SOLVED $RECYCLE.BIN and Boot folders

[Gambatte]

Dear Forum:

I have a HP Compaq 8000 Elite CMT PC and recently reinstalled Win7 x64 on my machine.

Now, there are two questions I hope you guys can help me with :).

1) Is it possible to permanently delete or at least rename these (unsightly) $RECYCLE.BIN folders on the hard drive (C and H partitions) as well as on the two external HDDs? All of them contain the usual Recycle Bin folder I'd like to replace the $RECYCLE.BIN folders with. Deleting or renaming these folders causes them the reappear shortly after. And cutting and pasting the Recycle Bin folder outside of the $RECYCLE.BIN folders still causes them to come back. Googling for some info wasn't very successful, either .

2) Is it OK to delete this 'Boot' folder on the C drive, which apparently was created after installing Win7 and contains a bunch of folders named like 'da-DK' and 'ko-KR' OK?

Many thanks.

Gambatte :)

 

[TrainableMan]

1) The recycle bin is an integral part of the Windows 7 OS; as you have seen, if you delete it it will return. They are protected operating system folders, so you can Hide them from view but they are needed. In Windows Explorer Organize > Folder and Search Options, View tab, Check the box "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)".

$Recycle.Bin is the REAL Recycle Bin files and information for that specific drive/partition and then the one you see called "Recycle Bin" is just a pointer to all of their information combined into one.

2)Each folder is to support different languages. Boot is also considered a protected operating system folder and will not be shown if you simply check that box I mentioned above. It might be possible to delete the subfolders in all but your language but I'm not willing to risk having to reinstall W7 to test it.

 

[Gambatte]

Hi TrainableMan:

Many thanks for your detailed replies :).

The first issue ($RECYCLE.BIN and Boot folders) was easy to resolve thanks to your suggestions.

As for the second issue, the missing PCI Simple Communications Controller driver, after downloading and installing the Intel Active Client Manager HECI Device driver the little yellow "!" still shows in the Device Manager.

On the other hand, there don't seem to be any negative effects due to the missing Comm Controller driver. So, is it really necessary to fix that little "!"?

Anyway, after I'd installed a number of HP driver and software updates (from the site you mentioned) I checked the Device Manager and noticed that in "Mice and other pointing devices" there are now 2 mice listed: my Logitech laser mouse and a PS/2 Compatible Mouse with the familiar little yellow "!" to the left of it. Same goes for "Keyboards". There's the HID Keyboard Device (probably the Logitech Internet 350 keyboard) and a Standard PS/2 Keyboard, again with yellow "!" to the left of it. Can (should) I delete the "!" adorned devices ;)? I also looked for a driver update for the Logitech keyboard but found that it's shareware and so didn't download it.
Thanks a lot!

Gambatte

 

[TrainableMan]

According to Logitech your keyboard uses native W7 drivers so there is no reason to pay anyone for what you don't need.

First I would try right-clicking on them and choosing "Update driver software", then "Search automatically for the driver". The mouse and the keyboard you don't use you can probably "uninstall". The other I think it would be best to fix but I suppose you can "uninstall" it if you can't get it working. They may return on reboot if the computer thinks they are needed.

 

[Gambatte]

Yellow '!' solved (of sorts), little space left on C partition and activation problems

Hi TrainableMan:

Many thanks for your reply .

After "uninstalling" the mouse and the keyboard (those with the yellow '!') they did come back after the next reboot. But I guess that's OK because so far I haven't noticed any problems with either the mouse or the keyboard. I also "uninstalled" the PCI Simple Communications Controller (which will probably return after the next reboot as well). Since I discovered the yellow '!' to the left of it a few days ago, though, I haven't noticed any problems so that's probably OK as well.

Now, if you don't mind I'd like to ask for your advice with two more issues. Hopefully these will be the last ones for a while .
1) TuneUp Utilities 2014 alerted me to the fact that the 40Gb C partition has left less than 3Gb of free space. When I created the C partition I thought 40Gb was plenty of space... . The size of 'My Documents is only about 1.13Gb and the size of all users about 3.04Gb. Are there any subfolders (or some of their contents) e.g. in the Windows folder that I can safely delete?

2) My HP Compaq 8000 Elite CMT PC is a so-called refurbished computer from Pollin Electronic, a reputable PC online store, which came with Win7 Pro x64 already installed (plus, of course, the activation key). But after I'd installed Linux Mint Cinnamon 15 as my second OS Windoze wouldn't boot anymore (due perhaps to some boot loader problem). Anyway, I then reinstalled Win7 Pro x64 from a DVD I'd gotten from a friend a while ago (possibly with a different built than the Win7 Pro that had been pre-installed on my machine). Surprisingly, though, several activation attempts failed because the activation key didn't 'appear to be genuine'. I'm 100% sure, though, that the activation key is legit and so I'm puzzled at the failed activation . Any suggestion HT fix this?

Many thanks again!

Gambatte

 

[TrainableMan]

There is nothing I would be comfortable deleting in the OS folder. The issue is more likely that all your files/folders including temporary internet files etc are all stored under c:\users\userid (where userid would be your Windows userid, example Gambattle). If you want to keep such a tiny C: drive you almost have to move all the user folders to another drive.

 

[TrainableMan]

I take that back, there are some log files etc but I never delete them myself, I simply allow CCleaner to do it.