Upgraded from Vista Ultimate to Win 7 Ultimate

[Fiery]

Gday

On my husbands PC he had Vista Ultimate, I bought from an online store Win 7 Ultimate, it turned out to be an MSDN copy which I have since returned to Microsoft. To cut a long story short Win 7 ended up being a total disaster. So while I am waiting for Microsoft to get back to me, I have reinstalled Vista.

The reinstall took a few attempts as at the time I didn't realise I had an MSDN copy of Win 7.

Now on his C:\ he has :- Windows (I need that one), Windows.0, Windows.1, Windows.2, Windows.old and Windows.old.001.

To clean up his C:\ I used Disk Cleanup, which was supposed to have removed Windows.old and Windows.old.001.

However whenever I open his Windows Explorer window all of the above are there.

I want to remove both of the ".old" folders, but windows will not let me. Scratch that I found a useful site How to remove the windows.old folder in Windows 7 & Vista , worked a charm

Now for these other folders Windows.0, Windows.1, and Windows.2, are they necessary? The Windows folder (the one I am definitely keeping) has 110 folders in it.

Windows.0, Windows.1, and Windows.2 all have 45 folders. I am guessing they are leftovers from the previous install, but I would like some assurance before I delete them.

The main reason's I am wanting to tidy up my husbands PC, is a.) I like a tidy PC and b.) he is experiencing lock ups, and as it is yet another reinstall on his PC, after the Win 7 fiasco. I am getting sick of his whining

 

[madtownidiot]

What you should do is back up any files and documents you want to keep, then erase the entire hard drive and do a clean install.

 

[Fiery]

What you should do is back up any files and documents you want to keep, then erase the entire hard drive and do a clean install.

I know THAT'S WHAT I SHOULD DO , but when you are the only PC savvy person in the house, it becomes a real chore, I have to maintain my PC, his PC, the kids PC's.
Time is not my friend

 

[pebbly]

Hi Fiery, have a look at this tutorial http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19151-windows-old-folder-delete.html

 

[madtownidiot]

I have the same task at home... three kids who all have their own computers, plus a I run a computer repair business, so usually the last thing I want to do when I get home is fix more computer problems.. what I've done instead is made system image backups of each of their computers and taught them how to use it to restore their computers back to the day I last installed windows whenever they screw up and install the wrong thing.. problem solved.

I was going to suggest you set up your system so that windows and programs are on either its own HDD or a relatively small partition, with a separate HDD or partition (usually named media or downloads) for their music and personal files. 60 - 80 GB for the system partition if your HDD is less than 320GB.. 100GB if it's larger than that.. then let your family know that from now on, if they don't want to lose anything, to move everything to the other partition or HDD.. and set up any programs and your browser to download to the other partition. Then reinstall windows, make an image backup to an external drive once you've got everything working, and be done with it.. It takes a lot less time to restore from a system image than to reinstall windows.

 

[Fiery]

I have the same task at home... three kids who all have their own computers, plus a I run a computer repair business, so usually the last thing I want to do when I get home is fix more computer problems.. what I've done instead is made system image backups of each of their computers and taught them how to use it to restore their computers back to the day I last installed windows whenever they screw up and install the wrong thing.. problem solved.

Yes I hear you, but your a dad I am a mum, so not only do I look after the PC's, I have to look after the house, prepare meals etc etc etc, the list is never ending, just ask your wife!!

As for programs that need reinstalling, I am step ahead of you there, on my PC I have 3 internal drives all partitioned, 1 external hooked up and just to be on the safe side another external in our fireproof safe.

The problem was with the pirated copy of Win 7, it screwed up ALL of windows, not just the Win 7 installation, I couldn't access the vista backups, (well I could they just didn't do anything).

Anyways I solved the problem of Windows.0, Windows.1, and Windows.2 folders, I did a system backup, then just deleted them, all gone, so now hopefully my husbands PC will run better

 

[madtownidiot]

I'm a single dad with sole custody.. so I understand more than you think... but it looks like you have a good strategy

 

[Fiery]

I'm a single dad with sole custody.. so I understand more than you think... but it looks like you have a good strategy

Oh I am sorry I hope I didn't offend

 

[madtownidiot]

Oh.. not at all, it was a perfectly normal assumption on your part