reinstalled vista, can I delete the window.old file safely?

[Meghiddo]

I just re installed vista and it told me it is keeping some of my old settings and such in a folder called windows.old saved under my c drive. It is 6.55 GB of data but from what I can tell it is mostly just copies of files I have after re installing. The file contains folders for docs and settings, program files, program data, users, and windows.
So are these just settings from pre-re install that will be safe for me to delete? I would like a definite yes or no because 6.5gb is not enough free space to risk on a maybe
Thanks, as always

[AnnMarie]

Hi Meghiddo. Yes provided you are certain that there are no important files in it and only you can know this. See How to remove the Windows.old folder that is generated when you perform a custom installation of Windows Vista.

[Meghiddo]

oh no no no, I will not be using disc cleanup again.
That is what got me into this mess in the first place of having a windows.old file.
I used it and it deleted every thing on my hard drive. drivers, programs, everything! I had to reinstall Vista and I ended up with a windows.old file. I will never do a disc cleanup again with Vista

[AnnMarie]

Did you run Registry Mechanic or any other type of registry cleaner before this happened Meghiddo?

[Meghiddo]

yes, RegCure

[AnnMarie]

RegCure is very dubious software developed by Paretologic, a company with a very shady past. Sophos AntiVirus added detection for RegCure as a potentially unwanted program in January 2008. See here. The issue you have described has been identified as being associated with missing registry values and running a registry cleaner has been positively identified as the culprit. I would be willing to bet good money that RegCure deleted essential registry values and was the cause of your problems.

Registry cleaners shouldnt be used unless there is corruption such as a problem with an uninstall AND the user has considerable expertise and understands exactly what the cleaner is doing. Mark Russinovich (Author of the "Bible", Windows Internals, co-founder of Winternals and Sysinternals, and since both companies were bought by Microsoft, now a senior Microsoft employee) was asked:

Quote: "Hi Mark, do you really think that Registry junk left by uninstalled programs could severely slow down the computer? I would like to 'hear' your opinion. "

Quote: "No, even if the registry was massively bloated there would be little impact on the performance of anything other than exhaustive searches (ed. of the registry itself).

"On Win2K Terminal Server systems, however, there is a limit on the total amount of Registry data that can be loaded and so large profile hives can limit the number of users that can be logged on simultaneously.

"I haven't and never will implement a Registry cleaner since it's of little practical use on anything other than Win2K terminal servers and developing one that's both safe and effective requires a huge amount of application-specific knowledge."

Please uninstall RegCure, reboot and I'll check your registry to make sure the values are present so this doesnt happen again.

Click on Start and type cmd in the Start Search box. Cmd.exe will appear at the top of the Menu. Rightclick on it and choose "Run as Administrator". Copy and paste the following command in the Code box after the prompt > and hit Enter:

reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\VolumeCaches\Windows Error Reporting Archive Files" > C:\look.txt & start notepad c:\look.txt

Your registry will be scanned and when finished, Notepad will pop up with some information. Copy and paste it in this thread. Now do the same for the below commands and copy and paste that information here too (you may need to make more than one post).

reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\VolumeCaches\Windows Error Reporting Queue Files" > C:\look1.txt & start notepad c:\look1.txt

reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\VolumeCaches\Windows Error Reporting System Archive Files" > C:\look2.txt & start notepad c:\look2.txt

reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\VolumeCaches\Windows Error Reporting System Queue Files" > C:\look3.txt & start notepad c:\look3.txt

[Meghiddo]

this is why I love this forum. I should say that the files and programs all disappeared immediately after I did the disc cleanup so that is what lead me to the conclusion. But I went ahead and got rid of regcure and here is what you requested just to be safe. I didnt find the option to right click and select run as admin but I thin I still have what you asked

