XP crashed, re-installed. Now got double data on hard drive

Hi, My XP crashed and would not boot (missing file). I did not know about F8 then so I re-installed without data loss on F10. I can live (just) with re-installing some programs and all the updated drivers. BUT I now seem to have double the data on my hard drive. For e.g. I went to My Documents, it said used space 26.6 gig I opened it, total used 13.3 gig. So I used tools and showed hidden folders, there was another folder the same size saying 'defalt user'.
Is this normal?
How can I fix it?

any advice appreciated
pom

 

Hi and welcome to the BBS,

If you are logged in as an administrator of the computer, you be should be able to just delete all the doubled-up data.

I've seen ruthless "administrators" that might just delete the whole Default User folder, but I am wary of something like that because the system might be geared to have that folder present (and they wonder why the system never works properly again afterwards ).

To be on the safe side, I would see if I could log in as the Default User, go to My Documents and delete any data. I don't delete the folders My Pictures and My Music, they are default (system) folders, I just delete everything inside them. So after deleting, My Documents is just left with the folders My Pictures and My Music, both of which are empty.

You should be able to do the same thing by using an administrator account, for a beginner, you just want to be somewhat cautious.

Maybe if you would like to be very cautious, backup the data onto optical disk (DVD), then feel free to "delete away ".

Watch for deleted items being sent to the Recycle Bin, you won't save any space if they just sit in there. The Recycle Bin won't hold large quantities of data anyway, so it will tell you to delete them straight off you system. To avoid the data going to the Recycle Bin, hold down the Shift key when you select Delete.

Matt

 

Thanks for that mattman, I saved my doc's on an external HD and deleted the defalt user. Everything seems to be working & I have half my hard drive back!

pom