Downloaded Program Files: Safe to Delete?

[Guest]

When I run "Disk Cleanup", my PC tells me that there are 0KB of "Downloaded
Program Files". However, if I click "View Files", there are approximately 30
files displayed.

The status listed for each file varies (installed, unknown, unplugged).
However, if I right-click on any of the files and select "Properties", they
all share two things in common:

1) Each file is listed as ActiveX (see General Tab: Type = ActiveX Control)
2) Each file is listed as Damaged (see Dependency Tab: Size (bytes) =
Damaged

Disk Cleanup won't delete these files, but I do have the option to
right-click and either "Remove" or "Update" each file individually.

Is it safe to remove these files?

Are they the remnant files of Active X Controls that were downloaded and
installed elsewhere on my PC -- and are thus no longer needed in the
"Downloaded Program Files" folder (c:\windows\downloaded program files\*.*)
?

 

[Elmo]

When I run "Disk Cleanup", my PC tells me that there are 0KB of "Downloaded
Program Files". However, if I click "View Files", there are approximately 30
files displayed.

The status listed for each file varies (installed, unknown, unplugged).
However, if I right-click on any of the files and select "Properties", they
all share two things in common:

1) Each file is listed as ActiveX (see General Tab: Type = ActiveX Control)
2) Each file is listed as Damaged (see Dependency Tab: Size (bytes) =
Damaged

Disk Cleanup won't delete these files, but I do have the option to
right-click and either "Remove" or "Update" each file individually.

Is it safe to remove these files?

Are they the remnant files of Active X Controls that were downloaded and
installed elsewhere on my PC -- and are thus no longer needed in the
"Downloaded Program Files" folder (c:\windows\downloaded program files\*.*)
?

If they're damaged, you can just remove them, unless they're something
you want to try a repair on.

 

[MowGreen [MVP]]

There are ActiveX files that are required to successfully update at the
Windows/Microsoft Update sites in there. Without knowing specifically
which ActiveX files are present, I can't recommend that you right click
them and choose Update or Remove. Sometimes malware uses ActiveX files
to infect systems ...
If you'd like to check them against a list of known ActiveX objects, go
here - http://www.castlecops.com/ActiveX.html
Then navigate to the Downloaded Program Files folder, right click each
object, choose Properties.
On the General page, next to ID, is the CLSID of the objects
Copy&paste them into the Search field to see if they are malevolent or
'beneficial' and then click the Search button
If they are not listed there or, if you search for them on Google and
they are not listed, recommend that you choose Remove.
If they are needed by legit sites or software, they will be reinstalled.

MowGreen [MVP 2003-2007]
===============
*-343-* FDNY
Never Forgotten
===============

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your advice. It really paid off!

I plugged the CLSIDs into the CastleCops ActiveX Search Tool and found a
couple of pieces of ActiveX malware that I was able to easily remove, along
with some unknown ActiveX Controls that neither Castlecops or Google could ID.

I also found some old Norton/Symantec stuff related to online scans and
fixes (e.g., Auto-Fix Tool, Security Scan, AV Check, etc), one of which dated
back to 2003 and contained some sort of security breach.

In addition, there were several outdated ActiveX Controls -- some dating
back several years that I may have used once or twice, but have since been
sitting there dormant. So it was nice to be able to clean those out.

Most were easy to remove, but I did encounter a few stubborn ones that I
couldn't delete. However, I stumbled upon a great little freeware tool
called Active Xcavator that zapped the tough ones cleanly.

Thanks Again!