Delete the user folder - is this a good idea....

  • Thread starter Thread starter Hoib
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Hoib

I'm trying to clear up some corrupted IE7 cache files. I've read this
article which seems to be the answer:
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm and in particular this passage:
Log on as Administrator and delete the desired <username> folder(s) and
reboot. The article doesn't say what impact this might have.

But if I delete my user folder from another admin acct, what will that blow
away besides the cache? My Documents - gone, My Favorites - gone, right? If
so, what crumby advice! The other question is let's say, I preserve the
stuff I want, when that user tries to log, will XP rebuild that folder with
all the elements needed to log on? I'm just afraid if I zap the folder, XP
won't be able to log me back in - or is the actual user datafile kept
elsewhere and the folder is a result of that being there?

Thanks.
 
Hoib said:
I'm trying to clear up some corrupted IE7 cache files. I've read this
article which seems to be the answer:
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm and in particular this
passage:
Log on as Administrator and delete the desired <username> folder(s) and
reboot. The article doesn't say what impact this might have.

But if I delete my user folder from another admin acct, what will that
blow
away besides the cache? My Documents - gone, My Favorites - gone, right?
If
so, what crumby advice! The other question is let's say, I preserve the
stuff I want, when that user tries to log, will XP rebuild that folder
with
all the elements needed to log on? I'm just afraid if I zap the folder,
XP
won't be able to log me back in - or is the actual user datafile kept
elsewhere and the folder is a result of that being there?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

You're right to be asking, it's very misleading. You would indeed have lost
"My Documents", your "Favorites", etc - yes.

Looking at the page, where it says:

"delete the desired <username> folder(s)"

by "folder" they meant "Temporary Internet Files subfolder"

So it would be clearer to have said:

"delete the Temporary Internet Files subfolder within the desired <username>
folder(s)"

- look at the example it gives a few lines further down of "C:\Documents and
Settings\username\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files".

However, I would only ever *empty* that folder, viz delete its contents, and
not delete the folder itself. And I don't see any need to reboot afterwards,
either - just log off as Administrator and back in as whomever.

From this imprecision alone - that could lead to someone deleting sundry
<username> folders wholesale from within the Administrator account - I'd be
wary of slavishly following any other advice on this site. As you have so
wisely been!
 
OK, I thought so. Now, when you reveal Temporary Internet Files, there are
no contents displayed so you can't just delete it "contents". At least not
by any means known to me. The contents are not viewable because I use IE7
and thus the folder is a "system folder" and when you go to delete its
contents, nothing shows. Not even in Safe Mode nor in a DOS window. I
wonder if one of those "XP on a CD" things would expose its contents. Care
to comment?

Thanks very much.


Olórin said:
Hoib said:
I'm trying to clear up some corrupted IE7 cache files. I've read this
article which seems to be the answer:
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm and in particular this
passage:
Log on as Administrator and delete the desired <username> folder(s) and
reboot. The article doesn't say what impact this might have.

But if I delete my user folder from another admin acct, what will that
blow
away besides the cache? My Documents - gone, My Favorites - gone, right?
If
so, what crumby advice! The other question is let's say, I preserve the
stuff I want, when that user tries to log, will XP rebuild that folder
with
all the elements needed to log on? I'm just afraid if I zap the folder,
XP
won't be able to log me back in - or is the actual user datafile kept
elsewhere and the folder is a result of that being there?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

You're right to be asking, it's very misleading. You would indeed have lost
"My Documents", your "Favorites", etc - yes.

Looking at the page, where it says:

"delete the desired <username> folder(s)"

by "folder" they meant "Temporary Internet Files subfolder"

So it would be clearer to have said:

"delete the Temporary Internet Files subfolder within the desired <username>
folder(s)"

- look at the example it gives a few lines further down of "C:\Documents and
Settings\username\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files".

