Safe to delete these folders?

[snook]

In my Documents and Settings folder, I have folders called LocalService, LocalService.NT AUTHORITY (2 of those!), NetworkService, NetworkService.NT AUTHORITY (2 of those as well) and I don't know what they're for, any of them, or whether they're needed. They have subfolders inside, but they're virtually empty, and they're named Application Data, Cookies, Local Settings.

Am I safe to delete them, or will I cause havoc with my system? I know I could just leave well alone, but I just don't like having unnecessary clutter, even though I'm not short of hard disk space.

If anyone could let me know what these folders are, or how they came to be here, I'd appreciate it.

(I'm running XP Pro, by the way)

Thanks!

[stevie21]

Normally in the Documents and Settings folder there are only folders for each user. In my case, there's Administrator, All Users and Stevie. Inside each of those there are the other folders you mention, "Application Data" etc. to save different users' settings, favourites, desktop items and so on.

One safe way of removing the clutter is to set the folders as hidden (right click -> Properties). This is the way I'd go - I'd never risk deleting something I wasn't 100% sure of.

These seem to be default system profiles so I wouldn't delete them. Under the control panel -> Users you can delete any *user* profiles that you don't use but as the ones in your question are system created I wouldn't expect that you'll find much there.

[snook]

Thanks Stevie. I tried hiding the files but the option was grayed out. I'm still a bit confused at all the files being there, since I'm the only user.

I think you're right though, not worth the risk of deleting something if you're not absolutely sure it's safe to do so. I think I'll just try to come to terms with the clutter and maybe sign up for some counselling to overcome my OCD!