Too Many *.exe files

[Kabuchan]

What do you do when you have a lot-I mean a lot of setup.exe files? Can I delete them and if so, how do I find them all? And can I delete them or do I have to uninstall them?

Thanks,
Kabu

[soup]

This would obviously be a for the future tip. I have a folder in My Documents called My Installs, every thing I download to my PC is saved to that folder whether it is a new program or an update. Everything is put in a folder with the programs name & I install from there to program files. It is a really handy way to keep track of all your setup files. If it is an update, I keep it plus the one previous & delete the others. I would try a search, keyword setup & see what shows up.

[Furiousg]

I called my folder Software Files. But same idea, every program, app, driver gets put in that folder. A few are actually organized into separate sub folders ( drivers etc ).

As for the setup files, it is absolutely ok to delete them, it will not harm anything. But you may run into a situation where a program is corrupted and needs a reinstall. If you are running out of room, then perhaps collect all of them and make a backup disc of all your special apps.

[Kabuchan]

Thanks, I ran a search and had about 185 exe files. I will go ahead and move all the program and setup-installation files in one folder like you suggest. Silly, for someone as obsessive-compulsive as me not to have done that from the beginning.

[Chewy]

I had a few programs that I used a couple of years ago, musicmatchjukebox and clonecd, after trying the new versions out and finding that they just added a bunch of crap I didn't need I went back to the older versions.
Elby sold out to slysoft, musicmatch tried to burn cd's. Even cooledit sold out to adobe.

[Furiousg]

I still have an old school Cool Edit Pro. I love that prog. too bad that they sold out.

I see Sygate is owned by Symantec now too.

[soup]

I will go ahead and move all the program and setup-installation files in one folder like you suggest.

Make sure your Program Files stay as program files, it's the setup & installation files you want in a seperate folder in your documents in their own individual folders.

[Gary D]

I would also burn those setup files to an RW. This would help you if you critically lost your computer. It would be easier to load from the RW and append any new ones to it.

[Kabuchan]

Now I need to know which ones are which

Do I go by type or name or what? Here are my search results of exe files. I know some don't qualify because I only typed exe in the search engine..

[anonymez]

I know some don't qualify because I only typed exe in the search engine

type

*.exe

in the search box

[soup]

Use setup as your keyword or manually go to your program files & look in every folder.

Edit: go with the faster typer.

[Kabuchan]

Typing setup was worse - 385 files
*.exe gave me 1986 files

Now what?

[soup]

Okay lets try one thing at a time. 2 searches / setup.exe / install.exe & see what you come up with.

[Kabuchan]

Okay, hang on...

[Kabuchan]

I have 49 with setup.exe and 16 with install.exe Now I know which ones to put in a folder. Thanks Soup

I have one more question. How do I get rid of all the running processes? I have about 40 going and I don't know how to stop them, any ideas?