Fonzie Posted January 1, 2002 Share Posted January 1, 2002 Hello, I've been puzzled by this for some time now: I'm using JV16 Powertools to clean up my harddrive and especially my registrysettings. The last couple of times when I've had installed WindowsXP Professional, then after a while I removed the following registrysettings: .dat .dos .nls - JV16 Powertools v0.0.0.120 shows these registry as a green dot in its Registry Cleaner meaning that it's okay to delete them. But what exactly are these settings and what do they do, what purpose do they have when it's okay to delete them according to JV16 Powertools? :s These registrysettings I'm talking about are located in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT - there are alot of settings in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT - so what makes .dat .dos .nls so exclusive ? BTW: what is a file called "sysinfo.bch" doing in my root on my harddrive (C:) - I don't believe seeing it anywhere and there's no postings on the Internet on this file- that's really something :ermm: Bye, Fonzie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MxxCon Posted January 2, 2002 Share Posted January 2, 2002 .dos are commonly files in root of your c: after you upgraded OS or multiboot if you had win9x, and installed win2k/xp you would have io.dos msdos.dos autoexec.dos config.dos you don't really need them unless you multiboot .dat files are data files:)...databases, game files, etc...you don't really need to execute those files or do anything with them. prolly that's why they suggest to remove them. however some mpeg files(vcd) have exention of .dat .nls files are "Code Page National Language Support" files i wouldn't recommend to remove those entries. they are pretty small and will not make any performance difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kheldar Posted January 2, 2002 Share Posted January 2, 2002 Mcafee virusscan uses .dat files for virus definitions. I most certainly wouldnt reccomend deleting them :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geronimo Posted January 2, 2002 Share Posted January 2, 2002 i wouldnt remove any dat unless you know what it does. one controls some of your user settings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinLerner Posted January 2, 2002 Share Posted January 2, 2002 Yeah, the NTUSER.DAT contains all your personal/desktop/color settings. Hey, Geronimo, what happened to your other picture? The other pic was better! Happy New Year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geronimo Posted January 2, 2002 Share Posted January 2, 2002 got tired of it. I am getting tired of this. me thinks i should find a sitting bull pic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonzie Posted January 2, 2002 Author Share Posted January 2, 2002 Hello, Originally posted by MxxCon .dos are commonly files in root of your c: after you upgraded OS or multiboot if you had win9x, and installed win2k/xp you would have io.dos msdos.dos autoexec.dos config.dos you don't really need them unless you multiboot .dat files are data files:)...databases, game files, etc...you don't really need to execute those files or do anything with them. prolly that's why they suggest to remove them. however some mpeg files(vcd) have exention of .dat .nls files are "Code Page National Language Support" files i wouldn't recommend to remove those entries. they are pretty small and will not make any performance difference. I don't multiboot or anything. I have done a clean NTFS format and only installed Windows XP Professional. I hate clutter. Things must be clean as possible because of experiences with friends having installed Windows on their computer;) I'm a former PPC Amiga user. So Windows is a mess at times. I'll leave the .dos .dat .nls registrysettings for now:) thx for the reply Bye, Fonzie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonzie Posted January 2, 2002 Author Share Posted January 2, 2002 Hello, Originally posted by Kheldar Mcafee virusscan uses .dat files for virus definitions. I most certainly wouldnt reccomend deleting them :) I'm not using Mcafee virusscan but Norton Antivirus 2002;) The thing is; in the registry they have a key that says "NoOpen"!!?? Perhaps that just the way they should remain !?- anyway thanx for the reply:) Bye, Fonzie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonzie Posted January 2, 2002 Author Share Posted January 2, 2002 Hello, Originally posted by JustinLerner Yeah, the NTUSER.DAT contains all your personal/desktop/color settings. Happy New Year I'm aware that I do not delete that file:D thx Bye, Fonzie BTW: Happy New Year to everyone on Neowin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonzie Posted January 2, 2002 Author Share Posted January 2, 2002 Hello, Originally posted by Geronimo i wouldnt remove any dat unless you know what it does. one controls some of your user settings I will leave them there for the remaining time that I have Windows XP installed on my PC. Still it puzzles me, perhaps I should contact the author of jv16 Powertools to get an explaination!? The programmer must know why these settings are to be deleted. Geronimo, bring back Optimus Prime as your avatar 'cause it was awesome:cool: Bye, Fonzie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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