[Bold_Fortune]

"Well, that's all good and well. But I'm not interested in taking on the potential problems that can come about from removing important files from my XP installation.

Can't you please just tell me what files are "perfectly safe" and "harmless" to remove?

I just want to remove some clutter, and maybe gain just a little space on my hardrive in the process, without having to worry about running into problems down the road.

I know removing the "Help" files is okay...but what else can I SAFELY! remove?" ...he said.



Safe To Remove Files...


Zero-Length Files I Delete:

C:\

AUTOEXEC.BAT
CONFIG.SYS
IO.SYS
MSDOS.SYS

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Index
This folder blongs to WMP8. If you've upgraded to WMP9 you can delete the folder.

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Player
This folder belongs to WMP9.
I delete the folder and its contents. It will remake itself upon use of WMP.

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\User Account Pictures
I only delete "quest.bmp"

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\User Account Pictures\Default Pictures
I delete the avatars I will probably never use, and place a few of my own in the folder I like.

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents (or Shared Documents)\My Music
I'll delete this folder and its contents.

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents (or Shared Documents)\My Pictures
I'll delete this folder and its contents.

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Accessibility
I delete this folder and its contents.

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Communictions
I delete the entire "Communications" folder and all its contents. This removes these shortcuts from my desktop. I access them rarely, I just enter the Control Panel to get to them.

C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Favorites
I delete "MSN.com" and "Radio Station Guide".

C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Favorites\Links
I delete this folder and it's contents.

You need to apply this reg tweak to delete the Links folder permanently:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar]
"LinksFolderName"=""

C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\My Documents\My Music
I delete this folder and its contents.

C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\My Documents\My Pictures
I delete this folder and its contents.

C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories
I take the Accessories shortcuts I use (usually "Notepad" and "Windows Explorer") and cut and paste them to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories, and then I come back and delete the C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories folder.

C:\Documents and Settings\tony\UserData
I delete the contents of theTemplates but keep the folder.


C:\Program Files...


C:\Program Files
I Completely deleted the Office Update folder and the Windows Update folder. These folders will be re-created when you go to update Windows and Office at the Windows Update site.

C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\Skins
I delete all the Windows Media player skins I will never use.

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Stationary
I delete any stationaries in this folder that I most-likely won't use.

C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\SIGNUP
I delete the SIGNUP folder and its contents.


C:\WINDOWS...

I deleted these individual files from the WINDOWS folder:

any .bak files
any .bmp files
the clock.avi file
control.ini (zero-length file)
any .log files (I regularly delete any ".log" files that turn up in this folder.)
NOTEPAD.EXE (There is a duplicate in system32.)
any .old files
any .tmp files
any .txt files (SchedLgU.txt will not delete. It belongs to Task Scheduler)
system.ini
TASKMAN.EXE (There is a duplicate in system32.)
win.ini


C:\WINDOWS

I delete all $NtUninstall$xxxx folders. These first folders you see in the WINDOWS folder are Windows Update installation/uninstall files for the updates gotten from Windows Update. These files are only used if you want to "uninstall" a particular Hotfix. They have nothing to do with the Hotfixes being in good working order on your system. You can safely delete these folders. Then go to the Add/Remove Utility. From here you can delete their corresponding Hotfix entries, as it will be invalid now anyway. Highlight their Hotfix entry and click on Remove.


C:\WINDOWS\Cursors
I deleted any cursors and animated cursors I will never use.

C:\WINDOWS\Debug
I delete the "oakley.log.sav" file.

C:\WINDOWS\Downloaded Installations
I delete the contents of the folder.

