Are these files needed?

[TomH]

I upgraded my PC from Windows 98SE to Windows XP Home last
September.

I noticed that I have three folders named "W98", "W98.SE"
and "W98.SE". I also have a number of .cab files that are
named "WIN98_22.CAB" through "WIN98_69.CAB".

Are these files being used for anything, or can I remove
them from my system?

 

[David Hollway [MVP]]

I upgraded my PC from Windows 98SE to Windows XP Home last
September.

I noticed that I have three folders named "W98", "W98.SE"
and "W98.SE". I also have a number of .cab files that are
named "WIN98_22.CAB" through "WIN98_69.CAB".

Are these files being used for anything, or can I remove
them from my system?

Hi Tom,

The Win98_x.cab files are the installation disks for Windows 98. As such,
you can delete them (or, more prudently, back them up to CD).
Are they in the W98 folders you mention? If so then these folders are
probably the original Windows 98 CD, copied to your hard disc by whoever
originally set up 98 on the PC. Certainly, a clean installation of XP does
not have these folders.
I would suggest that you begin by renaming the top-level W98 folder(s), e.g
to "temp_W98". If your PC continues to work correctly, even after rebooting,
then it's safe to assume that the folders can be removed from the hard
disk - either deleted or backed up.

Hope this helps..

 

[Guest]

Hi David,

Thanks for your reply. The folders I mentioned were
subfolders of \Windows\INF\QFE and as it turns out, were
empty.

The .cab files are in the \Windows\OPTIONS\CABS folder,
and as I look through this folder, most everything there
is dated 1998, with a few files dated 2000 and 2002.

 

[David Hollway [MVP]]

Hi David,

Thanks for your reply. The folders I mentioned were
subfolders of \Windows\INF\QFE and as it turns out, were
empty.

The .cab files are in the \Windows\OPTIONS\CABS folder,
and as I look through this folder, most everything there
is dated 1998, with a few files dated 2000 and 2002.

Yup - that figures. \Windows\OPTIONS\CABS is a common place that system
builders / OEMs would put the Windows 98 installation files, to prevent the
user from having to insert the 98 CD whenever adding/removing items. As
such, this CABS folder can safely be deleted, I believe.

 

[Alex Nichol]

I upgraded my PC from Windows 98SE to Windows XP Home last
September.

I noticed that I have three folders named "W98", "W98.SE"
and "W98.SE". I also have a number of .cab files that are
named "WIN98_22.CAB" through "WIN98_69.CAB".

Are these files being used for anything, or can I remove
them from my system?

The cab files are the compressed files of Win98 components used for
installing it. Presuming you do not want to reinstall it you can delete
them. If you do *not* have a Win98 CD I would burn them to a CD first,
they just *might* turn out to be needed if you ever have to do a
complete system reinstall