Comments on: Disk Cleanup http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2006/08/14/disk-cleanup/ Utterly random, incoherent and disjointed rants and ramblings... Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:07:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.5 by: Luke http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2006/08/14/disk-cleanup/#comment-3352 Sat, 17 Mar 2007 07:02:19 +0000 http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2006/08/14/disk-cleanup/#comment-3352 Hmm... I'm not entirely sure how the Upgrade installations work, but I'm guessing that they are slightly different from the "clean" installs. What I'm thinking is that the Disk Cleanup utility was designed for "cean" installations. It is entirely possible to install two different copies of windows in parallel on the same partition (ie without overwriting system files of another installation). I'm guessing that the utility you used detected Win98 files and offered to delete them assuming that they were not needed. You know, some tools are simply designed assuming that the user knows what he is doing. You can only detect so much information, but at the end of the day, you are the only person who really knows what is going on on your system. That's why the program offers you choices. Hmm… I’m not entirely sure how the Upgrade installations work, but I’m guessing that they are slightly different from the “clean” installs.

What I’m thinking is that the Disk Cleanup utility was designed for “cean” installations. It is entirely possible to install two different copies of windows in parallel on the same partition (ie without overwriting system files of another installation).

I’m guessing that the utility you used detected Win98 files and offered to delete them assuming that they were not needed.

You know, some tools are simply designed assuming that the user knows what he is doing. You can only detect so much information, but at the end of the day, you are the only person who really knows what is going on on your system. That’s why the program offers you choices.

]]> by: Bob Smiley http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2006/08/14/disk-cleanup/#comment-3351 Sat, 17 Mar 2007 05:08:15 +0000 http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2006/08/14/disk-cleanup/#comment-3351 After upgrading from Win98 to WinXP, I used the Disk Cleanup utility to clean up my hard drive, and decided to checkmark "Delete Win98 Installation Files" thinking they were now unnecessary and I could get rid of them. After the Disk Cleanup ran, and I rebooted, I got the "Can't find NTLDR" error message, and couldn't boot Windows anymore. I researched the issue on the net (fortunately I had setup a dual-boot to Linux so I could still use my computer), and tried various NTLDR fixes...Windows Recovery Console, etc... What I learned was that the Disk Cleanup had totally nerfed my Windows install. It not only deleted NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM, it deleted BOOT.INI, and a slew of .dll and system files needed for start up. Honestly, why would they offer the option to delete critical files in Disk Cleanup utility if it's going to nerf a person's system? That's just cruel. After upgrading from Win98 to WinXP, I used the Disk Cleanup utility to clean up my hard drive, and decided to checkmark “Delete Win98 Installation Files” thinking they were now unnecessary and I could get rid of them. After the Disk Cleanup ran, and I rebooted, I got the “Can’t find NTLDR” error message, and couldn’t boot Windows anymore.

I researched the issue on the net (fortunately I had setup a dual-boot to Linux so I could still use my computer), and tried various NTLDR fixes…Windows Recovery Console, etc… What I learned was that the Disk Cleanup had totally nerfed my Windows install. It not only deleted NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM, it deleted BOOT.INI, and a slew of .dll and system files needed for start up.

Honestly, why would they offer the option to delete critical files in Disk Cleanup utility if it’s going to nerf a person’s system? That’s just cruel.

]]> by: Terminally Incoherent » Blog Archive » Tech Support Woes http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2006/08/14/disk-cleanup/#comment-2721 Thu, 01 Feb 2007 04:05:51 +0000 http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2006/08/14/disk-cleanup/#comment-2721 [...] Granted, I don’t think Windows would actually let you delete all of the stuff in Documents and Settings. But with this guy, I’d rather not risk it. It’s the same dude that tried to clean up his HD in the past, by deleting NTLDR. [...] […] Granted, I don’t think Windows would actually let you delete all of the stuff in Documents and Settings. But with this guy, I’d rather not risk it. It’s the same dude that tried to clean up his HD in the past, by deleting NTLDR. […]

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