Where has the Hard Disk space gone

[ayabrea38]

When I look at the ammount of hard disk space used,it is(for example only,hubbys computer I dont know exact numbers)80 out of 100 mb used.When the programe properties are looked at,they only add up to 60mb.Where are all the hidden mb's?
I say they are used up with downloads and updates,hubby does not.
There are no 'hidden' files,to our knowledge.
I inderstand windows uses so much for the operating system but the figure of missing megabytes keeps going up and up and is driving me mad!
Please,can someone help,I am new to computers and learning(Hubby is old and stubborn lol)
Thanks

[MarkRae]

Do the following, in the following order:

1) Download (but do not install yet) AVG free from the link I've give you (twice).

2) Disconnect the computer from the Internet. This may mean switching off the router / cable modem or you could simply unplug the ethernet cable.

3) Uninstall Norton. As I mentioned, this might prove trickier than it sounds, and you will almost certainly NEVER be able to remove it all without trashing and rebuilding the machine.

4) In Windows Explorer (that's Windows Explorer, not Internet Explorer) right click on the drive letter which represents the machine's hard disk (almost certainly drive C:) and select Properties, then click the "Disk cleanup" button.

5) If you are asked (depending on the version of Windows) whether you want to clean up only your files or all files on the computer, choose the latter.

6) Tick all the boxes, and then select the "More options" tab.

7) Click the "Clean up" button in the System restore and shadow copy box - again, this may be worded slightly differently depending on the version of Windows.

8) When prompted, click "Delete" or "Yes". The hard disk will churn away for a while - could be several minutes - while it does its thing.

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[MarkRae]

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9) When its finished, selected the Disk Cleanup tab again and click OK. Again, agree when prompted.

10) Now select the Tools tab and defragment the hard disk. This may take ages, maybe even hours!

11) Once its finished, install AVG - you're still disconnected from the Internet at this point.

12) Ignore the nags from the AVG installer telling you it can't connect to the Internet. At this point, all we're interested in is getting the thing installed - we'll let it update its virus database etc in a while.

13) Once AVG is installed, do a full system scan - it will probably prompt you to do this anyway. If it finds any viruses or whatever, allow it to do what it thinks it needs to do - it will almost certainly know better than you (no disrespect...)

14) Once that has completed, connect back up to the Internet and reboot straight away. When you're back up and running, let Windows update itself as required. Also, go into AVG and click Tools, Update.