Deleting duplicate files

[kduncan5]

My backup PC is a little 386 which I've been tweaking and trying to get the most out of it. I have Windows 3.11 loaded, with Internet Explorer 3.03, plus a few other small programs including ZDNet's TwinFind, and MoreSpace. They found that I have two of several files in my PC, but of the remaining files, I'm not real sure which one, if any, are safe to delete. The files include: Emm386.exe, Command.com, expand.exe, himem.sys, msd.exe, ramdrive.sys, and smartdrive.exe. With all these files, there is one in the DOS directory and one in the Windows directory. Which one of these, if any, are safe to delete, thus freeing up much needed space on the HD? Also, there are a couple of setup.exe's that if they're no longer needed, I'd just as soon delete them.....

BTW, I've already, heard "Why don't you just use it as a boat anchor?"

Thanks for any help you might have to offer! -kd5-

 

[kduncan5]

If this additional info helps, when I reformatted the HD, I loaded DOS 5.02, then upgraded to 6.22, then used Twin Find & Morespace to clean out duplicate files. I've loaded as many updated DOS & Windows 3.11 files I can find that Microsoft has to offer, I installed a SVGA driver so at least I can display pages as close to the way they were meant to be displayed, I installed Clean System Directory to clear out all the BS DLL's I don't need, in all I've configured this little 386 as well as it can get without re-writing DOS files (I'm a little leary of that). I connect to the internet quite well. Even though it's slow, it's not nearly as slow as you'd expect it would be.

I just want to clean out anything that's not absolutely necessary, but I'm not sure about the files I mentioned in my previous post.

Can anybody help? Thanks, -kd5-

 

[Andrew99]

The files in the DOS directory are for DOS, and should be referenced in config.sys and autoexec.bat ... The duplicate files in windows are used for windows and are often different files..

If you are not sure whether to delete something or not... create a temporary folder, and move the files there... Test it out, if it works then those files weren't necessary (probably), and if it doesn't, then put them back.

DOS pretty much just uses command.com... The other files it uses typically have to be specified in the aforementioned files. And the rest of the files are utilities that you may or may not need.. Format, Fdisk, Sys are all very useful...