Tecknomage wrote:
> On Mon, 10 May 2010 13:13:47 -0400, "limeybiker"
> <abbl(nospam)@att.net> wrote:
>
>>
>> I have three directories in the root directory named
>>
>> 28e35e43bc9fba4052
>> 564c1198e199c4fdd6f513f8b1a5b5
>> 100145b6a635779a14
>>
>> How do I delete them.?
>>
>> All are 10mb, with update and support sub directories.
>>
>> I can't delete them, not even in safe mode.
>
> !!! YOU SHOULD NOT !!!
>
> They are special system protected folders used by Windows or by
> another application. Deleting the MAY crash your system or
> application, or effect the ability to uninstall something.
>
> Look what is inside the folders. Right-click a filename, select
> Properties, and look at the version info to see where they came from.
> This will give you an idea on why the folder is there.
>
> By the way, the folder or file names like these are UIDs (Unique
> Identifiers) used in the Registry.
Where did you come up with that gem? Folders named C
<random> are
temporary folders created by program installations. They are created either
when files are extracted from a downloaded archive/compressed file or used
during the install or after a reboot to continue the install. The install
program should cleanup after itself by deleting these garbage folders but
developers are often lazy to actually check for a cleanup after install.
The folder names are rarely the class ID for the program. They are randomly
generated and checked to make sure the folder doesn't already exist. This
is merely to insure that there is a unique folder in which the install files
get deposited. Often such programs will create a special-named subfolder
under your %temp% folder but some programs have realized that users tend to
cleanup their temp folder under their user profile and could interfere with
completion of the installation.
I have never seen any OS-dependent folders created with that naming scheme
for Windows. I haven't seen it used (except during an installation) for any
applications, either, but then I only use a few dozen apps and don't what
the entire collection of software available might do when it installs.