Why is the local disk full?

How big is your hard drive? On an older computer that only has 40GB, that is normal; in a newer one that has 320GB-1TB, it’s a bit different.

First, find out what the cruft is; download something like WinDirStat to find out what it is that is taking up space. Maybe it’s something simple, like a newly installed app creating log files hither and yon, maybe your LOLcats video collection is huge. I can’t say without a little more info, but I would not automatically assume infection either.

Disk C says it has 570 GB. I’ll look at that program you linked later. I really don’t have anything “new” on the computer that I know of.

If you’re storing files on the root directory, such as C:\ or even D:\ (if you have the drive partitioned), I believe there’s a limit to how many files can be addressed at the root. It’s something I haven’t paid attention to in years and years (I’m sure @jerv will know if I’m right or not, and probably know the limit, too, if it still applies).

In other words, it’s like having a huge file cabinet, but trying to put all of your files in the front of the top drawer. You can only put so much there.

You might also want to download the free and very handy TreeSize shell extension (don’t worry, it’s self-installing and simple to download and use) which also allows you to see where the space hogging is occurring. You haven’t said what your free space actually is; TreeSize will show you where your disk is being most heavily used for permanent storage.

There could be other issues, such as the space allocated to virtual memory (a percentage of your hard drive “roped off” from storing files, but dedicated to mimicking the RAM that your computer needs to operate, so it’s a place to swap files from RAM to disk on the fly).

See what TreeSize tells you, though.

There are no new programs (I checked) and I can’t download the WinDerStat.
Should I take it to someone? It’s got to be a virus….

Cannot download WinDirStat? That’s…. odd…

Well, this whole thing is odd.

Ok, so the Trend Micro log files are 522 GB in all. Definitely the culprit….
I’ll try calling Trend Micro in the morning.

All fixed! Thank you very much @jerv !

I’m a bit surprised CCleaner didn’t remove those.

You really don’t need the old log files; for those programs that allow the option, I have it auto-delete them after 30 days. You should be able to remove them yourself with no ill effects. I mean, do you care that you did a scan that found no viruses back in February 2011? Probably not, and your computer definitely doesn’t, so old log files are safe to trash. In fact, it’s rare that I care about any log file more than an hour old, and even then only when I am repairing a system. :p

Anyways, good to hear that you found the problem.