Silly question about some hidden files

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June 30th, 2006, 12:31 AM
idontno

Silly question about some hidden files

I've been wondering about this for months now. I have some hidden folders in C:\Windows folder (54 of em). What are they and do I need them? Here are a few so you will know what I'm talking about...

$MSI31Uninstall_KB893803v2$
$NtUninstallKB887742$
$hf_mig$
$NtUninstallWMFDist11$...ect,ect

They all use 324 MB. 142 MB are in $hf_mig$. It has a lotta folders in it. And it's the only one in black text, the other 53 are light blue(182 MB worth). And like I said, they're all hidden files.

:eek2:

I found out why the folder names were in light blue. I used Tweak UI to change the color of compressed files to green and guess what, they're all green now.

:grin:
June 30th, 2006, 02:24 AM
Platypus

They're backup archives stored by system updates and patches so the system files can be restored to their previous condition if you un-install any of the updates.

From your first example, you could find out what update is involved by searching the MS Knowledge Base for KB893803. (It's the Windows Installer 3.1)
June 30th, 2006, 03:13 AM
gemstone

All hidden files are just that for the main purpose of stopping peeps from deleting needed files. If you don't want to see them turn off hidden folders in 'tools\folder options\view\' and you wont see them anymore.
June 30th, 2006, 04:26 AM
idontno

Quote:

Originally Posted by gemstone

All hidden files are just that for the main purpose of stopping peeps from deleting needed files. If you don't want to see them turn off hidden folders in 'tools\folder options\view\' and you wont see them anymore.

Thanx, all I needed to know was if they were necessary or not, so I guess they are.

I have to peep around sometimes when my spyware detects malware files to be sure if they are real or that Malware Immunizer put fake malware files (malware file names with just some text in them) on my drive. And they are hidden files or folders.
June 30th, 2006, 08:27 PM
Platypus

That's a peculiar little application - I would have thought the nuisance of provoking false positives from other malware scanners would outweigh the possible advantage of causing malware to suffer failed installation. (One of the problems with malware is the system clogging and instability caused by faulty installation.)

http://spywarewarrior.com/viewtopic.php?p=122506
July 2nd, 2006, 01:06 AM
Gabriel

Quote:

Originally Posted by idontno

I've been wondering about this for months now. I have some hidden folders in C:\Windows folder (54 of em). What are they and do I need them? Here are a few so you will know what I'm talking about...
...

$NtUninstallKB887742$
....

Hi,
The "$NtuninstallKB?????$" folders are for windows updates that you have made on the machine - usually I delete those who are older than a month (id I don't encounter any problem)

P.s.
If you are looking to conserve space on the HDD, you better disable Hibernation file (1 to 1 ratio of system physical memory)
System restore quota, Internet Explorer temporary files, Recycle Bin - all usually 10-12 Percent of Total Partition size. you can easily and mostly safely adjust those values and gain ~25% more HDD space on each partition.

P.s. #2
If you have two (phisical) HDD - I highly recommend on moving the page file off of the HDD on which the "system" resides on. this will certainly speed up system performance.

Cheers,
Gabriel