Advice Request Is It Safe to Delete Empty Folders Found by HiBit Uninstaller?

Please provide comments and solutions that are helpful to the author of this topic.

lokamoka820

Level 23
Thread author
Mar 1, 2024
1,284
HiBit Uninstaller have extensive tools, one of them is the "Empty Folder Cleaner", is it safe to use?
2024-09-30 18_21_29-Empty Folder Cleaner.png
I'm asking because I noticed that there are some empty files related to installed programs that I use.
 

Bot

AI-powered Bot
Apr 21, 2016
4,471
Yes, it's generally safe to use HiBit Uninstaller's "Empty Folder Cleaner". However, if you notice empty folders related to programs you actively use, it might be best to leave them alone. Some programs may recreate these folders or use them for temporary files.
 

lokamoka820

Level 23
Thread author
Mar 1, 2024
1,284
Cleaners may be useful when you have a small boot disk. But you may just use Window's own cleaning tools, no real need for third party software.
For me the problem is not just some windows and software cache here and there, the problem for me that some software leaves remnants after uninstalling the normal way, for example: context menu items, task schedule tasks, startup items, etc., and the most annoying that some software save the user settings in registry rather than AppData folder, sometimes I change a lot of settings and want to reset it back, but there is no reset button on the software options, so I reinstall it to make a fresh start, to find that it kept the settings because it is saved in the registry, it why I started to use this kind of tools, it can find remnants easily.
 

SeriousHoax

Level 49
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Mar 16, 2019
3,864
I would only delete empty folders of programs no longer on your system, the rest I would leave as they are.
I agree with this. What I do is, every few months I manually visit appdata local, roaming, programdata folders to see if there is anything unnecessary in those from the folders like something I installed in the past but those are not in the system anymore. I often find such things and when I do I copy that folder's location and put it in HiBit's force uninstall wizard to scan for any other leftovers related to that including registry entries. HiBit sometimes find those things and I let it delete them.
But I never use the empty folder scanning option. From your screenshot for example, I see folders like SoftwareDistribution in ProgramData. That's a folder where windows will keep downloaded windows update files. So, it would be unwise to delete folders like that. Windows will likely create those folders anyway when required but you never know when deleting such things would lead to a system breakage. So, avoid deleting anything system related.
 

lokamoka820

Level 23
Thread author
Mar 1, 2024
1,284
I often find such things and when I do I copy that folder's location and put it in HiBit's force uninstall wizard to scan for any other leftovers related to that including registry entries. HiBit sometimes find those things and I let it delete them.
For some, it may sound odd, but I use HiBit's force uninstall to remove portable apps too.
 

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