on the right the total size of the windows folder on C:
on the right the total size of the files in the windows folder on C: (including hidden files)

can anyone exlain where the 28.45 gb is?

windows XP sp 3 old 2004 dell desktop

any other info needed just ask

Well, the properties for the folder show a lot more files and folders than "all in windows", so it looks like you aren't showing some files/folders still.
You said you enabled hidden files, but there are also "protected system files", which are also not shown by default. Maybe those aren't being shown? You can enable it in the same place as hidden files (folder properties).

as far as i can see all viewing options are enabled

Probably in the other 7000 files.

Not a shocker that two different locations show 2 different sizes....

What do you mean? He IS looking at the properties of the Windows folder on the right, and the properties of (presumably all) files in that same folder on the left. If he did select ALL files and folders, he should get the same size in both.

Well the picture on the left is missing ~7000 Files and ~120 Folders so i would assume that is your problem.

look at the location attribute in both windows. They are not the same location:

C:\Windows
vs
C:

the left window is a subset of the right window.

This post was edited by Azrad on Apr 24 2013 05:11pm

The right window is the property of the "windows" folder, though. The location of the folder itself is in C:\, so he's looking at the properties of C:\Windows. The left window just shows all the files/folders that are in C:\Windows. In the end, he's looking at the same folder.

oh i see what you are saying, yeah your right.

yeah its probably protected system files or something that he isn't able to select with ctrl-a

/e
yeah i just did an experiment and got a different result by hiding system files

This post was edited by Azrad on Apr 24 2013 05:53pm