PCTech Forums

I'm still trying to free up a little disk space on a laptop. It is running XP Pro. I did not get a response to my earlier posting about deleting some PC Health collection (?) files but maybe I'll be luckier with this question.

As I said earlier, the laptop is running XP Pro. When I checked C drive in My Computer, saw a listing for TWO Windows files/programs. The first is listed as just Windows and contains over 1 GB of data. The 2nd on is listed as Windows.000 and has 55 MB of data. When I looked at the files contained, it looked like a smaller version of the regular Windows listing but does not have all the files.

Any suggestions as to the possible damage it might cause if I deleted the Windows.000 file? Would this be a good idea?

I did answer your other post.

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My guess is that the Windows.000 is a failed install. I think it would be safe to delete. But if you are unsure, make a ghost disk image of your pc before you delete it, then you can restore the image if it goes boom on you.

The other folder I have no way of knowing if its safe or not.

The dot 000 is what I don't like. Most laptops don't have a failed install if they were done by the factory. Usually you'll see a lot of directorys with .000 on a drive that is going south.

I suggest you determine what brand of hard drive you have and download a test program from the manufacturer. This would give you some indication if there is a real problem there. A virus could also cause the .000 files if it nailed the boot sector>

If the directory is only 55 meg it should be ok to delete. Rename it first and see if you have problems, if not, remove it.

Bear in mind that your o/s needs about 256 meg of hard drive space for xp to run right. It also needs about another 600 meg of temp space to install programs and burn cd's.
So you can see, 50 to 100 meg of space doesn't get you very far.

Thanks for the reply.

PC Guy,

I did not see your reply to my other question until after I posted this one. Sorry.

You mentioned doing a 'ghost' image. How do you do that? This unit does not have a CD burner.......

Icecube,

What is a test download? First I've heard of that. Hope it is a small download. HDD space is an issue on that laptop. HDD is about 4.5 GB total with only 1.1 GB free space. Purchased the unit used. Previous owner changed OS to XP Pro and added Office XP with Front Page. I was trying to clean up the HDD to gain a little more free space when I came across the Window.000 listing. From the property info on that listing, it was created back in 2002. Do you still think I might have a pending HDD problem?