Find recent file writes.

[kol12]

I just restarted and am suddenly a massive 3GB down on OS drive. Is there any way to see where it's gone?

 

[i7Baby]

You have to look at the date of every file.

But it's more likely hidden eg System Restore point.

 

[kol12]

I'm using datemodified:today but still seems difficult to find. Restore point has only increased in size about 200mb since restart.

 

[i7Baby]

Could've been a windows update - hidden.

 

[mcnumpty23]

can use this to find what files are taking up room

https://windirstat.info

 

[kol12]

Thanks mcnumty looks handy.

I've just checked windows update and it's installed 28 optional updates I had.

I had these 28 optional updates sitting there uninstalled when I checked windows update, I think yesterday or day before. Why has it decided to install the optional updates now? Is it authorized to install optional updates?

28 updates must be the space missing..

 

[i7Baby]

It does auto updating unless you disable it.

 

[kol12]

Why didn't it install the optional updates the day they were downloaded?

 

[i7Baby]

Maybe you disabled that part?

 

[kol12]

No, my updates are set to automatically install..

 

[i7Baby]

Maybe you had to enable installing optional updates.

 

[kol12]

Where would you check that?

 

[i7Baby]

Control Panel, Choose How Windows Can Install Updates

 

[vesp3r]

Why didn't it install the optional updates the day they were downloaded?

Sometimes updates need restart to apply so the will just sit on the computer pending and will not fully install unless you restart

 

[kol12]

What about with shutdown? I shutdown my system every night.

 

[i7Baby]

So do and then I get updates downloaded and installed during the day.

 

[vesp3r]

you can schedule updates for exact day and hour or if you like so you can choose the "let me choose what to download and when to install updates" option and just regulary check what updates you want to apply

 

[kol12]

Funnily the 3GB came back today, I wonder from where.

 

[i7Baby]

Temporary Internet Files?

Do a Disk Cleanup - Windows Explorer, R Click On Drive, Properties, Tools.

 

[kol12]

The 3 GB of space actually returned, went from 205GB down to 202GB back to 205GB

 

[vesp3r]

So it was either Temp internet files as suggested above or some temp files created by installer that got cleaned up after restart/using cleaning software

 

[kol12]

hmm does Windows do some of it's own cleaning?

 

[i7Baby]

I gather so - else they'd call them just Internet Files.

 

[Crashmaster]

It might have been the page file reservation. Before your last shut down there was a spike in RAM usage which prompted the page file to be enlarged. This happened after the restart.

 

[vesp3r]

It might have been the page file reservation. Before your last shut down there was a spike in RAM usage which prompted the page file to be enlarged. This happened after the restart.

Could be... if the PF is managed by system
Anyways, just in case install a cleaner (I would recommend CCleaner) and run it occasionally to free space