Frustrated said:
I had to reinstall XP home over top of an buggy version.
I chose to fix it, so Windows ended up created user
accounts that had the .windows extension added onto each
of the existing accounts.
Which accounts are the correct ones to keep? My
documents and settings directory is a mess!
Unless you are obsessive, just let it go. You shouldn't be just playing
around in there anyway.
But if you insist..
Go into each directory, with the ability to see hidden files ON, and look at
the time and date of the NTUSER.DAT file. You will be able to tell which
ones are being used and which ones are not... Just by the dates/times.
(Log in as each of your users first.)
Delete the ones you do not use.. AFTER you make sure there is nothing in
any of their directories you need.
Also, if you need to take ownership (access denied) to any of them:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=308421
Side Note:
There will be other user accounts there:
One is "Default User" - This is used whenever a new account is created. It
bases the initial setup of that account off this directory.
Another is "All Users" - This is used by.. all users. If you want something
to appear on the desktop of every user of the machine, you put it on this
users desktop (in the desktop folder.) Etc.
You may also see "Administrator" - depending on your setup, this is the
original administrator user and if you know that account's password, you
should leave him alone and use him only in an emergency.
You could also (if you have it where you can see ALL files) see
"LocalService" and "NetworkService" folders. These are service accounts,
normally unused by the standard user.
Should you erase any of the above? No. No reason to. The only ones that a
single user will really ever use is the one under their username (ie:
whatever username you log in with) and the "All Users" account. If
something goes wrong(or you add a new user), the default user will be used
(recreated if not there) to create the new account needed. The
Administrator account will hopefully never be used and would just be
recreated if you logged in as administrator (assuming you even have the
user - which you do.) Sometimes your account may be listed as "owner" or
"administrator" under the documents and settings folder.. This all depends
on how things were setup. The name you use and the name of the folder do
NOT have to correspond if the name was changed manually after the account
was created initially.
