Deleting Downloaded Programs

Am I in the right room??????

Ok. I really hate asking this, because I REALLY should know the answer, but...........

After I download freebee programs and unzip and execute them, can I then safely delete the zip and setup files? I know that I read somewhere that you can, but I am such a cautious person (you may even say I am PARONOID at times!) and I am always afraid to dump them. Now my folder I download stuff to is getting pretty full and I know darn well that I should be able to get rid of those programs once they are opened and set up. I figure if I lose them or they get corrupted I can just re-download them again, right?

I also have tons of little files that are sitting in there from when I unzipped something and wonder if I still need them there. Files like .vxd, which I know are drivers and .drv and .txt, which I know is just info about different programs and .inf. And, what the heck is LAYOUT.BIN? Can I get rid of that one? And, what is LUSETUP.EXE (PackageForTheWebStub)? Some of the files I can check the version and it will tell me what program it belongs to, but I have noticed that lots of them don't tell me what they belong to and I have no idea if they are safe to delete or not.

What I need is for someone, anyone, ALL OF YOU, to tell me it's OK to delete the .zip and setup.exe programs as long as I have the initial program icon sitting somewhere on my computer and that I know it works because I've used it already.

(It must be this AGE thing. My poor brain gets confused easily!)

Thanks for any help you all have to offer in keeping this ol' lady on top of things.

 

Thanks, Tony. I feel better now. Good idea on saving the zip file. Would make it easier to just pull it off the disk than to hassle with finding the site, and waiting FOREVER on a dial-up to download the program again.

So, I am understanding that the SETUP.EXE can be deleted, but that I shouldn't get rid of all those little files that say .drv, .vxd, .txt, .inf? I'm pretty sure they all popped up after I unzipped or executed a program, but don't know who they belong to.

And, still want to know what LAYOUT.BIN and LUSETUP.EXE is.

Thanks.

 

Panda,

When I download a zip folder containg a program's setup files, I unzip it, run the install program and then delete the whole unzipped folder. (I then usually write the original zip folder to CD, just in case I have to reinstall) I also remove the zip folder from my HD.

Any files needed to run the program get copied to the relevant folder in your Program Files directory, this includes help files (be it windows help files or HTML files), images, inf's, vxd, etc. I have never come across a program that actively uses the files from its original setup folder...

The only exception is when the program you download (could be in a zip or zip executable) is ready to run right off the bat, i.e. once you unzip the folder, the program's executable is right there ready to use to launch the program. These are quite rare, but they are out there.

As for LUSETUP.EXE and LAYOUT.BIN, I don't know what they are exactly (the .bin is just short for binary which is basically just another executable, they are most common in UNIX-like OS's) Now, If they were in a setup folder and you ran the install executable -get rid of them. Sometimes setup programs use other programs with 'setup' in their name, so you needn't have ever clicked on the LUSETUP.EXE file for it to have been used. If in doubt, read the README file, there's one in almost every setup folder out there. They usually tell you which files you have to run.

Hope that sets your mind at rest a little more...

 

kompiler,

Thanks! That does paint a more understandable picture for me. Really appreciate the simple explanation. I really need to stop trying to work things out so late at night! The mind is too boggled at this late hour. Now, if I can just BOOT my hubby off the computer during the day, then maybe I can get some real cleaning done on this thing!

Thanks, again, everyone. You are ALL just too nice!