My C: drive keeps filling up on its own – running out of space fast

As the title suggests, my C drive is filling itself up.
I am no computer expert, so much of what I have read while searching online remains confusing.
Is there an expert here who can explain, in a few simple steps, how to identify the cause and fix this? The PC is new. It has Windows 7 original (64) installed. The C drive is 111GB, but only 23GB is free, and that number is dropping.
I haven't even started working on this machine yet; I haven't even browsed the web.

I’d suggest shrinking your system restore settings down to the absolute minimum first, then clearing out everything except for that very last restore point you made. Once you've done that, go ahead and run CCleaner to give the whole computer a deep clean.

It’s likely a system restore issue... this topic has come up a few times before. I actually ran into this exact same problem myself and eventually realized that was the culprit.

Fine, thanks, I'll check it. Just tell me where I need to look—and please, no laughing... I knew my way around an old computer. Is this in the SYSTEM PROPERTIES window?

Right-click on my PC—hit Advanced system settings—System Protection—Configure—wipe out all those restore points for this drive—slide that bar down to 10%—Apply—and boom, done.

malwarebytes scan is a total must, honestly. And look, if you’ve got any of those sketchy "optimizer" programs installed—you know, the ones that claim they can defrag your drive or magically fix your PC—just trash them immediately. I've learned the hard way that those things just end up triggering themselves out of nowhere and causing nothing but massive headaches. But yeah, first thing's first, go grab this: http://www.malwarebytes.org/mwb-download/var9/

Hey there. I’ve got a situation. First off, is it actually normal for Windows to eat up 20GB on the C drive? I only have a few small programs installed, so they shouldn't be taking up much room. I just picked up a 60GB Crucial SSD and installed Windows 7 ultimate on it. I already disabled the paging file and system restore, but 20GB still feels like overkill for just the OS itself. Just a heads-up, this is including the Windows updates. Any advice would be appreciated.

Honestly, it seems pretty reasonable to me. I’m sitting at about 40 GB used myself—and my Windows setup hasn't been touched in almost a year. I keep everything updated, sure, but I just noticed my virtual memory is set to 8GB (which happens to be exactly how much RAM I have). If I were to tweak that, I’d actually claw back another 8 GB of space. Anyway, I wouldn't sweat it too much if I were you. Usually, it's the virtual memory and System Restore that eat up most of the storage, and since you've got those disabled, you should be fine. Maybe try running CCleaner if you haven't already? That might free up a little extra breathing room.

Larry Ortiz5 said:Honestly, it seems pretty reasonable to me. I’m sitting at about 40 GB used myself—and my Windows setup hasn't been touched in almost a year. I keep everything updated, sure, but I just noticed my virtual memory is set to 8GB (which happens to be exactly how much RAM I have). If I were to tweak that, I’d actually claw back another 8 GB of space. Anyway, I wouldn't sweat it too much if I were you. Usually, it's the virtual memory and System Restore that eat up most of the storage, and since you've got those disabled, you should be fine. Maybe try running CCleaner if you haven't already? That might free up a little extra breathing room.

Alright, thanks for the input. Hopefully, everything runs smooth after this.🙂