Guide to Remove Low Disk Space Virus from Your PC

Vikas Solutions

There are multiple reasons to believe your computer is infected by a low disk space virus that eats up your storage:

  • One or more partitions of your hard disk are filling up so quickly without installing new programs, downloading large files or updating existing software.
  • Your computer is equipped way beyond what is required, yet it’s running out of storage.
  • The computer is experiencing unusual slowness. It freezes, crashes too often.

Things get complicated when the hard disk gets filled up to the extent that there is no storage left for new files. When it occurs, the operating system may not work correctly. You may not be able to perform any tasks and disinfecting your computer can become terribly difficult.

Scan for Viruses

Download a good Antivirus software and update the virus definitions. Perform a deep scan of the entire hard disk and any removable drives attached to it and remove any malware detected.

Stop the Virus from Running

You may use the System Configuration utility to block the virus from running automatically. There are two approaches: a) You may run your computer in Safe Mode 2) You may block all third-party startup items.

a) Running your computer into Safe Mode:

For Windows 11:

  1. Save any unsaved work.
  2. Click on Start > Settings.
  3. Click on System icon > Recovery tab.
  4. Click on Advanced startup > Restart now.
  5. Your computer will restart.
  6. Select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup settings.
  7. You’ll be prompted to restart. Click on Restart.
  8. When your computer restarts again, press the F4 key to boot into Safe Mode.

For Windows 10:

  1. Click on Start > Settings.
  2. Click on Update & Security > Recovery.
  3. Click on Restart now under the Advanced startup.
  4. Your computer will restart. Thereafter, click on Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup settings.
  5. Click on Restart.
  6. Once your computer restarts again, press the F4 key.

b) Blocking third-party startup items

For Windows 11/ 10:

  1. Press the Windows + R keys simultaneously.
  2. Type MSCONFIG.
  3. Press Enter.
  4. Click on the Startup tab and deselect everything (except the antivirus software).
  5. Click on OK.
  6. Restart your computer.

Run Disk Cleanup

Disk Cleanup is an in-house utility in Windows that helps you analyze the storage used and eliminate junk files.

For Windows 11/ 10:

  1. Click the File Explorer icon on the taskbar.
  2. Select This PC from the left-hand side panel.
  3. Right-click the partition that is facing the low storage problem and select Properties.
  4. Click on Disk Cleanup under the General tab.
  5. Wait for a moment as Disk Cleanup analyzes the partition and shows a thorough report about different items occupying your storage.
  6. Once the process is completed, select the items you want to delete and then click on OK.
  7. Confirm the action.

Delete Duplicate Files

Another way to get back your lost storage is to delete duplicate files. The low disk space virus often creates identical copies of your files to eat up storage. It is completely secure, if done with right tools such as Clone Files Checker. CFC automatically preserves at least one original file version and deletes the remaining versions.

  1. Download Clone Files Checker and install it.
  2. Click on the System Scan tab.
  3. Set the Scan Mode to File Search.
  4. Click on Add and select the drive/ directories that you want to scan for duplicates.
  5. Click on Start Search and wait until your files are scanned.
  6. Once the files are scanned, choose one of the following options:
  • Fix Wizard: Select this option to quickly delete duplicate files in all groups based on a single criteria. Fix Wizard will prompt you to keep oldest or newest files in each group.
  • Review & Fix: Use this option to view a list of all the duplicate files and manually choose files for removal. Just like Fix Wizard, you can also auto-select bulk files in each group using the Select Duplicates button.

Use System Restore

You can also restore your computer to a previous date before the malware infection. System Restore will help you get rid of the infected system files and settings.

For Windows 11:

  1. Click on Start.
  2. Type Control Panel and open it.
  3. Type “restore” in the Search box on the top-right.
  4. Click on Recovery > Open System Restore.
  5. Click on Next.
  6. Choose a restore point before the malware infection.
  7. Follow the on-screen instructions.

For Windows 10:

  1. Type Control Panel in the Search box on the taskbar and open it.
  2. In the Search Box on the Control Panel window, type recovery and open it.
  3. Click on Recovery > Open System Restore.
  4. Click on Next.
  5. Choose the restore point and follow the on-screen instructions.