Okay, we’ve got an email here from Paul. He says, “Hi, Robbie and Carrie. In Synaptic Package Manager, the program clean sweep, do you know this program?” he says. It says, in Orphaned Files, is it safe to delete all of the Orphaned Files in Windows 98. I know not touch the Executable files and the .sis files and config files, is there a list of files not to touch in intrepid iBox? You’re 10+ on computers on a good day. I’m in two I’m two, so keep it simple.” from Paul.
Paul, thanks for watching, thanks for question. Essentially, we just got to be careful not to delete files that are in used. Now, Orphaned Files basically, what that means just so that you understand where that’s coming from. An Orphaned File is something that has been left behind via installation that’s then un installed, and it’s no longer needed. You know that in Linux, when you’re installing application it will sometimes install other applications along with it because those are called Dependencies Programs that that application requires in order to run.
So, when you remove the first program you know, the big program that requires that it’s going to unlink the applications that it had installed along with the installation, so then all of the sudden these files become Orphans, so that’s not to say that they are not being used by other applications, it’s not to say that maybe you’re using them, but in the case where you know, if you don’t do anything in the terminal really, and it doesn’t look like those filles are being used, then you’re probably safe to delete them.
And if you want just as safety keep a little bit of a record as to what it is that you’re deleting, and you’ll be fine to reinstall them after the fact from Synaptic again. But if hard drive space isn’t an issue, if it’s not an issue of needing the clear out space in your computer, it’s probably fine just to leave those there because they are just Orphaned. They are just hanging out on your hard drive. They are taking up a little bit of space, but it’s not like where with Windows that you know you get a whole bunch of stuff setting in your registry and all of the sudden your computer is that slow after a year. It doesn’t quite work, so yes, the files are there but they are unlinked. They are not being used. It’s kind of your call, but it’s probably safe to delete those. We just got to use common sense when it comes to what they are, and if something stops working after you remove them make sure that you know what it is that you need to reinstall.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services