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    Deleting Opera files from Start?

    Opera for Windows
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    • operafanuk
      operafanuk last edited by

      OS: Windows 7 Professional 32-bit.

      Advice please?

      Am in the process of having a mass clear out of items no longer required from above machine to free up space, which is something I do every now and again.

      Long story short, I started typing "oper" (for something else) from "Start >search", and was presented with around 400 current, and old, Opera files - some going back a long time, and some files quite large.

      MY QUERY:

      I know it's okay to easily uninstall from "Programs and Features" which I've done successfully many times.

      Is it safe to delete Opera files I find via Start? I'm not concerned at losing Opera items as I have these noted.

      For example, would it be okay to delete an old file named "opera_browser.dll"?

      I have only now become aware that uninstalling often leaves leftovers behind and guess these may be the leftovers. There are many files that are related to autoupdate as well - again, are these safe to delete?

      I'm starting all over again after cleaning up the PC, but am unsure about deleting these files I found by accident when searching from the start button. Thanks guys.

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      • sgunhouse
        sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer last edited by

        Go to Menu > About Opera and see where it is installed. Also check your version number.

        If you go to Opera's installation folder, you will see several subfolders whose names are version numbers. If you wish you can keep the last two (in case the current version has a problem you can fall back to the previous version), or you might keep only the most recent. Any other numbered folders can be deleted - for some reason the first version I ever installed on this machine is still there. Also if you find any files in your Temp folder you can delete them. Anything else I don't know why it is where it is.

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        • operafanuk
          operafanuk last edited by

          Hi sgunhouse. Thank you for the info. I had thought I'd previously done that, but perhaps not as efficiently as the PC led me to understand!

          Regarding Opera items I find from Start search, It does show the locations of individual Opera items when clicking "view more results", many of which were downloads, patches, auto-updates etc. I don't need to keep anything Opera related at this point as I will be downloading afresh once I get the machine cleaned up.

          I figure that because no-one else uses this PC, and only I have downloaded Opera browser to it, and other downloads from Opera, it should be safe to remove any Opera related files, as they're not part of the system? At least that's what logic tells me, but this old man may of course be wrong?

          Regarding the Temp folder.

          There are I think non-system items showing "TEMP" and "tmp". Is there a difference between the two please?

          Please also be assured I fully understand anything I delete is entirely at my own risk, despite seeking assistance.

          Thank you for helping me better understand.

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          • leocg
            leocg Moderator Volunteer last edited by

            There are I think non-system items showing "TEMP" and "tmp". Is there a difference between the two please?

            Nope.

            BTW, you can jus empty the temp folder.

            it should be safe to remove any Opera related files, as they're not part of the system?

            If it's not in Opera's installation and profile folder, it should be safe to be removed.

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            • operafanuk
              operafanuk last edited by

              Thank you Leo.

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              • A Former User
                A Former User last edited by

                I found a file containing tons of chinese letter from my Opera install folder.. I wonder did some extension do that.

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