Solved is it safe to remove these directories?

I see removing Windows Files like taking a brand new car and removing parts because you think they are not necessary, then wondering why it doesn't start or run efficiently.

If you want to monkey around with your OS, be sure to make an Image file with a free app like Hasleo Backup.. And save the image to a USB HDD. If the computer won't boot, you can restore the image to be back where you were before your edits.

Sheikh said:

I’m just learning and testing these on a VM. See my “maintenance” and “optimizer” scripts on github. I have to make sure these scripts will not harm my main machine. I’m just testing every command just for fun!
I’m not using youtube or any unreliable sources, 99% of my scripts are based on this forum comments.

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Ok, I missed this in my first browse through the thread. Since this is a VM you have an amazing tool to help you: checkpoints (Hyper-V term) and snapshots (VMware term) or whatever other Hypervisors might call it. Just create a checkpoint right before you delete anything and then have it to see what happens. You can revert to the checkpoint in mere seconds if something goes wrong.

Really glad to see someone utilizing VMs like this. I could not live without VMs. I sometimes have about 20 VMs on my system at once although I rarely, if ever, have more than 3 or 4 running at the most. More often, just 1 or 2.

Catnip said:

Good god, why do people always want to do this? They mess up their systems and then they are back here crying that their system won't boot or update or whatever.

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It's different this time. I accept with you, there are plenty of scripts and commands on the internet without any exact explanation. So, I want to create my own debloat/cleaner script and test it to make sure it won't harm Windows and apps. I just want to find "safe to remove" temporary files and directories. after testing my script on an old test machine, it cleared 20GB! many problems solved and it's now as fast as the day we installed Windows on it. everything's working well even windows update. so let's find some safe solutions for windows maintenance instead of saying "don't touch it or it will break". let it break, so how can we learn without breaking things?

jimminy said:

Do it, and let us know how you make out.

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after line 180 you can see which directories are safe to delete for me. I have disabled recovery and defender so don't use it on your system.
also dear antspants' comment is similar with my opinion : is it safe to remove these directories?
I have tested it on my VM and it's still working without any errors. Win updates installed successfully.

hsehestedt said:

If I may ask, what is the intent behind wanting to delete these folders? Are you running extremely short on space and desperately need to free up space?

If we have a clear understanding of the goal, then maybe we can suggest some alternatives.

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I'm creating a software like CCleaner which won't break your system. never had a good experience with such optimizers. and also I don't trust something that is not open source. what if it cleares something important? I have to create my own tool. just for fun and learning.
after months of working with Windows 11 on my huawei laptop, it became so slow, right click had a 3-4 seconds delay! So I used a software to cleanup my system and it broke everything. after that I decided to create my own Windows iso and some maintenance scripts. with help of dear garlin I have created a tiny windows image. now 100 processes are running in idle and 1.5~2GB of RAM is occupied, everything is fast, so I'm enjoying my weak old laptop! this is the reason I want to modify everything because I can revive old systems. these maintenance and cleaner scripts are to make sure it won't get slow.

Sheikh said:

Windows-Maintenance/WindowsMaintenanceScript.bat at b18bcc1d995cbf79dfa65ef53b0012c7bc6c2865 · Sheikh98-DEV/Windows-Maintenance

This script will run repair commands and deep cleans Windows. Use it on your own risk. I do not accept any responsibility. it's highly commented read the comments and edit it based on your own ...

github.com

after line 180 you can see which directories are safe to delete for me. I have disabled recovery and defender so don't use it on your system.
also dear antspants' comment is similar with my opinion : is it safe to remove these directories?
I have tested it on my VM and it's still working without any errors. Win updates installed successfully.

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So you're learning a lot then

antspants said:

So you're learning a lot then

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With the help of friends like you