When you install (or upgrade) to Windows 95/98, there are
many files placed in your root and Windows directories that
can be deleted. These are temporary files, or files that are
no longer in use by the operating system. These include:
Anything with the extensions:
"TXT" - They are usually readme.txt files that
only explain how to use a program. Once the program is installed
and you are using it, these can usually be deleted.
"TMP" - These are temp files that are usually
in the c:\windows\temp directory but they can be elsewhere.
If the program isn't in use, then the temp files can be
deleted.
"AVI" - These are little movies that are installed
that can show you how to do certain things. You probably
didn't know they were even there, so you probably don't
need them. Be careful though as they might be required by
certain programs.
"BAK" - These are backup files that are created
when a more up to date file is installed. As long as everything
is running fine, then these can be deleted.
"PRV" - These are similar to backup (BAK) files.
As long as everything is running fine, then these can be
deleted.
"LOG" - Log files are only useful if you are
technical minded and you want to see what commands were
used when certain things were run. For most people these
are useless and can be deleted.
"OLD" - These are similar to backup (BAK) files.
As long as everything is running fine, then these can be
deleted.
"- - -" - These are similar to backup (BAK) files.
As long as everything is running fine, then these can be
deleted.
"000" - These are similar to backup (BAK) files.
As long as everything is running fine, then these can be
deleted.
"001" - These are similar to backup (BAK) files.
As long as everything is running fine, then these can be
deleted.
"DOS" - These are similar to backup (BAK) files.
As long as everything is running fine, then these can be
deleted. (unless you use the dual-boot feature)
"WAV" - These are sound files that can be deleted
if you don't like all of the "cool" sounds that
you hear when you maximize and minimize programs. I would
suggest moving these to a temporary directory just in case
you miss the sounds.
If you don't plan on uninstalling Windows 95, you can delete
WIN95UNDO.DAT (if it's there).
Other files that can be deleted include MSCREATE.DIR. Any
directory named, ~MSSETUP.T or msdownld.tmp. If you use
WS_ftp, your hard drive might be littered with ws_ftp.log
files. They can all be deleted as well.
In your Help sub-directory of the Windows directory, all
*.GID files can be erased.
Image files can take up a lot of space. Do a search on
your hard drive for *.BMP, *.JPG, *.GIF, *.TIF, and other
image files. View them and erase all of the ones you don't
want. The Windows directory will have quite a few BMP files
as they are used for wallpaper.
You generally don't want to delete EXE, COM, or BAT files
as these are programs.
