white as unused was marked in red as a fragmented file or files. Clicking anywhere on this whopping big stretch of red space showed the same filename - procmon.pmb in C:\Windows. It had been created 6/10/09, the same day I did the monthly MS downloads and right about the time that my empty disk space suddenly evaporated. It was 200+ GB, which is the amount of available space that had disappeared. Apparently either something I downloaded triggered the boot monitoring process that then created this file after I did the post-download reboot; or I initiated boot monitoring before that reboot (although I don't remember doing so and can't imagine why I would have). Bottom Line: procmon.pmb was deleted without any hassle from OS user rights/protections, the missing available space has been restored and defragmented, and I assume I'll be no worse off for doing so. I'm filing this After Action report so that you and the others here can add this to your personal knowledge base of file management, not to mention the Defrag-a-File trick. And believe me, after sweating this one out, I'm not ever going to forget it!
My System Specs

06-28-2009	#14 (permalink)
Ken Blake, MVP n/a posts	Re: Allocation units On Sun, 28 Jun 2009 03:39:02 -0400, "mazorj" <mazorj@xxxxxx> wrote: Quote: > > "Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@xxxxxx> wrote in message > news:c9vh35ld027kvgpi4h35oia1k3jpeec1uo@xxxxxx Quote: > > On Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:39:53 -0400, "mazorj" <mazorj@xxxxxx> > > wrote: > > ... Quote: Quote: > >> "3. After the downloads and reboot (not immediately but a few > >> hours > >> later), I started getting messages that my C: drive had zero > >> available > >> bytes. Explorer also reported zero available bytes and so did > >> PowerDesk. Deleting files had no effect. > >> ... > >> Prior to the onset of this problem, my HD was only about 1/3 full > >> so > >> whatever is eating up disk space all of a sudden is doing it at a > >> prodigious rate - in days or even hours. > >> > >> Shadow files may be eating up some space, but what could possibly > >> eat > >> up 2/3 of a 324 GB HD in a few days??? > > > > Spyware infection. What anti-spyware programs do you use? Are they > > kept up to date? > > ... > > Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience > > Please Reply to the Newsgroup > > Well, it wasn't malware but you were right, Ken, in that the loss of > "allocation units" was due to C: filling up. Glad to hear it wasn't malware. Yes, as I tried to explain, using allocation units means the drive is filling up. That's what allocation units are. Quote: > It turned out to be > embarrassingly simple, although I had tried all kinds of ways to spot > the mysterious "dark matter" monster file(s) and how they were > created. I used several file management tools to list recently > created files, watched reads/writes with Task Manager and other > monitors, but no luck. It wasn't until I fired up Defrag-a-File > tonight that the answer became apparent. All the space that > previously had shown in white as unused was marked in red as a > fragmented file or files. > > Clicking anywhere on this whopping big stretch of red space showed the > same filename - procmon.pmb in C:\Windows. It had been created > 6/10/09, the same day I did the monthly MS downloads and right about > the time that my empty disk space suddenly evaporated. It was 200+ > GB, which is the amount of available space that had disappeared. > > Apparently either something I downloaded triggered the boot monitoring > process that then created this file after I did the post-download > reboot; or I initiated boot monitoring before that reboot (although I > don't remember doing so and can't imagine why I would have). > > Bottom Line: procmon.pmb was deleted without any hassle from OS user > rights/protections, the missing available space has been restored and > defragmented, and I assume I'll be no worse off for doing so. > > I'm filing this After Action report so that you and the others here > can add this to your personal knowledge base of file management, not > to mention the Defrag-a-File trick. And believe me, after sweating > this one out, I'm not ever going to forget it! Thanks very much. I hadn't been aware of this issue, but I just read some more about it here: http://forum.sysinternals.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=12517 -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience Please Reply to the Newsgroup
My System Specs

06-28-2009	#15 (permalink)
mazorj n/a posts	Re: Allocation units "Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:69ue455lloed782foe8ce0hg5li4b01ci5@xxxxxx Quote: > On Sun, 28 Jun 2009 03:39:02 -0400, "mazorj" <mazorj@xxxxxx> > wrote: .... Quote: Quote: >> I'm filing this After Action report so that you and the others here >> can add this to your personal knowledge base of file management, >> not >> to mention the Defrag-a-File trick. And believe me, after sweating >> this one out, I'm not ever going to forget it! > > Thanks very much. I hadn't been aware of this issue, but I just read > some more about it here: > http://forum.sysinternals.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=12517 That's where I learned its source and that it was okay to delete it. Some of us do perform our homework before taking any actions or posting here. ;-)
My System Specs

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