However, I would only ever *empty* that folder, viz delete its contents, and
not delete the folder itself. And I don't see any need to reboot afterwards,
either - just log off as Administrator and back in as whomever.

From this imprecision alone - that could lead to someone deleting sundry
<username> folders wholesale from within the Administrator account - I'd be
wary of slavishly following any other advice on this site. As you have so
wisely been!
Click to expand...
 
Hoib said:
OK, I thought so. Now, when you reveal Temporary Internet Files, there
are
no contents displayed so you can't just delete it "contents". At least
not
by any means known to me. The contents are not viewable because I use IE7
and thus the folder is a "system folder" and when you go to delete its
contents, nothing shows. Not even in Safe Mode nor in a DOS window. I
wonder if one of those "XP on a CD" things would expose its contents.
Care
to comment?

Thanks very much.


Olórin said:
Hoib said:
I'm trying to clear up some corrupted IE7 cache files. I've read this
article which seems to be the answer:
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm and in particular this
passage:
Log on as Administrator and delete the desired <username> folder(s) and
reboot. The article doesn't say what impact this might have.

But if I delete my user folder from another admin acct, what will that
blow
away besides the cache? My Documents - gone, My Favorites - gone,
right?
If
so, what crumby advice! The other question is let's say, I preserve
the
stuff I want, when that user tries to log, will XP rebuild that folder
with
all the elements needed to log on? I'm just afraid if I zap the
folder,
XP
won't be able to log me back in - or is the actual user datafile kept
elsewhere and the folder is a result of that being there?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

You're right to be asking, it's very misleading. You would indeed have
lost
"My Documents", your "Favorites", etc - yes.

Looking at the page, where it says:

"delete the desired <username> folder(s)"

by "folder" they meant "Temporary Internet Files subfolder"

So it would be clearer to have said:

"delete the Temporary Internet Files subfolder within the desired
<username>
folder(s)"

- look at the example it gives a few lines further down of "C:\Documents
and
Settings\username\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files".

However, I would only ever *empty* that folder, viz delete its contents,
and
not delete the folder itself. And I don't see any need to reboot
afterwards,
either - just log off as Administrator and back in as whomever.

From this imprecision alone - that could lead to someone deleting sundry
<username> folders wholesale from within the Administrator account - I'd
be
wary of slavishly following any other advice on this site. As you have so
wisely been!
Click to expand...
Click to expand...


I'm not sure you mean "system folder" - I just changed my settings to not
"display the content of system folders" and I could still see the contents
of the TIF folder okay (and I've got IE7 too, FWIW). If your system is set
to not show *hidden* files and folders, ie

Windows Explorer > Tools > Folder Options > "View" tab > Hidden files and
folders | Do not show hidden files and folders

is selected, then these files won't show. But then, neither will the

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings

parent folder show, so I don't know how you could have got there!

Could it be that the account's TIF folder is, in fact, empty?

Try changing the above to "Show hidden files and folders", apply it to all
folders, see if that does the trick. Or try the temp file-cleaning component
of CCleaner as recommended on that website - I'd just avoid using it on your
registry.
 
OK, folks, here's the real cause and solution:

When I prepped the new disk, I was unaware that Seagate's Disk Wizard
imposes a "disk signature" on the drive. Subsequently, I used my cloning
software which went through and imposed the cloned image but this important
"signature" was probably inconsistent and probably caused problems with the
Volume Shadow Copy service used during the backup process. Whew! I was just
lucky to find this.

Anyway, now I don't believe that IE7's cache was the corruption I was
looking for. It was something completely unrelated but that's what happens
when you have to "guess" at what the cause of an issue is with these things.
I did learn how to create a boot disk with SATA drivers slipstreamed -
something that I didn't even know was possible. And I did learn how to clean
out IE7s caches - absolutely clean them out. So I don't feel it's a total
loss and now I'm going to set about re-cloning without Disk Wizard's help.

Thanks for the opportunity to participate.
 
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