Solved Removing HKEY_USER Files: Win7 Ultimate

[JimHarmon]

50 year slave to the never-ending learning curve required to simplify a device that was built to simplify said slave's disorganized habits in his business routines seeks a Yes or No answer for the following:

Question:
Can I remove, safely, any of the other HKEY 'Users' listed below?
THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR TIME AND CONSIDERATION!

My account: (Only I use this computer)
S-1-5-21-3324439567-258173074-4021619248-1000
Volatile Environment:

(Default) REG_SZ (value not set)
APPDATA REG_SZ C:\Users\JIMULTIMATE\AppData\Roaming
HOMEDRIVE REG_SZ C:
HOMEPATH REG_SZ \Users\JIMULTIMATE
LOCALAPPDATA REG_SZ C:\Users\JIMULTIMATE\AppData\Local
LOGONSERVER REG_SZ \\JIMULTIMATE-PC
USERDOMAIN REG_SZ JIMULTIMATE-PC
USERNAME REG_SZ JIMULTIMATE
USERPROFILE REG_SZ C:\Users\JIMULTIMATE


Windows 7 Ultimate
HKEY_USERS
.DEFAULT
S-1-5-18
S-1-5-19
S-1-5-20
S-1-5-21-3324439567-258173074-4021619248-1000
S-1-5-21-3324439567-258173074-4021619248-1000_Classes

 

[essenbe]

Mr Harmon, I would suggest that if you are not very good at knowing the registry and system internals, stay out of the registry and remove nothing. If you do what you are asking you will more than likely make that device that simplifies your life into a device that complicates the crap out of it. Windows was made to work a certain way. Some minor tweaks can be made to it. But altering or deleting system files will not make it into a different operating system. It will simply make it not work at all. These user accounts were made by default for a reason, or were made by you. You can delete the accounts you made but in the control panel, but it is definitely unwise to delete the ones made by Windows. If you do not use them, they hurt nothing by being there and doing nothing. That's my 2 cents worth.

 

[JDobbsy1987]

Mr Harmon, I would suggest that if you are not very good at knowing the registry and system internals, stay out of the registry and remove nothing. If you do what you are asking you will more than likely make that device that simplifies your life into a device that complicates the crap out of it. Windows was made to work a certain way. Some minor tweaks can be made to it. But altering or deleting system files will not make it into a different operating system. It will simply make it not work at all. These user accounts were made by default for a reason, or were made by you. You can delete the accounts you made but in the control panel, but it is definitely unwise to delete the ones made by Windows. If you do not use them, they hurt nothing by being there and doing nothing. That's my 2 cents worth.

I agree, these are very wise words that should be followed.

We see a lot of comments here about cleaning up the registry but the risks of doing so far out weight any performance increase (if any) that cleaning the registry does.

In some respect, if you don't know what you are doing in the registry, cleaning it up is just the pre-requisite to a fresh install of Windows

 

[LMiller7]

I agree with assenbe. Unless you understand what you are doing and have a real need it is best to stay out of the registry. And unlike a text editor all changes are immediate and there is no undo facility.

It appears that very little could be removed without causing problems. For what little remains the benefits would be far outweighed by the risks.

The .DEFAULT, S-1-5-18, S-1-5-19, S-1-5-20 entries are for system accounts and should not be touched. The entries beginning with S-1-5-21 are for your account and should also be left alone.

 

[JimHarmon]

While I know little about the innards of the registsry I can say, with equanimity, that most of what I have learned, in any area, I have done so without timidity. I assumed that the .default entry was created to be used as a template of sorts and, having seen an entry or two in the event log files related to one of other accounts, as well as the first appearance after several years of Account Unknown, thought that the possibility of leftover user accounts was a fairly credible assumption.

As reckless as it apparently appeared to the cognoscenti here I have always ventured into areas with my thoughts on my reward: learning something new, rather than the loss of a device that is little more than an entertaining distraction. Since I have had my fingers on a keyboard almost daily for the last 50 years or so, going back to having 10k of memory, two floppy drives, Apple II, TRS-80, Basic, DOS and Windows 95 I must have been very, very lucky not to have ever once lost the use of any computing device for ANY reason, virus, hacker, power outage, tinkering, etc.

I have no problem at all in accepting the consequences of my actions but then how could you know that?
There are no boogey men in the machine, in my not so humble opinion, and, frankly I am quite taken aback in not getting what I sought from my post, which I expected, at most, to be "Nah, probably not a good idea" and at worst: Check this, that and then look in, download this and that, run and post the output, etc.... to assist me in deciding if they were, in fact, e-waste or a significant resource of the operating system.
Please do not assume that I have in any way discounted your expertise nor your well meaning intentions. Over 12 thousand helpful posts speaks volumes of an enviable history and a significantly caring and thoughtful nature... it is just my two cents worth.

 

[LMiller7]

That the .DEFAULT entry is a template is a reasonable assumption, and one that many have made. But wrong. This explains what it really is:
The .Default user is not the default user - The Old New Thing - Site Home - MSDN Blogs
The blog is by Raymond Chen, a developer with Microsoft since before Windows 95.

You have to be careful with reasonable assumptions. They are often wrong.

 

[Layback Bear]

Jim you have asked for recommendations and suggestion. You have received as you requested.
They might not be what you want but they are intended to help.
We are very carefully to try not to give instructions or guide lines that might do harm to computers.

It's your computer so obviously you can do as you please.
With your many years of experience and knowledge you should have no problems getting things back to the way they should be.

Just keep in mind; Windows 7 does not in most cases react well to thing we use to do with older Windows operating systems.