Windows XP - Cleaning the hard disk: THIS is what you can remove

Experienced computer users know why they should use program and driver installations as sparingly as possible, because all sorts of small tools or applications that you don't even need later on not only increase the Windows registry but also complete the chaos that is created on the hard disk. Fragmentation and error messages are the result and, of course, hard disk space suffers as a result.

The cause is usually crashes in Windows or programmers who have not learned to create their uninstall routines properly. The user then pays for this in the form of a lot of trouble and even a new installation!

Defragment hard disk without errors

Question: How is it possible that fragmentation occurs?
Answer: As you have learned here, frequent deleting, copying, moving, installing, and uninstalling creates chaos on the hard drive, which is called fragmentation. The orphaned files that this article is about are then sorted by a defragmentation program among the program files, and therefore optimizing does not help if gaps nevertheless appear (due to these unnecessary files).

Delete incorrect data

Question: How can these data cause errors - they don't bother anyone?
Answer: Not at all! Especially leftovers in the temporary folders are bad players when it comes to program installations. Let's take the following (imaginary) file as an example: The msui.dll of Office 97 remains in the folder C:\Windows\Temp after installation. Now NetObjects Fusion 7.0 also wants to set up this file, sees that it already exists and no longer overwrites the new version, which is specially tailored to NOF 7.0. Now install! The first program start may go well because the msui.dll has not yet been used, but what happens if Fusion now needs this file? The complete algorithms of the program are based on a special msui.dll, which does not exist in this form. Clear consequence: Crash!

This article is divided into 3 parts to finally eliminate the annoying residual files:

- Part I: Find temporary folders and delete them with a batch file!
- Part II: Other temporary files with extensions such as .old, .gid, .fts etc.
- Part III: Delete useless file extensions and their files

Have fun cleaning out your Windows system completely!

Part I: Create temporary folders with our batch file!

I have put together a small batch file for you that completely removes the most common temporary folders from Windows. This file deletes the following folders: Cookies, History, Temporary Internet Files, Temp, Recent, Driver Cache, InstallShield Information. (Change the paths in your folder structure accordingly)

                     
Download WinTweaks-Cleaner

It is advisable to run this file once a week! If the deletion does not work correctly, please run this file in Windows safe mode. To do this, press the key when starting up (before the start screen) F8 and select Safe mode. Please be aware that this data does not end up in the recycle bin - so make sure that you no longer need this data. Explanation of the individual folders:

Cookies: Cookies are small text files that are stored on your page by websites to keep you logged in to forums, for example. If you delete them, you will have to log in to the Windows Tweaks forum again with your user name and password (do not confuse this with registering).

Course: The last pages you visited are saved here. You can change how far this history should extend under Extras/Internet options.

Temporary Internet Files: All images and HTML files that are transferred while surfing. Depending on the activity, this folder can easily be hundreds of megabytes in size!

Recent: Documents that you last opened are listed here again.

Driver cache: A fairly large collection of drivers that saves you having to reach for the Windows installation CD when installing PC components, as the required archives are stored here.

InstallShield Information: All installations are stored here - to avoid errors it is sometimes advisable to delete this folder.

A little tip for Windows XP Professional users: You can also have WinTweaks Cleaner run automatically on shutdown, which saves you having to go to the.

1. Enter this under Start/Execute the command gpedit.msc (does not work with XP Home) and confirm with OK. Now double-click on Computer configuration (If you are the sole user of the PC) or on User configuration (For multiple accounts).

2. Now select Windows settings/scripts (start/shutdown) or Windows settings/scripts (log in/log out).

3. Under Add, select the path to the WinTweaks-ProfCleaner.bat and double-click on the file. A confirmation with OK is sufficient to execute the file during the shutdown process!

Part II - Find and destroy all scattered temp. data on the hard disk

In the program folders alone, there are still hundreds of hidden temporary files that have stuck due to program errors or installation. This is how you can delete them:

1. Click on Start/Search. Let us help you at Extras/Folder options/View to display the hidden files by clicking on All files and folders and click on the checkbox next to the Protected system files and folders remove.

2. Now enter the following terms in the search field:

*.tmp - These are the known files that are created for temporary use by Windows or applications.

*.gid, *.fts - Files with this extension are created using Windows help to make them faster the next time you access them. My opinion: Delete!

*.~?? - All files with the ~ (called a tilde) in the extension (e.g. .~02) can be deleted. Simply search for .~??. If, on the other hand, you want to search for files with the tilde at the end, simply enter .???~. You must proceed according to this principle!

*.dmp - Dump files are created by Windows XP during crashes, so that professionals can (possibly) find the cause. For normal users, the file is not readable and can be deleted!

*.bak, *.old, *.001, *.002, *.$$$ - These are backup files created by programs that were mostly no longer needed.

We recommend that you do not delete this data: Do not delete this data, but store it temporarily in the recycle bin! When Windows and all programs are running properly (which will be the case), you can turn to Empty wastebasket dare.

Part III - Delete all unnecessary files that you no longer need

Now it’s time to delete file types and their associated files, which in the first case represents a drastic relief for the Windows registry. I advise you to first back up the system using a separate program (such as Acronis TrueImage). Remove the files manually first, so that they are stored in the Recycle Bin. After the radical deletion process, test your computer for functionality – in some cases, after a restart, one (or more) error messages will appear, asking you if you want to keep the modified (in our case: deleted) system files, which you can answer with Yes. Especially the elaborate help files suffer from the removal of image, audio, text, and video material. You have to know how far you can go with the deletion yourself, because there are no general rules here! I can only give you experiences: what has proven to be fairly safe to delete and what you need to keep in mind.

