Should I delete a file I can't open and don't know what it is?

I have a file on my hard drive named CIS96. I have no idea what it is i can not even open it. It is taking up 22M of space. I would really like to delete it. john

This question was answered on July 14, 1999. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

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It is hard to say what that file might be After doing a quick search on the internet on cis96, we came across a cis96 web page design class or a compuserve mail header! First go to start/find, then use the name cis96* as the search name and look under type and see what type of file cis96 is This may give you a clue as to what program this file first came and whether you need to keep it If you think that you don't need it please see below for our standard advice about trashing files.

The purpose of the Recycle Bin in Windows 95/98/NT is to give you a quick way to restore a file that you may have inadvertently “thrown away” When a file is placed inside the Recycle Bin it has not been deleted from your system but simply placed in a different part of your hard drive Your actually just “moving” the file instead of deleting it If the files in the Recycle Bin were needed for anything, you would have experienced an error message or a problem by now A good rule of thumb for files in the Recycle Bin is to keep files that you are not familiar with for about 30 days just in case you learn that you actually needed them In most every case, if the file is needed for any programs, you will experience an error message within this 30-day time frame If you recognize the files, such as your old word processing or spreadsheet documents, you can remove them immediately To selectively “Empty” your Recycle Bin, double-click the Recycle Bin icon on your Desktop, then right-click on the file and select the delete option To put a file back where it came from, right-click on it then choose the “Restore” option This will place the file back to its original location Only when you delete files from your Recycle Bin will you clear the disk space that they are taking

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Posted by Ken Colburn of Data Doctors on July 14, 1999

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