C:\WINDOWS\Fonts
Sometimes .fon extention fonts (The red A fonts) hide, so you need to run a search for *.fon in Search Assistant. You can safely delete all of the .fon fonts except these 15:

cga40woa.fon
cga80woa.fon
coure.fon
dosapp.fon
ega40woa.fon
ega80woa.fon
modern.fon
roman.fon
serife.fon
smalle.fon
sserife.fon
symbole.fon
vgafix.fon
vgaoem.fon
vgasys.fon


EXTRA FONTS (TTF Extentions) I delete:

arial black - (aka ariblk)
Book Antiqua (All)
Bookman Old Style (All)
Century Gothic (All)
comic sans MS - (aka comic)
comic sans MS bold - (aka comicbd)
cour.ttf
courbi.ttf
couri.ttf
Etrangelo Edessa - (aka este)
framd.ttf
framdit.ttf
Franklin Gothic Medium - (aka Framd)
Franklin Gothic Medium Italic - (aka Framdit)
Garamond (All)
guatami
georgia (all)
impact
l_10646.ttf
latha
mangal
mvboli
Palatino Linotype (all)
raavi
shruti
sylfaen
symbol
Trebuchet MS (all)
timesbi.ttf
timesi.ttf
tunga
webdings
WINGDINGS



Here is a list of all the remaining Fonts I have in C:\WINDOWS\Fonts. To see them all, because some are hidden, you need to do a search with your Search Assistant for *.fon, *.ttf

arial.ttf
arialbd.ttf
arialbi.ttf
ariali.ttf
cga40woa.fon
cga80woa.fon
courbd.ttf
coure.fon
dosapp.fon
ega40woa.fon
ega80woa.fon
lucon.ttf
marlett.ttf
micross.ttf
modern.fon
roman.fon
serife.fon
smalle.fon
sserife.fon
symbole.fon
tahoma.ttf
tahomabd.ttf
times.ttf
timesbd.ttf
verdana.ttf
verdanab.ttf
verdanai.ttf
verdanaz.ttf
vgafix.fon
vgaoem.fon
vgasys.fon

31 file(s)


C:\WINDOWS\Help
I delete the entire Tour folder. (You need to delete "tour.exe" from the dllcache first.)


C:\WINDOWS\inf
I deleted all .PNF files in this folder.

(PNF files, are cache-type files that will be re-created when and if their corresponding .inf file is called upon.

Per Rob Elder: It's a "pre-compiled" version of the ASCII .INF file that gets created when the Setup first processes a particular .INF file. It's done to speed up searches of the .INF files (as you've noticed there are LOTS of those on the system in Windows 2000/XP); if the dates of the .INF and .PNF files compare favorably (.PNF is later than .INF) the corresponding .PNF file will be used (if present).

If, and only after you give it some time, (say 30 days), a corresponding .PNF file is not re-created alongside the .INF file, it most-likely means you aren't using the .INF file. I go ahead and delete them. (What I do sometimes instead of waiting, is run through every application on my system and then delete (or save) all the .INF files that haven't created a corresponding .PNF file beside it.)

However, in the meanwhile, and I picked this tip up from NeoMayhem, who like me, is also is also into trimming down his XP installation: "Do a search for mdm*.* and delete everything that comes up. These are all modem drivers, and it is very unlikely you will ever need them because you either have a modem installed already, or if you do add one, it will come with newer drivers." I also delete the "mdminst.dll" (Modem Class Installer) from the system32 folder. It'll also come up with the search.


C:\WINDOWS\lastgood
I delete this folder and it's contents.

C:\WINDOWS\Media
I delete most of the sounds Windows makes.

C:\WINDOWS\msdownld.tmp
I delete the folder and its contents.

C:\WINDOWS\RegisteredPackages
I delete the folder and its contents.

C:\WINDOWS\Temp
I delete any files I ever find in here. (note: It's a good idea to delete these after a reboot, because some programs you install still use these temporary installation files to complete their installation on the next boot.

C:\WINDOWS\Web
I only deleted all .gif and .htm files

C:\WINDOWS\Web\Wallpaper
I deleted all the wallpapers I didn't like...which is actually all of them.



C:\WINDOWS\system32...



C:\WINDOWS\system32
I delete all the empty numbered folders except 1033, which isn't empty.

