Just thought i'd share these with you guys. Found it on a website stated at the end enjoy!
I didn't search so sorry if they have been posted already.
"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,
http://forums.techguy.org/tech-tips-tri … afely.html
I didn't search so sorry if they have been posted already.
"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,
http://forums.techguy.org/tech-tips-tri … afely.html