Default Windows Files and Folders You Should Never Touch

Windows system contains many system files and folders to maintain its running. Apart from that, some hidden files can pile up to waste your storage space, and then removing the useless could be the best way to clear your storage. During this process, which ones should be removed, and which files and folders you should never touch? That’s a problem.

It’s not an easy thing to draw a direct line but we can list some widely known safe items to be deleted. This post may be helpful when you run a disk cleanup: What Is Safe to Delete in Disk Cleanup? Here Is the Answer.

Which Files and Folders You Should Never Touch?

The following items we are going to introduce are some default Windows files and folders you should never touch. They are closely related to systems and any mistaken deletion or modification can cause unexpected results, such as system crashes and data loss.

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Program Files and Program Files (x86)

These two folders are the locations where you can find all the installed programs. When you are installing software, the program will create an entry in the Program Files folder and add its registry values. Those folders include all configuration information the program needs to work; if some of them are getting lost or messed up, the program cannot work anymore.

System32

The System32 folder is used to store hundreds of DLL files. Many Windows processes rely on those DLL files and if some of them get corrupted, you can easily get stuck in the unable to load DLL error or DLL not designed to run on Windows error.

Pagefile.sys

Pagefile.sys often plays as an optional, hidden system file on a hard drive. It can extend virtual memory that a system can support. When your physical RAM starts to fill up, the page file can take effect in acting like RAM. However, overly relying on it can affect PC performance.

Swapfile.sys

Similar to pagefile.sys, swapfile.sys folder is a subfolder to store temporary data from Windows Universal apps. It can create temporary storage space for your drives when the system runs low on memory. If you delete the folder, you will corrupt Windows and Windows may not start again.

WinSxS

WinSxS folder is the component store of Windows operating systems, used to support the features needed to customize and update Windows. You can only reduce its size instead of deleting the folder.

Windows Folder

Most critical files and folders that are closely related to Windows functions are stored in this Windows folder. Deleting this folder can trigger serious issues and may even render the computer unusable.

D3DSCache

D3DSCache is a directory that contains cached information for the Microsoft Direct3D API, which is part of DirectX for displaying graphics in games and other applications. Therefore, it is not recommended to touch the folder.

The introduced are just part of the files and folders you should never delete. For the next time, if you need to delete some unknown files and folders, you can search them on the Internet first to check if they are available to touch.

Bottom Line:

The above-introduced files and folders are what you should never touch. If you accidentally delete them, your system may crash or run into some errors. in this way, be careful if you decide to remove some files.