Double folders

[frales]

Hi

 

There does not seem to be a general place for this topic so I am using XP and I suppose it comes under Windows explorer so here goes.

 

I have quite an old family pc which has thousands of music tracks, photos etc on it. It has an 180gig hard drive. Recently the pc has been running really slow so I was considering doing a clean up. For disc defrag to run there must be 15% free hard drive and I was only showing 2%.

 

It was at this time I discovered that I had duplicate folders and files on the pc. There are two Files named HP_Owner and HP_Owner.Your-447023AE6B. It is a Hewlett Packard pc. Within these files there are duplicate application folders etc. The folders within HP_Owner were created in 2005 which is when I got the pc I believe. The other is dated 2011 when I believe I did the system restore.

 

I remember this anomally showing up about 2 years ago when I had to restore my PC to a previous restore point. I did not realise that this was taking up all the space on the PC.

 

My question is can I just delete the earlier folders without crashing my pc or would I have to be more methodical?

[KenB]

Hi,

 

HP_Owner

Is this located ...... C: > Documents and Settings > HP_Owner > etc ?

 

HP_Owner.Your-447023AE6B.

What is the path of this one ?

[frales]

Hi KenB, I have the following trail: C: > Documents and settings/HP_Owner and also C: > Documents and settings/HP_Owner.Your-447023AE6B.

 

When I open either of the HP_Owner folders I find I have two Application folders with very similar content ie programs but not exactly the same. Looking at the properties of similar folders they are as I said dated differently.

[RandyL]

I won't pretend to understand the issue but I will guess.

 

Do you have more then one account on this computer and are the files shared?

 

Have you restored your computer recently?

 

As I think Ken was asking can you please supply the exact file path fore any folders or files that you think are duplicated? Right click them to see. Sorry I am not on XP at the moment.

[frales]

duplicate folders

 

Hi RL

 

As replied I did a system restore in 2011 and this is when the second set of files under HP_OWNER> YOUR are dated. The other path is dated 2005 when I first recieved the PC. I have given the paths of both folders and I don't understand what you want me to tell you now.

 

AS I said, under both of these folders I have a folder called application data. Within each application data I have various folders with the same name. For instance under both HP_Owner folders I have, within the application data folder, a folder called ADOBE. One was created in 2005 and the other in 2011. What I am trying to find out is can I delete the earlier folders, as they contain hundreds of files, without crashing my PC? :confused:

[RandyL]

C: > Documents and settings/HP_Owner would be the original default Administrator account in XP. When you login to Windows this is the account you are using if you have not set up any additional users.

 

C: > Documents and settings/HP_Owner.Your-447023AE6B might be a tempory user profile which is sometimes created when there is a problem of corruption on the account that was being used.

 

Can you safely delete one of those? That depends. If one is a temporary account user profile then yes. But which one are using? Do you have more then one user set up?

 

Go to My Documents and right click a file. Select Properties. Copy the file location.

 

Also rather then deleting anything rename the folder at first instead. Just add .old to the name.

Also you might want to create another Administrator account first.

Also create a manual System Restore point first.

Also backup everything first.

 

Proceed with extreme caution or you might end up reinstalling Windows.

 

[frales]

Double folders

 

Hi RandyL

 

Firstly I checked all folders and files in my documents and the path is HP_Owner.Your 447 etc. This includes Word documents I made yesterday. Does this mean I am using that particular folder?

 

I'm not sure about the rest of your advice. What would be the point of renaming the other folder old? I am not technically minded on the other three points ie setup another administrator account, create manual restore point and backup everything. Is this not copying and adding extra files to the hard drive which I am trying to avoid?:confused:

[RandyL]

My point is that you are deleting files and folders manually that you have no idea if they are needed or not. This could cause serious system issues if you don't know what you are doing.

 

Renaming instead of deleting is meant as a saftey step. If it causes problems and you are lucky enough to get back into Windows you can rename it back. Large files will bypass the recycle bin.

 

A system restore point is always a good idea whenever you are guessing with system files. Safety first.

 

By backing up I mean backup all your files, folders, pictures, movies, music, calenders, address book etc. to an external device such as an external drive, cd/dvd, usb stick etc. That way if you have to reinstall Windows you won't lose everything. For that matter it's a good way to make space on your hard drive. Once backed up you can delete them from your computer.

 

If you are messing around with user accounts and profiles it might be a good idea to temporarily make a new Administrator account in case you screw it up. You can always delete it later.

 

To be honest I definitely do not recommend that you try to free up space in this manner. A better option to start with is to move some of your files to disk etc. like I said above.

 

After that run the Disk Cleanup Tool. Description of the Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows XP

 

For more information on User Accounts read How to Delete an Account on Windows XP

 

Deleting Profiles article from Microsoft is also something you should read.

 

Proceed with extreme caution or you might end up reinstalling Windows.

[RandyL]

Firstly I checked all folders and files in my documents and the path is HP_Owner.Your 447 etc. This includes Word documents I made yesterday. Does this mean I am using that particular folder?

 

Sorry I forgot to mention that. It does indeed seem that you are using that particular account or profile. Like I said I think it's probably because the original was corrupted and XP created a new one as a temporary one so you could get into Windows.

[RandyL]

I guess I should also ask if you have ever had a virus or other type of malware infection?

 

Have you ever used P2P, Peer to Peer, Torrents or any other file sharing type of program?

[frales]

double folders

 

Hi RandyL

 

Thanks for your advice and patience.

 

I have had virus infections in the past and this is why I did a restore system in 2011. As far as I remember I had some sort of police message on my screen and could do nothing. I believe this is a particular nasty virus. I only got a restore when I went into safe mode and restored to an earlier point. I assume that is why I have copy of folders dated 2011.

 

I have an external hard drive where I could store my music and photos etc but I don't think this will free up much space. I still think the double folders and files are the problem. I may well have to scrub the pc and start again but I am not confident in doing this so I would need to get someone to do that for me. If I do that at least I will then know what is on there is current.

 

Thanks again

 

:(

[RandyL]

Thanks for your reply.

 

At this point I think it might be prudent to methodically examine the issues. Eliminating any malware possibilities might be the next best step.

 

I will ask our malware experts to look into this before anything else.

[etavares]

Hi frales,

 

My name is etavares and I'll be helping you. I think Randy is spot on, but it's prudent to check for viruses first. Please follow the instructions in this link:

Before posting for Malware Removal help.

 

and post the requested logs in a reply to this thread.

 

-etavares