C:\WINDOWS\system32\config

I delete every file in here that Windows will let me. Some can't be deleted. And I periodically check in here and delete any that get made later on.
These are the only 13 files that are important in C/WINDOWS/system32\config, (These are your actual registry), anything else in there can be deleted without any problems to your system:

AppEvent.Evt
default
default.LOG
SAM
SAM.LOG
SecEvent.Evt
SECURITY
SECURITY.LOG
software
software.LOG
SysEvent.Evt
system
system.LOG


C:\WINDOWS\system32\DirectX
I delete the Dinput folder and its contents.

C:\WINDOWS\system32\oobe
I delete the entire "oobe" folder and all its contents.
OOBE is "Out of the Box Experience". OOBE is the wizard that usually runs after Setup and performs the following functions: product activation, registration, mouse tutorial, user creation.

C:\WINDOWS\system32\ReinstallBackups
I'll delete all backup files in here when I am sure I do not want to revert a particular driver back after updating it.


When I'm done I do a search for all "desktop.ini" files and delete them. If ever Windows needs them again they will be re-created.

Temp and Unnecessary Files I delete throughout my system:

*.000,*.001,*.002,*.1st,*.b~k,*.bk,*.bak,*.bmk,*.cam,*.cb,*.chk,*.cln,*.cnt ,*.da1,*.da2,
*.diz,*.doc,*.edb,*.err,*.fix,*.ftg,*.fts,*.gid,*.ign,*.ink,*.lgc,*.lge,*.l ic,*.new,*.par,*.prv,
*.pvt,*.query,*.old,*.out, readme,*.sav,*.syd,*.temp,*.tmp,*.umb,*.$$$,*.~mp,*.~*,*.*_,*.!!!,
*.lhx,

[SplashChris]

What a comprehensive list of items you've got there! Thanks for taking the time to share it!! Very informative, to say the least.

Any guess as to how much slimming has taken place as a result of your efforts? I'd be curious to know how significant it is, Mb or percentage wise.

Chris

[Bold_Fortune]

SplashChris, the list above doesn't really gain that much space for a user. It's just some files that are safe for the average user to remove from XP without running the risk of encountering any problems. I thought some people would like to know.

I couldn't say just how much space removing the above files saves, because I honestly don't use that list. Well, I do, but the list is only a small part of what I remove from my XP installation. I've got a big list for myself. But what I remove, I wouldn't recommend to the average user.

This is the size of my WINDOWS folder to give you an example of just how much I remove...


Windows Directory (all files and sub-folders)…

1287 Files
48 Folders
249 MB ...Size on disk

System32 Folder…

1139 Files
12 Folders
226 MB ...Size on disk

[foxfire]

Yes thats excellent Bold Fortune.I have printed that & will work my way through slowly.

Your PC must be like Schumachers Ferrari

Foxfire

[flavallee]

B_F:

I got groggy-eyed, looking at your list.

Along with the $NtUninstall$ folders in C:\WINDOWS, you can also delete their corresponding Q123456.log and KB123456.log files.

(Note: Be careful not to delete the ones with an .exe extension)

I thought I was doing good at "housecleaning", but you've got me beat by a country mile.

[Bold_Fortune]

Hey, Frank. Always nice to talk with you, my friend.

Thanks for pointing that out.

I didn't think about those log files because I have my temp file cleaner (HDValet) configured to remove all the .log files in C:\WINDOWS directory.

So actually, any log file in the C:\WINDOWS directory is safe to remove.

I learned that when running Windows 98.

BTW, people, if you're into Windows 98, Frank here (flavallee, as you know him) has an excellent site he created just for you.

[Bold_Fortune]

Let's step up this thread a notch.

I'm going to show you some DLL files that are perfectly safe to remove from the system32 directory.

I even put in the descriptions for each file to help you out.

FIRST! Be sure you REALLY understand what I am about to tell.

SECOND! Be sure what Keyboard Layout YOU are using. If you don't know which one, don't do this.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I delete ALL "kbd*.dll" files...which are for foreign language keyboard layouts, except for "kbdus.dll" which is the United States Keyboard layout, and the one I use.

A WORD OF CAUTION about kbd*.dlls. kbd*.dlls are Keyboard Layout files. My settings are for U.S. English, so I only need and keep the "kdbdus.dll". All others I remove from system32.

