Root of C - Safe to Delete?

[Hipster Doofus]

Is it OK to delete all this stuff> I think it is from installing programs.

 

[Mike8]

Yes: Seems a program has extracted itself into the root. But what I do in these situations is make a folder on your desktop and sweep the files into the spare folder. Reboot. So you can always put the files back. But in this case it looks as if a program has just used the root to unpack its files into. M

 

[Hipster Doofus]

Thanks Mike. I'll get it ready for the next reboot.

 

[swarfega]

Looks like you have steam. the eula txt files can be removed. Im assuming those dlls are to do with the installers so maybe safe to remove as well.

 

[Digerati]

What I do if not sure a file or folder is safe to delete is rename them and see what happens.

So for a file called filename.dll I would rename it to filename.dll.7-31-2010-delete
For a folder, rename foldername to foldername-7-31-2010-delete

Note I simply append the date and the word delete (using dashes instead of slashes to avoid directory hassles) so, as typically happens, I forget about it and weeks or months later when I stumble on the file or fold again, I can quickly see how long it has been, and know it is safe to delete or not.

But if I determine I need that file or folder, I don't have to remember what the original name was, I simply rename deleting the extra endings.

 

[Barman58]

What I do if not sure a file or folder is safe to delete is rename them and see what happens.

So for a file called filename.dll I would rename it to filename.dll.7-31-2010-delete
For a folder, rename foldername to foldername-7-31-2010-delete

Note I simply append the date and the word delete (using dashes instead of slashes to avoid directory hassles) so, as typically happens, I forget about it and weeks or months later when I stumble on the file or fold again, I can quickly see how long it has been, and know it is safe to delete or not.

But if I determine I need that file or folder, I don't have to remember what the original name was, I simply rename deleting the extra endings.

I Also use a similar method but always reverse the date order so that it sorts correctly IE. 2010-07-31, YYYY-MM-DD, rather than 7-31-2010 (always use leading zeros too )

 

[Digerati]

Yeah, that will work. I see your point about sort order, but 7-31-2010-delete at the end of a file or folder name sticks out like a sore thumb so not hard to spot. In reality, I don't have to do that very often as I typically know what the file is for, or plugging it into Google quickly lets me know.

 

[Hipster Doofus]

Seems to be OK. I'll keep the folder for a week or two & see that it behaves. Thanks for all the ideas.