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Could these files be obsolete?

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by kcav

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I am running Windows 2000 v5.0 SP4.

In Windows Explorer I selected folder %system%/system32/drivers, and sorted on file Type. The folder contained a subfolder called etc. The etc folder contained four files: services, quotes, lmhosts.sam and hosts.bak. None of these files appeared in the Software Environment for Drivers within System Information. Could these be obsolete files?

2 replies

by mark

Those files are used when configured. The lmhosts.sam and hosts files are ways to resolve IP addresses and sometimes are not used. The "sam" referes to sample and you can view the files in a text viewer like notepad to see an explanation of them. You could probably delete them without causing a problem, but they are small and I would recommend leaving them alone. Why are you asking about these small system files? If you tell us your problem, maybe we can suggest an answer to it. If you are running low on hard drive space, they are cheap these days. Also there are common places to look to free up space.

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