If you type in search to find the items listed below is it safe to delete them on xp or any other windows system? *.bak *.dmp *.gid *.old ~*.* *.~* *.--- *.$$$ *.$db *.db$ *.chk I am aware that *.tmp (temporary files) can be deleted, but I don't know what the rest of these items are and if deleting them will cause problems? If there are any others that I left out that can be deleted please advise. Thank You

Well, you can delete the *bak, *dmp, *old, and probably most of the others, but I'm not sure about the *chk files. If you are running very low on hard drive space, delete what you can, but, if you have plenty of room, don't bother with it.

Don't remove your bak files unless you're sure you'll never need a backup file of whatever a particular file refers to.

.chk is when scandisk finds an error an converts it, I've been deleting them for years. .gid is an index file for windows help, I wouldn't delete these, but someone may know better. go to this site it tells you about almost every extension imaginable http://filext.com/alphalist.php?extstart=%5ED

http://filext.com/ oops this is the correct url

The odder symbol type file extensions are curious, the question I'd ask is who do they belong to, in other what program put each on there. Run a full virus scan and also run a full trojan scann like TROJAN HUNTER trial and also I'd download AD AWARE and SPYBOT to scan then delete SPYWARE, if it's detected. The first few you can delete as they are well known, like .old, .chk (scan disk)