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    Any reason not to delete "windows.old" after win7 install from XP?

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by drjohn, Nov 2, 2009.

  1. drjohn

    drjohn Notebook Consultant

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    I've just installed win7 on an 18 mo. old R61. While win7 does a "clean" install of the OS, it leaves all sorts of stuff hanging around... like the SWTOOLS and VALUEADD folders, amongst others. Many have creation dates from way before my OS upgrade 2 days ago. It also leaves much of your old stuff in a windows.old folder that, in my case is approx 12.9GB in size.

    Assuming much of this would only be of use under my old XP, is there any reason not to simply delete the windows.old folder? Or perhaps move it to an external hard disk for safekeeping?

    ~john
     
  2. Stewie Griffin

    Stewie Griffin Notebook Consultant

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    To cleanup the Windows.old folder, you can click on the Vista pearl, type "disk clean" and hit enter to open the Disk Cleanup tool. Choose "Files from all users on this computer" and choose the drive you want to clean. After it lists what is available to "clean", scroll down and select Windows.old from the list of choices. Then delete as desired!

    source: http://channel9.msdn.com/forums/TechOff/251991-How-do-I-remove-Windowsold-in-Vista/

    I think deleting the old windows should be safe following proper procedure because its literally a backup of your old stuff. The most valuable things in widows.old are probably your old documents
     
  3. lenardg

    lenardg Notebook Evangelist NBR Reviewer

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    SWTOOLS and VALUEADD are folders that were added to the computer by Lenovo. You will find Lenovo wallpapers and some software there. For example, I think the DVD player software installer is somewhere there - I removed both folders after backing them up a long time ago.