I'm new to this(computers and-don't laugh, but sometimes I  delete folders my computer needs!   QUESTION IS: How do I know which ones I need & which ones I don't?    Is there some kind of program that takes care of this?
119870
Your best bet is to reinstall your operating system, and then create an account for yourself to use when you want to use the computer that has limited permissions (User versus Administrator).  That way, you can more safely enjoy your computer without worrying about deleting anything that is necessary to the operations of your computer.  Of course, this won't stop you from deleting stuff you might want, like music files or whatever, but at least you won't screw up your operating system.  Good luck.
153740
Are Deleted Files Completely Erased?\n\nA common misconception when deleting files is that they are completely removed from the hard drive. However, users should be aware that highly sensitive data can still be retrieved from a hard drive even after the files have been deleted because the data is not really gone. Files that are moved to the recycle bin (on PCs) or the trash can (on Macs) stay in those folders until the user empties the recycle bin or trash can. Once they have been deleted from those folders, they are still located in the hard drive and can be retrieved with the right software.\n\nAny time that a file is deleted from a hard drive, it is not erased. What is erased is the bit of information that points to the location of the file on the hard drive. The operating system uses these pointers to build the directory tree structure (the file allocation table), which consists of the pointers for every other file on the hard drive. When the pointer is erased, the file essentially becomes invisible to the operating system. The file still exists; the operating system just doesn't know how to find it. It is, however, relatively easy to retrieve deleted files with the right software.\n\nThe only way to completely erase a file with no trace is to overwrite the data. The operating system will eventually overwrite files that have no pointers in the directory tree structure, so the longer an unpointed file remains in the hard drive the greater the probability that it has been overwritten. There are also many "file erasing" software products currently on the market that will automatically permanently erase files by overwriting them. \n\nhttp://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Hardware_Software/2002/Erasing_Deleted_Files.asp\n\n\ndeleting files is not actually a good term to use. When you delete a file for example:\n\nFilename.txt\nthe file name changes so it may look like this:\n12lename.txt\nThe change of the file name hides it from you and leaves it on the computer. Often a disk ustitility can shread this information which means that it is overwritten a bunch of times causeing the file to become harder to recover. \n\nSo say I had a deleted file like \n\nFilename \n\nI would overwrite the file with 00000000 more than one time. \n\nMy example is easier for me to understand... LOL
257265
Go to start, my computer (if you don't have the desktop icon), C drive, program files, windows media center then under that there will be folders with different items in it, if it's not there, then if it's not there, you would go back to C drive and look under the windows folder.  Sometimes they are stored in both places so you might need to look at both.
387935
if you were to delete them the normal way (sending them to the trash and then emptying the trash) they will not be permanently deleted\n\nif you were to delete the files like this it would be posible to get them back in under 10 min.\n\nyou would need to do a complete wipe.\na wipe cleans the drive by writing over the old data multiple times. Making it impossible to recover information, short for some government MIB type agency. \n\n\nlink has more info with free and paid for tools:\nhttp://www.pcworld.com/article/id,110338-page,1/article.html\n\n many of the free tools  do this just as well as the paid.
379694
If you want to delete the files, all you need to do is delete them, then empty the recycle bin. Unless the person you are giving the computer to is a computer genius, or a hacker, its unlikely they will know how to retrieve deleted files.\n\nIf you think the person might know how to retrieve deleted files, there are programs that erase those portions of the hard drive, such as wipe info (part of Norton Systemworks) or there are likely many others you could download.\n\nActually, it is almost impossible to truely make files unretrievable. Even a full format of the hard drive will not totally destroy the files, at least, real geeks and the government have tools that can retrieve that sort of data.\n\nBut in most cases, just delete the files, empty the recycle bin, and if you are seriously worried, do a full defragment of the drive, that will make the files almost totally gone, unless the person who gets the machine is a true computer genius.
52132
Delete unused files that clutter up your space. Restart your computer as well if needed.
214371
You mean your actual system folder is there?  And you can't get rid of it?  Need more info..
412614
Define "completely deleted"....\n\nIf you simply delete a file, then the area of hard disk that it previously occupied is marked as unoccupied. The data is technically still there.\nIf you _shred_ a file, then the disk space is similarly marked as unused, but first it is overwritten with random nonsense several times, to obliterate any previous data or any signature of the previous data. Generally speaking people only do this when they have particular reason to - most users need not shred anything unless they're totally paranoid.\n\nRawlyn.
12990
Go to 'trash' if it's yahoo mail, they are still there. Other services may name it deleted mails or whatever, but you will find the folder there. If you have emptied your trash, it's impossible to get them back. I don't think you have, or it was a double accident.
657920
you don't and you don't want to mess with that folder.  It is part of what makes your OS (operating system) work.  You should not play in that area unless your plan to rebuild your computer.
36773
Do you want to find them, or delete them? Not so self explanatory. Short of formatting the drive and doing a government wipe, bits and pieces of whatever is on there, will stay on there. Recovery software, generally, is only going to restore the operating system.
36916
From the main Mail page, you should see your folders listed on the left side of the page. Just to the right of the heading that is titled "Folders," you should see links for "Add" and "Edit."\n\nClick on "Edit," which will bring you to another page that lists all your folders. In this list, where each folder is displayed, you should see a "delete" link to the right of the folder's name. \n\nKeep in mind that only empty folders can be deleted, so you may need to clear out any old messages first.
568021
open "my computer" and right clink on the C drive, thats how u see if it's full or not. in that window there is also a "free space" button, it erases files u dont need that ur computer generates by it self. if u delete a file its sent to the trash can, if u delete the files from the trash can u cant get them back and they dont affect ur space. if u have a lot of music and u use itunes, u might wanna check if itunes "copied" the songs to the itunes folder, that way u have each song twice and it takes more space. hope i helped
13686
I don't know if this is exactly what you are looking for but it is a tiny program called Treesize that shows you a graphic representation of which directories and folders are using the most space, http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml if you are looking for a drive cleaner/registry cleaner I will point you towards, CCleaner, http://www.ccleaner.com/ at least some of this should be useful.
81705
muhahahaha its geting to the stage when ppl dont know the old DOS any more So sad!!!\n\ncd&#92;\nDir\nDir /p\ndeltree\n\nIE \n\nCd&#92;windows (would put u in the windows Directory)\n\nThen Dir (would display the whats in the Directory) dir /p will do it will breaks so u can view whats in the folder\n\nHope it helps
68586
theres a program called handy recovery that will recover files that you have deleted from your computer..but the thing is after you delete a file first it goes to the recycle bin ....and technically its not deleted yet...these files are easy to restore...if you have emptied the recycle bin there is still a chance to retrieve the file only if that happened within a couple of days and you didn't do any defragmenting of the drive that the files were on ....
250380
Can you locate all the pictures on your pc? If you can, create a new folder on your desktop (since, I'm guessing, that's the most convenient place to put it) and move all your pictures there. You can also try putting them in My Pictures.\n\nTo create a new folder, right click on your desktop, point to "New" and click "Folder". A folder will appear. Type in a title and start transferring files! :D\n\nHope I was able to help :)