edit: this has convinced me to finally subscribe btw, you guys are great! Its only 5 bucks a year people, keep a great help site going strong!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\explorer\VolumeCaches\Windows Error Reporting Archive Files
(Default) REG_SZ {C0E13E61-0CC6-11d1-BBB6-0060978B2AE6}
FileList REG_SZ *.*
Flags REG_DWORD 0x7d
Folder REG_EXPAND_SZ %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ ReportArchive
IconPath REG_EXPAND_SZ %SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,0
Display REG_EXPAND_SZ @%SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,-297
Description REG_EXPAND_SZ @%SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,-298
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\explorer\VolumeCaches\Windows Error Reporting Queue Files
(Default) REG_SZ {C0E13E61-0CC6-11d1-BBB6-0060978B2AE6}
FileList REG_SZ *.*
Flags REG_DWORD 0x7d
Folder REG_EXPAND_SZ %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ ReportQueue
IconPath REG_EXPAND_SZ %SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,0
Display REG_EXPAND_SZ @%SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,-295
Description REG_EXPAND_SZ @%SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,-296
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\explorer\VolumeCaches\Windows Error Reporting System Archive Files
(Default) REG_SZ {C0E13E61-0CC6-11d1-BBB6-0060978B2AE6}
FileList REG_SZ *.*
Flags REG_DWORD 0x7d
Folder REG_EXPAND_SZ %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArch ive
IconPath REG_EXPAND_SZ %SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,0
Display REG_EXPAND_SZ @%SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,-301
Description REG_EXPAND_SZ @%SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,-302
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\explorer\VolumeCaches\Windows Error Reporting System Queue Files
(Default) REG_SZ {C0E13E61-0CC6-11d1-BBB6-0060978B2AE6}
FileList REG_SZ *.*
Flags REG_DWORD 0x7d
Folder REG_EXPAND_SZ %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueu e
IconPath REG_EXPAND_SZ %SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,0
Display REG_EXPAND_SZ @%SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,-299
Description REG_EXPAND_SZ @%SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,-300
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[AnnMarie]

Thanks for your support Meghiddo. We certainly appreciate it.

You are missing a value although not the entry I expected to see missing. Have you run RegCure since reinstalling Vista?

I have uploaded a fix for you here. Please set a System Restore point first to be on the safe side and then download Meg.reg to your Desktop. Rightclick on it and choose Merge. Reboot afterwards.

When you have done this, run Disk Cleanup again but only select the Drive you want to cleanup. Do not actually clean anything. Can you take a note of what you see please or upload a screenshot so I can see what it reports. I am particularly interested in the size of files. I ran it on my Vista and cleaned everything with the exception of Setup Files with no ill effects.

[Meghiddo]

sorry, I havent been here in a bit. I have run regcure since re installing, but I have uninstalled regcure since then. When I click on the link you provided nothing is there though.

I did another disc cleanup though and here is what you requested:

Downloaded program files - 0mb (checked)
temporary internet files - 19.4mb (checked)
offline webpages - 5.85mb (unchecked)
hibernation file cleaner - 2.99gb (unchecked)
recycle bin - 0mb (unchecked)
setup log files - 12.8kb (unchecked)
temporary files - 2.95gb (unchecked)
thumbnails - 92.1mb (checked)
per user archived windows error reports - 52.5kb(unchecked)
per user queued windows error reports - 9.16kb (unchecked)
system archived windows error reports - 22.4kb (unchecked)

I believe when I did the cleanup that deleted everything the last three options had data in the gbs and I checked them. I am sure I must have checked one of the other options as well but don't remember which.

[AnnMarie]

Hi Meghiddo. Can you try that link again please. It works for me.

The below two settings bother me a bit:

hibernation file cleaner - 2.99gb (unchecked)
temporary files - 2.95gb (unchecked)

Both show nearly 3 gigabytes of files to be deleted. I suppose that could be correct but I wouldnt count on it. Dont allow Disk Cleanup to cleanup yet.

Merge the registry file I wrote for you and reboot and then go here and download ATF cleaner (do not download the Recommended Download on the mirror site). Use it to remove all Temp Files, Cookies and Temp Internet Files, Java Cache and any others that you would like to remove. If you also use Opera or Firefox, also click on the cleaning options for each browser.

When you have done this, run Disk Cleanup again but as before, just select the drive, dont clean anything.

