Some Background: My dad has asked this friend (Bob) for tech help many times in the past, so much so that Bob had him install one of those GoToMyPC programs so that he’d have remote access any time.
This was innocent at first until recently, my dad woke up and got pop-ups saying his drive was too full to open any of his work programs. When I went over, we restarted it and noticed the PC asks us which version of Windows we’ve like to boot. We tried both, Windows 1 was my Dad’s regular laptop, still giving us the full HDD pop-ups. Windows 2 had only 1 user profile: Bob. we can’t access it, and we can’t delete anything from it on my dad’s user (not that I know of).
I’m not sure if I can fix this myself, but I’d like to try so that my dad doesn’t have to bend to this dickhead’s will.
Back up important files, nuke drives, install windows.
Just curious what makes you think your harddrive filling up has anything to do with Bob?
Sounds like he made a windows installation on a second partition which took away hard drive space from your original partition where your first windows installation is. If you get a partition tool like gparted(it’s free), you can wipe that partition and add it back to your original one.
I remember troubleshooting a client issue that amounted to their anti-virus creating extensive logs that filled their C drive. Maybe there is a bugged piece of software doing something similar.
Maybe you can follow the steps here and see if there are some abnormally large files to get rid of. If you come across any culprits, I might pop the filename in Google and see if there is a known piece of software or malware that is creating the file.
Strangely this happened to me but it was something I figured out because I was trying to install a game and didn’t have enough space. Was a super weird bug that I found mentioned on some obscure forum for whatever antivirus I was running at the time (maybe Avira?). Funny that you mention it haha.
Linux Live cd to mount the Windows partition and see what is going on (if Windows won’t voot)
You gotta give advice in context to the situation. The poster and their dad clearly don’t sound like they can do this level of investigation.
Who not just delete the partition?
Download Windirstat
If you log into your dad’s account, does it not have “Admin” privileges to literally delete the “Bob” account?
Consider this an opportunity to upgrade dad’s PC.
- Get a 1 TB SSD, $50 +/-
- Download a new copy of Windows using the Media Creation Tool
- Disconnect old drive (IMPORTANT), connect and install Windows to new drive
- Reconnect old drive and copy over all personal files
- Reinstall needed programs
- Enjoy clean uncluttered install on much faster drive.
Afterwards you could delete all the partitions on the HDD, reformat it, and use it a backup drive.
Also, the new install will activate itself once it’s connected to the internet.
Get a 1 TB SSD, $50 +/-
Dang, SSDs have really almost halved in price since 5 years ago? TIL.
Sounds like something split up your storage. Back then Linux installs would do this.
I also feel very sorry for Bob. It’s really annoying as a techie that people want free help, you waste your own time and this is how you get treated. Honestly? Free tech support is the worst thing anyone can do.
Although you may be suspicious of bob , it is quite common for a remote support technician to setup a separate profile from the user, this is normally done to protect the users privacy. It allows the remote support person to log I. To the machine remotely and run a number of tests without accessing any of the users personal files.
Seems as if Bob left a recovery image or partition, so he can reinstall when your dad trashes the software.
You could remove it, but realize that your taking over as tech support in place of bob. When I was a younger adult/teen I wanted to impress people with my tech skills. Now when someone asks me to “check something” on their computer and they aren’t my paid company job, I run in the opposite direction.
Once you put your hands on it, you own these problems, and they see you as the responsible party, whether it’s your fault or not.