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Common Files folder


Tom AZ

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What is the real significance of the "Common Files" folder? If there are sub-folders (in the Common Files folder) of programs that are no longer being used -- or are no longer installed, is it safe to delete these sub-folders -- or are the contents of these sub-folders being used or shared by other programs?

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What is the real significance of the "Common Files" folder? If there are sub-folders (in the Common Files folder) of programs that are no longer being used -- or are no longer installed, is it safe to delete these sub-folders -- or are the contents of these sub-folders being used or shared by other programs?

There is sometimes one or two folders in there you can remove but most are usually required and best left alone.

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This really doesn't answer your question, however if you know what program created a folder in there and didn't remove it during uninstall it "should be safe to delete."

 

I know of one Windows created folder that's empty "ODBC\Data Sources" however I personally just ignore it because I don't know what will happen if it's deleted or forcefully deleted.

 

You'll find various empty folders on Windows created by Windows that for the lack of better words are better left alone if you don't know what will happen if they're deleted.

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You'll find various empty folders on Windows created by Windows that for the lack of better words are better left alone if you don't know what will happen if they're deleted.

If folders are Windows created and empty, there's no need to remove them. I think that they might be re-created after system reboot, if you delete them. Not sure though... Windows also creates a bunch of empty registry keys.

 

And about Common Files folder... If you are sure that folder is not used by any program anymore, it is safe to delete. If you have i.e. uninstalled RealPlayer, 'Real' folder is then safe to delete (if it's not deleted automatically).

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From Bold Fortune's Slimming XP Guide

 

C:\Program Files\Common Files...

 

The Common Files folder contains files shared with the Microsoft applications.

 

 

Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC)

 

Per Microsoft: The MDAC 2.5 stack can be broadly categorized into the ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), OLE DB, Open Database Connectivity (ODBC), Remote Data Services (RDS), Microsoft Jet, and Microsoft Visual FoxPro? components. These components are highly dependent on one another. For example, ADO components are nonfunctional without the ODBC core, OLE DB core, and the back-end database's OLE DB provider or ODBC driver.

 

Here's just a little more information:

 

OBDC Database drivers. ODBC is a programming interface that enables applications to access data in database management systems that use Structured Query Language (SQL) as a data access standard. Open DataBase Connectivity (ODBC) is an Application Programming Interface (API) that allows a programmer to abstract a program from a database. When writing code to interact with a database, you usually have to add code that talks to a particular database using a proprietary language. If you want your program to talk to an Access, Fox and Oracle databases you have to code your program with three different database languages.

 

The Structured Query Language (SQL) is a computer language for accessing and manipulating databases. The version of SQL created by Microsoft is called Jet SQL and it is the database engine behind Microsoft's Access. Jet SQL is not designed to manage a database. It is used to retrieve information from a database. Jet SQL, by itself, cannot create a database and cannot manage security. This is where the Microsoft Data Access Object (DAO) enters the scene. DAO contains libraries which are designed to manage databases. You can use Jet SQL without DAO, but you are limiting your options to handle the data. With DAO you can create a database and manage security. The value of Jet SQL (and DAO) is that it allows the developer to add databases to an active Website.

 

If you open mdac.inf in Notepad and scan through it you can see how these folders and their files tie together.

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