Can I safely delete this folder?

[MeowCow]

Before I start, just want to give you the system specs so everyone knows what I am talking about....

Dell Inspiron 8000
P3-900mHz
192MB RAM
10 Gig HD
Windows ME

Anyway, now on to my problem. Lately, I have noticed that I have less and less space on my hard drive. Well, since I have not had time to play any games, I remove the few I have. So I now have my laptop back to around how I got it, with just the Windows files, and a few smaller programs. However, I still notice I have very little hard drive space (Less than 2 Gigs) I remeber having around 7 Gigs free when I first got the laptop, so I decide to install Norton Cleansweep and see if there are lots of extra files somewhere. It cleans out several megs of files, but not too much. Still missing a ton of space. So, now I go to check the directories. This is where I found the problem. On my C:/, I found this folder: _RESTORE. (Full path is C:/_RESTORE) Anyway, rightclicking on it and selecting properties shows that it is taking up a massive 4 GIGS! Anyway, I open up the folder to see what is inside, and there is nothing much there. It totals 180 Kb or so inside the folder. And yes, I have 'show all hidden files' selected. So now I am very confused, and this is where I need help. I have checked Dell's website, and there was nothing I could see. I emailed them, and they still have not gotten back to me (3 days now). So now I ask you people. Should I try to delete this folder? What does the folder do? I have a feeling it might have something to do with the System Restore ability in Windows ME, but should the folder be this big? Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Hessakia]

you cannot safely delete the restore folder off of winme, but if you do a quick internet search for "remove windows me restore feature" i'm sure you'll find some help.

 

[killface]

You can specify the size of your restore dir by right-clicking "my computer" then "performance" and hit "file system" There's a spot there to set the size of your restore folder.

 

[OZEE]

1. No, you cannot set the size of the restore folder - it's the swap file you can set the size for...

2. Scan for a virus. From what you've said, I suspect you've got badtrans. A quick check - search for kernel32.exe << That's the virus. Your computer uses kernew32.dll, so the virus is disguised to look like something important. If you've got it, check Antivirus.com, McAfee, or Norton for removal instructions. It involves deleting a couple of files and a registry edit.

badtrans creates a hidden file in your recycle bin that grows up to the size of your drive...

good luck

 

[killface]

<< 1. No, you cannot set the size of the restore folder - it's the swap file you can set the size for... >>


Ummm...I was able to set mine. It used to be over a gig, I turned it down to 350 megs and guess what - Now it's only 350 megs. What do you suppose they mean when they say "System resotre disk space use"?

 

[OZEE]

well -- I suppose it could be in ME ... it's not in 98SE. Guess I spoke out of turn on that one... sorry...

 

[Jesta]

Yes you can delete the folder but you will lose the "rollback" functionality of ME. The folder is where ME stores the information needed to restore your system in case of corruption, bad software or bad drivers. And killface is correct that the amount of space it uses can be tweaked to your liking.

 

[killface]

<< well -- I suppose it could be in ME ... it's not in 98SE. Guess I spoke out of turn on that one... sorry >>


It's cool man. Anyway, just out of curiousity, I deleted mine (I have nothing better to do at work today) and everything was OK. ME will start rebuilding that directory if you delete it though.

 

[Dan]

WinMe will take a huge (proportional) amount of HDD space for the System Restore "feature" unless you rein it in. As noted, you can set the space to a specific amount. (I believe the minimum is 200MB or 250MB.) You can also turn off System Restore completely.