I've heard about another way to go about deleting the kdb*.dlls your system doesn't need. I've never tried this command, but if you would like to try, it here it is: Go to Start > Run. Copy and paste this in and click OK: del c:\windows.alt\system32\kbd*.dll
Supposedly, this will remove all the kdb*.dlls your system doesn't need.

KBDAL.DLL > Albania Keyboard Layout
kbdaze.dll > Azerbaijan_Cyrilic
kbdazel.dll > Azerti-Latin
kbdbe.dll > Belgian Dutch
kbdbene.dll > Belgian
kbdblr.dll > Belarusian
kbdbr.dll > Brazillian
kbdbu.dll > Bulgarian
kbdca.dll > Canadian Multilingual
kbdcan.dll > Canadian National Standard
kbdcr.dll > Croatian/Slovenian
kbdcz.dll > Czech
kbdcz1.dll > Czech_101
kbdcz2.dll > Czech_Programmer's
kbdda.dll > Dannish
kbddv.dll > Dvorak US English
kbdes.dll > Spanish Alternate
kbdest.dll > Estonia
kbdfc.dll > Canadian French
kbdfi.dll > Finnish
kbdfo.dll > Faeroese
kbdfr.dll > French
kbdgae.dll > Gaelic
kbdgkl.dll > Greek_Latin
kbdgr.dll > German
kbdgr1.dll > German_IBM
kbdhe.dll > Greek IBM 220
kbdhe220.dll > Greek IBM 319
kbdhe319.dll > Greek
kbdhela2.dll > Greek IBM 220 Latin
kbdhela3.dll > Greek IBM 319 Latin
kbdhept.dll > Greek_Polytonic
kbdhu.dll > Hungarian
kbdhu1.dll > Hungarian 101-key
kbdic.dll > Icelandic
kbdir.dll > Irish
kbdit.dll > Italian
kbdit142.dll > Italian 142
kbdkaz.dll > Kazak_Cyrillic
kbdkyr.dll > Kyrgyz
kbdla.dll > Latin-American Spanish
kbdlt.dll > Lithuania
kbdlt1.dll > Lithuanian
kbdlv.dll > Latvia
kbdlv1.dll > Latvia-QWERTY
kbdmac.dll > FYROMacedonian_Cyrillic
kbdmon.dll > Mongolian
kbdne.dll > Dutch
kbdnec.dll > JP Japanese Keyboard Layout for (NEC PC-9800)
kbdno.dll > Norwegian
kbdpl.dll > Polish
kbdpl1.dll > Polish Programmer's
kbdpo.dll > Portuguese
kbdro.dll > Romanian
kbdru.dll > Russian
kbdru1.dll > Russia(Typewriter)
kbdsf.dll > Swiss French
kbdsg.dll > Swiss German
kbdsl.dll > Slovak
kbdsl1.dll > Slovak(QWERTY)
kbdsp.dll > Spanish
kbdsw.dll > Swedish
kbdtat.dll > Tatar_Cyrillic
kbdtuf.dll > Turkish F
kbdtuq.dll > Turkish Q
kbduk.dll > United Kingdom
kbdur.dll > Ukrainian
kbdusl.dll > Dvorak Left-Hand US English
kbdusr.dll > Dvorak Right-Hand US English
kbdusx.dll > US Multinational
kbduzb.dll > Uzbek_Cyrillic
kbdycc.dll > Serbian_Cyrillic
kbdycl.dll > Serbian_Latin
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Butterpants]

Why on earth would you bother deleting like 90% of those? Hard drives are insanely cheap these days (less then 1$ a gb), do you really need the room?

I'm all for going minimal and removing bloat, but that is a psychoticly obsessive list.

Hunting down all those files would take hours. An XP install can easily be tossed onto a 5gb partition (2gb if your super stingy and move pagefile.sys).

[flavallee]

Butterpants:

You can call it psychotic, but I always like to hear about new ways to clean out the extra, unnecessary clutter, even if I don't follow the advice.

Just out of curiosity, I did a search on the KBD files. I have 302 of them, but they only occupy about 2.06 MB of space, so they can stay there.

