Something happened to my computer yesterday, and I'm hoping that some of the fantastic "computer-minds" on this forum can help. I'm asking here because I really don't want to have to re-install FSX again with all of its addons and tweaks, etc. FSX is running very well, and I want to keep it that way.It all started when I saw this "Windows.Old" folder on my C drive that appeared, of course, after I re-installed VISTA a few months ago. I inquired on the internet about the SAFETY of deleting this Windows.Old file, and all advice said that it was safe. Well, to make a story short, I did delete all 71 gigs of that folder and I was looking forward to saving the hard disk space, and having faster de-frags, etc.After all was said and done, I've found that I can no longer run a Disk Check, I can't use Ultimate Defrag (It stops working after I click on it), and my Google searches are no where near accurate, and they usually bring up "garbage". I downloaded O & O defrag trial, and it wouldn't run either because it detected a disk error. I re-installed Perfect Disk, which I still had on another computer, and it did supposedly do a de-frag. But after that, nothing seems to have changed. Can't do a dskchk or use the other defraggers. Google searches are still totally inaccurated when I click on what it finds.Do you think this is fixable? Is it spyware or adware? Have I deleted something in the Windows.Old folder that I shouldn't have? I would greatly appreciate you showing me the direction I should travel on this one. Thanks.

StanIs it worth trying to "repair" Vista? see: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial148.html; http://vistasupport.mvps.org/windows_vista...ir_options.htm; http://www.windowvistarepair.com/; http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Windows-Vist...&id=1731217.Do you happen to have a '"restore point" before you deleted the "old" files?Did you remove the "OLD" folder this way? http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933212I would try these options first to see if you can recover the situation.RegardsPeterH

StanIs it worth trying to "repair" Vista? see: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial148.html; http://vistasupport.mvps.org/windows_vista...ir_options.htm; http://www.windowvistarepair.com/; http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Windows-Vist...&id=1731217.Do you happen to have a '"restore point" before you deleted the "old" files?Did you remove the "OLD" folder this way? http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933212I would try these options first to see if you can recover the situation.RegardsPeterH

Peter.Thanks for the response. Your link doesn't work for me. It shows an Error Page. For whatever reason, my restore point only went back one day which wasn't exactly when I deleted the OLD file. So, it didn't work. Thanks for the proper way to delete that file. I'll use it in the future if and when I have to re-install Vista. I'm going to try to repair Vista as my next step.Stan

StanGood luck with the repair!! If you Google "Vista Repair" you should pick up my "not-working" links.RegardsPeterH

I have Vista 32, which I have reinstalled a few times. I have never seen a Windows.old folder. If you truley reinstall, it's like the day you bought it. Vista 32 does not have a repair option like XP does. I don't know about Vista 64.Bummer!There are some utilites that allow you to recover deleted files, but you probably can't download themBob

Ya might try this sequence. It's saved my bacon a couple of times. Print-out the article . . . and stash it in a safe place! http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392

Ya might try this sequence. It's saved my bacon a couple of times. Print-out the article . . . and stash it in a safe place! http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392

Sounds like I have nothing to lose. I'll try this today. Thanks for your help.Stan

Well, nothing worked. I went out and bought Vista Ultimate full version today, reformatted, and am starting to reinstall programs and files. My former system used XP, which I got with my Dell, then I installed the Vista Ultimate update. I've never really been happy with it. Now I installed the full version and took the opportunity to do the 64 bit version instead of the 32 bit. I think I'll be happy with this. Whatever happened to my system, I'll probably never know. But by this weekend, I should be flying and NEVER seeing those "spikes" again.

Well, nothing worked. I went out and bought Vista Ultimate full version today, reformatted, and am starting to reinstall programs and files. My former system used XP, which I got with my Dell, then I installed the Vista Ultimate update. I've never really been happy with it. Now I installed the full version and took the opportunity to do the 64 bit version instead of the 32 bit. I think I'll be happy with this. Whatever happened to my system, I'll probably never know. But by this weekend, I should be flying and NEVER seeing those "spikes" again.

If you installed 64bit Windows, go ahead and change fs9.exe to be large address aware (I do it with an utility called CFF Explorer, just google everything). No more OOMs ;)