Mbag3rd

Any luck yet? I still have Ransomware disabled, and it has still been stable for more than a week. It's just that the dashboard balks at me for not being "fully protected." ?

It would seem that the "Ransomware" component is the primary issue. I have had much better performance since I had it disabled. It's been much better for at least 1.5 days. Thank you.

Update: It does appear that disabling ransomware protection has had a positive effect on the issue. But I will give it more time and let you know.

OK, will give that a try.

Update: I regret to advise that the original problem has reoccured. This using the following updates: Version Info: Malwarebytes Ver. 3.5.1.2522 Components Pkg v. 1.0.374 Update Pkg: v 1.0.5486 All other parameters remain the same. Here is the dump file: Download Dump File Here...

But, at some point, once you delete the last of the hard links (all of them, not just the ones you created), will it free the physical space the files occupy (at least in the directory listings)? If not, then I think the OS has a garbage collection problem. I don't think I've had much trouble with hard linked files when it comes to freeing up space. I'm guessing that most times when hard links are at issue, they are associated with hidden or system files that I can't delete anyway (like those in WinSxS). I'm only after the "low hanging fruit..." things that are reasonably safe to delete without any adverse effects on the system... logs, and the like. But things that utilities like Windows Cleanup seem to overlook. I suppose if I were to encounter a hard linked file where deleting the link would not free the space (i.e. there might still be another hard link pointing to it), I'd search for that link and delete it as well, until I were able to free the space, if possible.

That really doesn't matter. The physical files have to be there somewhere, regardless of where they reside or how many hard links point to them. And, however it is happening, my utility reports a certain amount of space being tallied under the WinSxS directory. I guess if a hard link is present under WinSxS, it's counting that file size in its tally under that directory. And that tally changes regularly as Windows Updates or other installs happen. It's the only thing by which I can judge how much space is being utilized. But, again, I seriously doubt I'll ever attempt to delete anything under the WinSxS directory. I think the only way I can reclaim space there is a complete rebuild of my machine (where I only install the latest version of the apps I'm running). Unfortunately, with the advent of Microsoft "activation services" for their apps, it becomes even more difficult, as they no longer provide those services for some of their older product versions. This, I guess to force you to by the "subscription" version of their products. Not going to happen in my case. I think when Windows 7 reaches EOL, my next builds will be Linux in nature...

OK Thanks! I'll do the update and see what happens.

It sees it only as one single physical file, wherever it is located, taking up only the space of one single file. The hard links just point to wherever that physical location is, be it inside the WinSxS directory or not. If the physical file is not under the WinSxS directory, it won't report it there. I guess whatever space the hard links use under the WinSxS directory might be reported there.

All, are there any updates on the original problem I submitted for this thread? Any word in re: the Dump file I submitted?

I don't touch the registry unless it's absolutely necessary and I know specifically, what I need to touch (and the consequences of doing so).

I have a utility that tallies space in all directories and sub-directories... both "actual" and "allocated" space. When I do a Windows Update or install something that updates some system modules or DLLs, I'll see the directory size under WInSxS change (go up) or not. I also keep tabs on the overall size of C:\ so that if I see it rising but WinSxS is not, I know to look elsewhere for the increases. I take screen shots of the sub-directory sizes the utility reports to me and compare current to previous. I can tell when and where something increased and check it out, accordingly. Most of the time, the increases are legitimate and appropriate. But where temp files remain, or other things happen that I can delete, I'll consider those.

Well, I'm not touching anything in WinSxS at all. I'm just resigned to it growing and bloating all along. I'm not going to delete anything I think might compromise the system. And when I do delete something risky, I copy it to archive storage off the C:\drive so I can restore it quickly if something does go haywire.

I find that disk cleanup doesn't really clean very much at all. It may help with some of the temporary files and storage, but not much else. And it certainly doesn't clean up the very large and accumulating files that make the C:\ drive bloated. I have to go through manually and do those, where I can. It also doesn't clean things like all the "sqlite" data bases that just keep accumulating data. I'd love to have a utility that helps me do that, as those DB's can get very large. I'll check out this dism.exe program and see what it can do. Thanks! I don't judge WinSxS by what/where it stores things, but by how much space it uses. And it's using a lot. It's very point, per my understanding, is that it will preserve multiple copies of critical system modules that get replaced by either Windows Updates or other installs so that the older versions are still available to older apps that need them. Whether it stores the physical module under it's directory structure or points to it elsewhere, doesn't really matter. All the module versions are still on the disk, somewhere. Although my gut tells me that most of what it preserves is under its directory structure. Otherwise, it wouldn't have control over the modules it's attempting to preserve, thus increasing the risk of deletion elsewhere by other processes. I can see where it would have pointers to the most currently active version of a module in its appropriate install location, but I think the older versions go underneath the WinSxS directory structure.

Another reason why I prefer to install away from the C:\Drive. It becomes easier to remove any remanents of the install directory when needed. Yes, it may not remove those modules that were forced onto Drive C:\ (DLLs, etc.), but I can live with that. And, with the advent of WinSxS, the C:\ Drive is really going to get bloated. Anyone who could write a utility that can purge that directory without loss of function (based on what is currently installed/active) could make a lot of $$$.