[Bold_Fortune]

Butterpants, you gotta read this. It's really really neat.

How you run your PC is entirely up to you. That's why it's called a Personal Computer.

[flavallee]

SplashChris:

Empty the Recycle Bin before you start deleting stuff in Bold_Fortune's list, then run Disk Cleanup after you finish. It should give you a pretty good idea in KB's as to how much hard drive space would be regained.

[Butterpants]

Originally posted by Bold_Fortune:
Butterpants, you gotta read this. It's really really neat.

How you run your PC is entirely up to you. That's why it's called a Personal Computer.

ZING

[flavallee]

B_F:

Have you upgraded to XP SP2 RC1? I installed it a few days ago and it's working fine. The only program that I had to reinstall was MSN Messenger 6.1.0211. It'll give you a chance to put your "housecleaning" skills to work on a new version.

[Bold_Fortune]

Frank, I'm going to wait for the final release of SP2. I'm on a Dial-up connection, and I'm not looking forward to downloading it even when it is officially released.

You wouldn't happen to know if SP2 is going to be offered on a free CD do you? Any place I can sign up for one?

This is something interesting about removing files from XP.

Regarding the inf folder...

To be able to access the Windows Optional Compontents Wizard, Windows needs 35 different inf files. I compiled a list of these inf files needed to access the Windows Optional Compontents Wizard:

accessor.inf
au.inf
communic.inf
comnt5.inf
dtcnt5.inf
fp40ext.inf
fxsocm.inf
games.inf
ieaccess.inf
igames.inf
iis.inf
ims.inf
layout.inf
msmsgs.inf
msnmsn.inf
multimed.inf
netbeac.inf
netiprip.inf
netlpd.inf
netoc.inf
netsnmp.inf
nettpsmp.inf
netupnp.inf
oeaccess.inf
optional.inf
pinball.inf
rootau.inf
setupqry.inf
sysoc.inf
tsoc.inf
wbemoc.inf
wbemsnmp.inf
wmaccess.inf
wmpocm.inf
wordpad.inf

35 file(s)

Personally, I only keep the above 35 inf files and 30 other inf files in C:\WINDOWS\inf.

I've found that Windows Update sometimes touches upon about 29 different inf files when some Critical Updates are installed. In addition, I keep the Fonts.inf

Here's the complete list of inf files I keep:

accessor.inf
acpi.inf
au.inf
cdrom.inf
certclas.inf
communic.inf
comnt5.inf
cpu.inf
disk.inf
drvindex.inf
dtcnt5.inf
fdc.inf
flpydisk.inf
font.inf
fp40ext.inf
fxsocm.inf
gameport.inf
games.inf
hal.inf
ieaccess.inf
igames.inf
iis.inf
ims.inf
intl.inf
keyboard.inf
ks.inf
ksfilter.inf
layout.inf
machine.inf
modemcsa.inf
monitor3.inf
mshdc.inf
msmouse.inf
msmsgs.inf
msnmsn.inf
msports.inf
multimed.inf
netbeac.inf
netel90b.inf
netiprip.inf
netlpd.inf
netoc.inf
netrasa.inf
netsnmp.inf
nettpsmp.inf
netupnp.inf
nv4_disp.inf
oeaccess.inf
optional.inf
pinball.inf
pnpscsi.inf
rootau.inf
setupqry.inf
sysoc.inf
tsoc.inf
usbport.inf
volume.inf
wave.inf
wbemoc.inf
wbemsnmp.inf
wdma10k1.inf
wdmaudio.inf
wmaccess.inf
wmpocm.inf
wordpad.inf

65 file(s)

[flavallee]

It's my understanding that Microsoft is going to offer the XP SP2 upgrade CD for only a shipping charge. I'm sure we'll find out in due time. I plan to order it and keep it with my CD file, even if I download the final upgrade from the Internet. Having high-speed cable with a 250 - 300 Kb/sec download speed is great.

I don't mess with the INF files. I do delete the PNF files though from the C:\WINDOWS\INF folder.