Why NTUSER.DAT 6.4MB ??

[AK]

Located in my "Owner" Directory:

NTUSER.DAT 6.4MB
also, ntuser.dat.LOG 1KB
---------------------

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS LARGE,IN-USE, FILE ON MY MAIN HARD DRIVE?
I can't read these files because they are "in use by another process."
Can they be deleted? Should this file be this big and active all the time?
AK

 

[The Marker]

It's actually one of your Registry files. Unlike the other Registry files,
this one is stored in your personal Documents and Settings folder and
contains the entire contents of the HKEY_LOCAL_USER branch of the Registry.
You can't delete it because it's in use and protected, and you wouldn't want
to because otherwise you'll mess up your whole computer! It will grow as you
install more software that creates keys and sub keys in this branch of the
Registry, and so is perfectly normal. To summarise: leave NTUSER.DAT alone.

 

[Bill in Co.]

It's part of the system. Leave it ALONE. And yes, it can be that
large.

 

[R. McCarty]

Don't yell ( CAPS ! ) - those are the part of the Registry that makes
up the Current User Hive. A very critical component of Windows.

 

[Newbie Coder]

AK,

NTuser.dat holds HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry information etc. Maybe you have a lot of
rubbish cluttering up the registry on your profile

 

[Newbie Coder]

Marker,

'Current User' not 'Local User'

 

[Mike Cawood, HND BIT]

It's part of the system. Leave it ALONE. And yes, it can be that
large.

My NTUser.dat is 10MB.
Mike.

 

[John John]

It's the settings for your user profile, it is actually a registry hive.
When a user logs on the user's NTUSER.DAT hive is loaded in the
registry as HKEY_CURRENT_USER, it only makes sense that you cannot
delete the file of the user that is actively logged on! It is in use
because it is an active registry hive when the user is logged on. This
registry hive contains your personal settings and preferences, like
wallpaper, Explorer views, personal program settings and so on.

John