Can I safely delete these files?

[StickMaker]

Windows 7, Home Premium

Is it safe to delete .fts, .gid, .grp, .old, .000, .$$$, .log, .$DB, .DB$, .— (3 hyphens), .prv, .wbk, ~$*, .tmp, .asd and .DMP files?

I deleted some other files thinking they were safe to delete, and now all my Windows Live Mail messages and Storage Folders were gone. Can't recall what they were and I don't see them in the Recycle bin.

Thank you

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Are you suffering from a severe lack of hard drive space? Just wondering why you feel the need to delete those files?

Have you run Disk Cleanup?

 

[StickMaker]

Yes, hard drive space is running a bit low and I don't want to buy another one just yet.
Yes, I did the Cleanup.

 

[marsmimar]

As you've seen, deleting the wrong files can have unwanted consequences. If you're not sure what a particular file extension is (the .xxx part) you could always use a 3rd party database like Filext.

FILExt - The File Extension Source

In searching for .gid (just as an example) I found out it's a Windows Help Index File. Is it safe to remove? I have no idea so if it was me, I'd leave it alone.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I'd run something like WinDirStat to see exactly what is taking up space.

Have you investigated the drive space devoted to System Restore and Page File?

Have you turned off hibernation if you don't use it?

 

[boohbah]

how much is a bit low ,because when your hardrive gets so low your computer will offer to clear some space for you and it wont delete important files.

 

[StickMaker]

thanks, all, maybe I got a bit carried away with "spring cleaning" and it isn't even spring yet. No big deal.

 

[OldMX]

Next time run CCleaner with everything but the wipe free space option checked and call it a day.

 

[wanchoo]

I think you can delete .old, .log, .fts and .tmp files absolutely safely. And it should perhaps be quite safe to delete .gid and .$$$ files.

Windows 7, Home Premium

Is it safe to delete .fts, .gid, .grp, .old, .000, .$$$, .log, .$DB, .DB$, .— (3 hyphens), .prv, .wbk, ~$*, .tmp, .asd and .DMP files?

I deleted some other files thinking they were safe to delete, and now all my Windows Live Mail messages and Storage Folders were gone. Can't recall what they were and I don't see them in the Recycle bin.

Thank you

 

[Pete4]

.DMP usually stands for memory or screen dump, most likely due to error and therefore safe to delete as well.
.ASD could be Word document and .PRV some type of backup?
you really need to know what the extension stands for before deleting anything as it could create major issues, as you already found out.
.log and .tmp files could be tricky to delete, those are temporary and log files and if they are being written by application at the moment of deletion, you get error message saying so.
probably using MS disc cleaning option or CCleaner are safer to use than looking for files yourself.
For example there is whole bunch of garbage in your internet cache with all different types of extensions all ready to be deleted.

 

[wanchoo]

I have found that deleting .log and .temp files as also .old files is quite safe from my personal experience. It is true no doubt that this deletion causes loss of certain information which in any case one almost never uses, but that is it. Windows then recreates these files again if and when required. If they are in use at the time of deletion they simply don't get deleted and then one may retry deletion a little while later.

I have deleted these files dozens of time in the past without any ill effect. If you are very finicky about deletion then another method would be to delete these files and let them lie in the Recycle Bin and continue using the PC. If all proceeds smoothly for 10 or 15 days then they can be emptied from the Recycle Bin.

Having started with the Hard Disks when their size used to be around 250 megs I think I am still paranoid about saving Disk Space. In reality with today's hard disk sizes one may never delete any files at all.