Weird things in my windows folder?

[tucker]

i just had a look in my windows folder and at the top few folders all began with $'s and inside there was somethng called "spunist"

is it safe to delete these? they werent there before.

[Raver Ryan]

Um windows and deleting stuff doent mix. One of my first computer was ruined by deleting a key windows file that I thought was usless. I strongly recommed leaving the windows folder alone.

[Maxtr0sity]

They're safe to delete as far as I know. They don't come up on Windows 2k as often, but when I was using XP Home & Pro, I deleted all those folders starting with "$". It has something to do with your history of automatic updates. Don't quote me on this, but if you ever want to uninstall an automatic update (MS only) for some reason, keep them.

[Scalabis]

Yeah, those folders are your update history, and as Ryan said deleting things in windows folders isn´t a safe thing to do...

[tucker]

ummmm.......oops? i just got an update, that must explain it, and there was UNINSTALL in the name..... i think ill survive...

[Coppertop]

$'s usually mean temporary versions of files. If you open a file up in word, it will create a new (invisible) file that is the same as the old one except with a $ in front, replacing the first letter. Word uses this as a temporary copy to access from that gets deleted upon closing the software. This is useful in several ways (ex: your computer crashes without you saving, Word takes this as the back up, I believe.)

hey, just a thought for the future, If you find an unknown file:

1. Virus scan (best AV softare in the world is at www.grisoft.com download the free version 6 - it catches things norton doesn't)

2. If it's not a virus, then quarantine it by adding a new symbol infront of the name (porgrams rarely if ever recognize anything if the name is one character off, so it's as good as quarantined)

3. If your computer still runs - it's probably safe to delete. However, you may want to back it up incase anything really goes bad