I had to resinstall windows XP to fix a printer problem (although the
reinstall has created a whole knew set of problems...but that is for another
post). I assumed all my old data would be deleted during the installation
and backed up all our files. During the new installation setup I created two
user accounts for my husband and I using the same names as the in the
original XP installation: "Valerie" and "Rob". Now I notice that in
Documents and Settings, there are the old folders "Valerie" and Rob" and new
ones "Valerie.ourdesktop" and "Rob.ourdesktop" (where "ourdesktop" is the
current computer name). There are also two "All Users" and two "Default
Users", with ".windows" distiguishing the (what I assume are the) latest
folders. So, my question is, can I just delete the older folders? (as they
appear to still contain all our old files and are thereby taking up disk
space)
Thanks!

kingvdom wrote:
> I had to resinstall windows XP to fix a printer problem (although
> the reinstall has created a whole knew set of problems...but that
> is for another post). I assumed all my old data would be deleted
> during the installation and backed up all our files. During the
> new installation setup I created two user accounts for my husband
> and I using the same names as the in the original XP installation:
> "Valerie" and "Rob". Now I notice that in Documents and Settings,
> there are the old folders "Valerie" and Rob" and new ones
> "Valerie.ourdesktop" and "Rob.ourdesktop" (where "ourdesktop" is
> the current computer name). There are also two "All Users" and two
> "Default Users", with ".windows" distiguishing the (what I assume
> are the) latest folders. So, my question is, can I just delete the
> older folders? (as they appear to still contain all our old files
> and are thereby taking up disk space)
> Thanks!

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

kingvdom wrote:
> I had to resinstall windows XP to fix a printer problem (although
> the reinstall has created a whole knew set of problems...but that
> is for another post). I assumed all my old data would be deleted
> during the installation and backed up all our files. During the
> new installation setup I created two user accounts for my husband
> and I using the same names as the in the original XP installation:
> "Valerie" and "Rob". Now I notice that in Documents and Settings,
> there are the old folders "Valerie" and Rob" and new ones
> "Valerie.ourdesktop" and "Rob.ourdesktop" (where "ourdesktop" is
> the current computer name). There are also two "All Users" and two
> "Default Users", with ".windows" distiguishing the (what I assume
> are the) latest folders. So, my question is, can I just delete the
> older folders? (as they appear to still contain all our old files
> and are thereby taking up disk space)

Sounds like you did a parallel installation.

My suggestion - since you say you backed up your stuff already - is to go
through with your original plan. Clean installation.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Thanks!

"Shenan Stanley" wrote:

> kingvdom wrote:
> > I had to resinstall windows XP to fix a printer problem (although
> > the reinstall has created a whole knew set of problems...but that
> > is for another post). I assumed all my old data would be deleted
> > during the installation and backed up all our files. During the
> > new installation setup I created two user accounts for my husband
> > and I using the same names as the in the original XP installation:
> > "Valerie" and "Rob". Now I notice that in Documents and Settings,
> > there are the old folders "Valerie" and Rob" and new ones
> > "Valerie.ourdesktop" and "Rob.ourdesktop" (where "ourdesktop" is
> > the current computer name). There are also two "All Users" and two
> > "Default Users", with ".windows" distiguishing the (what I assume
> > are the) latest folders. So, my question is, can I just delete the
> > older folders? (as they appear to still contain all our old files
> > and are thereby taking up disk space)
>
> Sounds like you did a parallel installation.
>
> My suggestion - since you say you backed up your stuff already - is to go
> through with your original plan. Clean installation.
>
> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
>
> --
> Shenan Stanley
> MS-MVP
> --
> How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>
>
>