WHAT IS/WHAT DOES IT MEAN/DO I NEED THIS

Most programs come with an uninstall option and running them is generally the cleanest way to remove their support files, within the operating system under control panel you also have the add/remove which will back out a few more. Typically older DOS applications load all there software to a specific directory and so you just delete the entire directory and they're gone. At some point though you will run into to many things having been added and not completely removed and it's time to do a backup of your important data/ format/ and reload of operating system and all applications you need/want. Another thing to remember is all memory is not the same even if the speed is the same rate so you may wish to try first one set of ram chips and then the other. Yes more memory will give a performance boost but sometimes the memory does not get along with the new memory and they fight for resources instead. Hopefully the extra memory you bought was larger than what you already had. Anotherthing windows 95/98 seem to have an upper memory limit and becomes unstable above 511 meg so if you have 512 that could be the problems as well. Hard disk space is very important, general rule of thumb, if you're using more than 50%, you need more disk space. Hope that helps.

You are safe deleting all of the following:

1) *.tmp (these are files created by Windows)
2) ~*.* (these are files created by Office and not removed after closing MS Office)
3) If you are using Netscape, you can delete everything in the Cache folder (created while browsing the web)
4) If you are using Internet Explorer, you can delete everthing under CONTENT.IE5 (created while browsing the web) -- including the folders. You should also have a History Folder and a Cookies folder near your Temporary Internet Files -- the contents of which can be deleted.

Generally, if you are un-installing something and it asks you if you want to remove a file... depending on the location of the file (for instance, if the file is in c:\windows\system) or the name of the file (*.dll), I may or may not delete it. If it's a system file (within the system folder), dll file, then I recommend that people do not delete it. If the program is going to be re-installed, then it is okay to delete. Otherwise, keep the file just in case something else needs it.

Another option is if you are unsure, to rename the file to whatever.bak, and keep it for awhile while you use the application normally. Then when you are sure that nothing needs the file, then delete it.

Usually programs can be reinstalled anyway, and anything that a program requires can be recovered by reinstalling the application.

It is safe to delete the files that are over 2 weeks old in the C:\Windows\Temp folder.

As stated in the other answers, it is safe to delete your internet cache files.

I would NOT delete any other folders under the Windows folder, or the Program Files folder unless you know for CERTIAN that you do not need the files.

Many programs still install under the C:\ root folder, so you need to be carefull there also.

Other things that you can safely delete, are screen savers and desktop themes that you do not use.

.bk and .bak document backup files.

Beyond these, you REALLY need to know what the file / folder is for before you delete it.

Chas

I would start by going to c:\windows\temp and deleting everything in that folder. Then I would go to c:\windows\Temporary Internet Files and delete everything in that folder. Then I would empty the recyle bin. Also, if you have any programs that you are not currently using, I would remove them, Start, Setting, Control Panel, Add Remove Programs. After all of that is done, run scandisk and defrag. Go to Start, Run, type scandisk, press enter. Let it run and then do the same thing except type defrag instead of scandisk. I hope this helps. All so here is a link to a web site that explains what each file extension is: http://www.bton.com/tb17/formats/f.html

Defragment your hard drive if you think that your physical memory is your bottleneck. This will speed up your file access.

I recently took a look at someone's computer with similar issues. For him it wasn't about hard drive space but all of the programs that started when windows started. I would check out MSCONFIG

Jason Silva

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