We are not liable for any damage that occurs (e.g. if your system no longer boots up), as you must decide for yourself how far you want to go with data deletion. In the vast majority of cases, Windows restarts at lightning speed and with a few errors for unnecessary components. You delete the files by searching for a "file type" in the search function. The following files can be removed with a clear conscience (but with caution):

All audio formats (AIFF, WAV, MP3, MIDI etc.)
These files can usually be deleted without any concerns. Be careful not to steal (important) sound files from games and applications; limit yourself to the Windows directory and your own music files.

Animated cursors
Can be deleted without any worries!

Applications for MS-DOS
If you no longer use MS-DOS applications, you can remove the found files (except for ntdetect.com).

Appfix packages
When you access programs, Windows installs these updates. They update certain program files in terms of security and compatibility. Test deleting this data to the trash and make sure that your system continues to run smoothly.

All image files (BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG, etc.)
Here too, you need to carefully examine the folder where the data is located. Image files can be deleted in Windows, although some cannot be removed at all. If such a file is located in a program directory, caution is advised, as otherwise the functionality may be limited: In image editing programs, masks, effects, and objects are usually stored as BMP, PNG, etc. - deleting them would probably render your tool unusable, even to the bone.

Channel file
If you do not use the Internet Explorer channels (which were partially used in Windows 98 and are now almost completely forgotten), you can press the ENTF button.

Cursor
Don't need any cursors? Delete!

Database files
Thumbnail databases in the image folder (Thumbs.db) and IconCache.db can be deleted without any concerns. The IconCache is then rebuilt, which leads to fewer errors with the icons.

DFÜ files
They must not be deleted, as otherwise no Internet connection will be possible! You should only remove them if no connection to the network is required.

Help assistant file, help file
If you have never used the digital help (which is partially understandable), you can move these files to the trash.

HTML application
They can be deleted without any concerns if you don't use any of them.

HTML document
You will find hundreds of these types on the system: Help files can be deleted, while other HTML files serve as wizards. So, just delete the removable files for a test run to be able to restore them if necessary.

ICC profile
Color schemes used by the monitor driver. In most cases, they can be deleted if you do not need to work with them.

Cascaded Stylesheet Document
Format setting for HTML files. If you find these in help folders, they can be deleted - however, you should keep your own CSS files from your homepage on the hard drive.

Compiled HTML help file
All help files can be deleted.

All video files (media clip, AVI, MPEG, etc.)
The same applies here as for the images - otherwise: Remove!

Microsoft Word Assistant
If you do not need any of these assistants: Delete!

PKCS #7 certificates
Key or certification for certain files.

Registration file
Windows includes some registry files that change system settings, but do not affect normal users. They can be safely deleted!

Security catalog
Includes some system files, which can also be installed after Windows has been installed from the CD.

Symbol
.ico files are mostly used by programs. If you delete one of these symbols, it may happen that one or more shortcuts will lose their icons.

VB Script File
See the registration file. Can be deleted if you don't use example scripts like pagefileconfig.vbs.

Link with Windows Media...
Can be deleted without affecting the system.

Windows design file
Since you want a fast Windows, you will certainly also want to do without the XP Luna Style (blue/green). Here you have the option to delete it.

Windows Installer Package
They can be deleted, since there are only relatively useless setup applications behind them.

Windows Media Player Design Pack
You can safely delete the various skins of WMP 8/9 if you do not need any of the visual customization options.

XML files
Should not be deleted, as many components of Windows XP are based on XML services (Windows Media Player, for example).

ZIP-compressed folder
Go through the files carefully and decide which ones can be deleted and which ones cannot.

If your system is still functional after several hours of operation with all programs and several restarts without serious errors, you can try emptying the recycle bin. Note: You are welcome to search for all file types and remove them, but act with great caution and find out on the Internet (e.g. with google.de) whether a file type is important or whether you can delete the files found with a clear conscience.

A little tip on the side: Search for large files via "How big is the file? in the Windows search by entering "2000 KB. Remove unnecessary files from your computer, such as images, game saves, videos or audio files that have long since been forgotten.

Remove file types - simplify the registry!

The Windows registry is the core of Microsoft operating systems. The dozens of file types put a strain on the registry and therefore on system startup and access. In many cases, you can delete file types if no data is found under them.

Proceed as follows: Search for Appfix package, for example. If nothing is found or you no longer need the search results and delete them, you can remove the file type. To do this, click on My Computer/Extras/Folder Options/File Types and remove SDB - Appfix package from the list. Proceed in this way with all file types that you are absolutely sure you will no longer need. In my test, the following file types were deleted: 323, ACA, ACF, ACS, ACW, AIF, AIFC, AIFF, ANI, ASA, ASF, ASX, AU, AW, BKF, BLG, CDF, CDX, CHK, CHM, COL, CTT, CUR, DIC, EMF, HOL, HTA, ICC, ICM, ICO, ICS, JFIF, JOB, LWV, M1V, M3U, MHT, MHTML, MMM, MP2, MP2V, MPA, MPV2, MSRCINCIDENT, MSP, MSWMM, NMW, NWS, PKO, system monitor types, RDP, Schedule+ types, SHB, SHS, SND, SPL, ULS, VCF, VCS, WAX, WBK, WMX.

The changes to the system did not result in any noticeable impairments, although this cannot be a general formula for your computer. Be careful and inform yourself about certain file types!

Even after the first restart, you can feel the relief of the registry, as the system starts up a little faster and programs work (noticeably) faster. I hope that this gigantic article has brought you a little closer to perfect performance!

NOTE FOR NEW PUBLICATION: This article was produced by Sandro Villinger and comes from the Windows Tweaks archive, which has been built up since the late 1990s.