[Meghiddo]

OK I will do that but first I thought I would tell you when I ran the disc cleanup that deleted everything it had those listings but with much more data. something like 100gb of data it said could be cleaned. I knew something was weird about it but I did it anyhow.
The link works by the way

[Meghiddo]

OK, after merging the meg.reg file and running registry booster 2 the scan with the program tells me I have 272 problems, but need the full version to fix them. Now that I have merged that meg.reg file I can delete it right? Here is the info from before now that I have done what you said:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\explorer\VolumeCaches\Windows Error Reporting Archive Files
(Default) REG_SZ {C0E13E61-0CC6-11d1-BBB6-0060978B2AE6}
FileList REG_SZ *.*
Flags REG_DWORD 0x7d
Folder REG_EXPAND_SZ %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ ReportArchive
IconPath REG_EXPAND_SZ %SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,0
Display REG_EXPAND_SZ @%SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,-297
Description REG_EXPAND_SZ @%SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,-298
StateFlags REG_DWORD 0x1

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\explorer\VolumeCaches\Windows Error Reporting Queue Files
(Default) REG_SZ {C0E13E61-0CC6-11d1-BBB6-0060978B2AE6}
FileList REG_SZ *.*
Flags REG_DWORD 0x7d
Folder REG_EXPAND_SZ %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ ReportQueue
IconPath REG_EXPAND_SZ %SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,0
Display REG_EXPAND_SZ @%SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,-295
Description REG_EXPAND_SZ @%SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,-296
StateFlags REG_DWORD 0x1

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\explorer\VolumeCaches\Windows Error Reporting System Archive Files
(Default) REG_SZ {C0E13E61-0CC6-11d1-BBB6-0060978B2AE6}
FileList REG_SZ *.*
Flags REG_DWORD 0x7d
Folder REG_EXPAND_SZ %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArch ive
IconPath REG_EXPAND_SZ %SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,0
Display REG_EXPAND_SZ @%SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,-301
Description REG_EXPAND_SZ @%SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,-302
StateFlags REG_DWORD 0x0

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\explorer\VolumeCaches\Windows Error Reporting System Queue Files
(Default) REG_SZ {C0E13E61-0CC6-11d1-BBB6-0060978B2AE6}
FileList REG_SZ *.*
Flags REG_DWORD 0x7d
Folder REG_EXPAND_SZ %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueu e
IconPath REG_EXPAND_SZ %SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,0
Display REG_EXPAND_SZ @%SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,-299
Description REG_EXPAND_SZ @%SystemRoot%\system32\wer.dll,-300
StateFlags REG_DWORD 0x1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

and the disc cleanup:

Downloaded program files - 0mb (checked)
temporary internet files - 19.7mb (checked)
offline webpages - 5.85mb (unchecked)
hibernation file cleaner - 2.99gb (unchecked)
recycle bin - 0mb (unchecked)
setup log files - 12.8kb (unchecked)
temporary files - 2.95gb (unchecked)
thumbnails - 92.2mb (checked)
and the last three entries don't show up this time

there is not much change in the numbers there besides those last three entries not even showing up. when I did the cleanup that deleted everything I remember one of those window error report entries had 10s of gbs that it said I could cleanup so that is probably where everything got deleted.

[Meghiddo]

also, will it be safe to get the full version of registry booster 2 and let it fix all those errors or is that too much to entrust to the program?

I have to say my internet has sped up considerably after doing this

[AnnMarie]

Hi Meghiddo. I cannot recommend registry cleaners at all. The behaviour you have described by Registry Booster (which I have never heard of) is known as "a goad to purchase' and I loathe this type of software. It's entirely possible that all "problems" identified are false.

OK I will do that but first I thought I would tell you when I ran the disc cleanup that deleted everything it had those listings but with much more data. something like 100gb of data it said could be cleaned.

Yes I understood that.

Your registry entries look fine now but I am still puzzled about the 2.95gb in Temporary Files. Did you run ATF Cleaner and clean out all Temp Files in Windows Temp and Current User?

[Meghiddo]

Ah no, I went to that link and that is where I got the registry cleaner from, that is what I thought you meant for me to use and that's why I asked if I should get the full version.
Here is the data after running the ATF cleaner using those options:

Downloaded program files - 0mb (checked)
temporary internet files - 0mb (checked)
hibernation file cleaner - 2.99gb (unchecked)
recycle bin - 0mb (unchecked)
setup log files - 12.8kb (unchecked)
temporary files - 2.95gb (unchecked)
thumbnails - 92.2mb (checked)

the two options with 3gb are still present.

The only options I didn't select when using the ATF cleaner were:

History
Java Cache
Recycle Bin
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