I'm not convinced....
I am currently in the process of backing up as much of my music that itunes hasn't blatantly STOLEN from me and then planning on deleting itunes altogether. I found these two files in my user folder (one step removed from the music folder):
ntuser.dat.LOG1
ntuser.dat.LOG2
I have run a search on Google to determine what these files were--and all i keep seeing in various forums is the same vague NON-ANSWER cloaked in a condescending scare tactic that reads in general:
DO NOT DELETE THESE FILES!! THESE ARE IMPORTANT WINDOWS FILES!! YOUR COMPUTER WILL NOT WORK IF YOU DELETE THEM, I REPEAT...HIDE THEM INSTEAD...STOP LOOKING AT HIDDEN FILES, ETC., ETC..
Really?
First off, this "answer" (found all over the web) answers nothing. What ARE these files? I never even thought about "deleting" them...i just want to know what they are
Furthermore and for all i know they could be as innocuous as something that manages the background color of my font, ffs. But even if that were the case...why does it appear that whoever is answering these questions seems intent on putting the Fear Of God into you about them?? And why isn't anyone coming forth with a simple Straight Answer as to what is the actual content of these files?? If there was no paranoia upon finding the stupid things, there most certainly is now :/
Thus I feel it necessary to write this in case there may exist a handful of people like myself who cannot be completely satisfied with essentially being told "Don't worry your pretty little head about it, Noob. Don't delete them...go back and check the 'hide hidden folders' box...and quit messing around with things that you don't know anything about" (I actually DID see those EXACT words written in response to this simple question on the Windows Vista forums
...)
So...here is what i have found upon further investigation with the two mystery files that reside on my own pc:
LOG 2 contains 0 k of data. Hmmm...really? Why does it exist then? Why should it matter if anyone deletes it? Furthermore, it was created, modifed, and accessed in March of 2008. I got this laptop for Xmas in 2007--so if these are "Windows User Settings Logs"...then wouldn't they have been at least *created* in December 2007??
So what happened in March of 2008? Oh yeah...i got my itunes account. Huh...
LOG1 contains 256 k of data, and was created in March of 2008. It was modified today...30 minutes ago. Given that i only had 2 programs running 30 minutes ago (itunes and winamp), i shut down everything else and tried running them both again individually to see which affected the file. Guess who? Every time i started itunes, it "modified" the file.
And given that itunes is not exactly what i would call "ethical" (Did you know they now offer you the option of uploading your playlists for "sharing"--which itunes then SELLS in the itunes store??!!...wow, talk about "piracy"...), now i really DO want to delete these files!
So here you go, Truthseekers:
These are NOT Windows files. They are affiliated with iTunes. Chances are, you probably will not even have them on your pc unless itunes is there as well. So is it "safe" to delete them? I don't know yet. After i back up the music that itunes so graciously allowed me to keep (haha, for the record...itunes even stole my OWN music...a cd i made myself! LOL), i plan on deleting them and seeing what happens. If Windows gets fuxx0red...who cares? I'm switching to Linux anyway
Be back soon with a full report
Haschenhosen
