Remove windows XP: I have Parallels 7 loaded on my iMac that has an old version of Windows XP installed within the Parallels partition. It's taking over 140 GB on my drive. Is there a...

cruizer Loc: Bucks Co., Pa. (USA)

I have Parallels 7 loaded on my iMac that has an old version of Windows XP installed within the Parallels partition. It's taking over 140 GB on my drive. Is there a problem with simply moving the Windows XP file to the trash to delete it. I don't use it nor Parallels any more.

Thanks

JCam Loc: MD Eastern Shore

cruizer wrote:

I have Parallels 7 loaded on my iMac that has an old version of Windows XP installed within the Parallels partition. It's taking over 140 GB on my drive. Is there a problem with simply moving the Windows XP file to the trash to delete it. I don't use it nor Parallels any more.

Thanks

I'm not a MAC user and have no familiarity with any of the the MAC products so my question may not be valid, but are you Sure that that you will have a program left that can read ALL the letters/memos/etc.-- which could go back to long before XP ???

Question 2, as an after thought, Do you need those old files, and have you transferred those that you may need to the iMAC?

ebbote Loc: Hockley, Texas

Removing Windows XP will not save you that much space,
maybe 1gig, if that, yes you can trash it without a problem.
Why don't you just remove Parallels and save 140 gigs.

cruizer wrote:

I have Parallels 7 loaded on my iMac that has an old version of Windows XP installed within the Parallels partition. It's taking over 140 GB on my drive. Is there a problem with simply moving the Windows XP file to the trash to delete it. I don't use it nor Parallels any more.

Thanks

cruizer Loc: Bucks Co., Pa. (USA)

ebbote wrote:

Removing Windows XP will not save you that much space,
maybe 1gig, if that, yes you can trash it without a problem.
Why don't you just remove Parallels and save 140 gigs.

Love to do that...can I just move Parallels to trash, or do I have do perform an Uninstall

ebbote Loc: Hockley, Texas

Remove Parallels Desktop
To remove Parallels Desktop:
1 Locate and open the DMG installation image file that you used to install Parallels Desktop and double-click Uninstall.
2 In the Welcome dialog, click Continue.
3 In the Select components to uninstall window, select the components you want to remove and click Uninstall. Selecting the Application Settings option removes the Parallels Desktop settings, network settings, and the list of registered virtual machines from your computer.
Note: The operation of removing Parallels Desktop doesn't remove the virtual machines and their files from your Mac.

cruizer wrote:

Love to do that...can I just move Parallels to trash, or do I have do perform an Uninstall

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Do a total uninstall. Dragging to trash often just leaves a lot of stray junk behind. It is worse for us on PCs but a computer geek I knew said it was also true on Macs. For programs and apps he always did an uninstall first, then ran cleanup software. For PCs he did a format and reload every six months as a precaution. On Macs he did it once a year. He was a cyber security type who often worked with people who had files that really really needed to be gone when deleted. Like gvt/military and commercial trade secret stuff.
A little paranoid I guess, but in his work it was probably a good idea.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

cruizer wrote:

Love to do that...can I just move Parallels to trash, or do I have do perform an Uninstall

Regardless of the operating system or the program, it is always better to perform an uninstall process if available rather than just delete files. Files may be in multiple locations and installing software usually adds or changes parameters in various locations in your operating system. An uninstall will usually cleanly remove everything related to the application. Just deleting files will almost always leave artifacts on your computer, some of which may take up lots of space or could cause future problems.

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

mwsilvers wrote:

Regardless of the operating system or the program,... (show quote)

I second this! I have my disks partitioned, to keep track of stuff (old unix sysadmin...) and I had a disk fail. I was able to rescue everything from most of the disk, but there was a small partition for program installs, my 'H' drive, which was toast.

I was unable to reinstall a lot of this stuff, because windows said it was already installed. I couldn't uninstall it because windows couldn't find the disks... Never did manage to install those programs again until I got a new computer! Could have formatted and started from scratch, I know, but who wants to do that???