Can I delete the following file-%SystemDrive% , it is situated in My Documents folder?

Question

Skaizun - this is a legitimate question.

Answer 1

No, no, no, no, no. %systemdrive% tells Windows where it lives. If you remove that, your computer will die and you will need to reinstall Windows.

Answer 2

I'm a computer programmer with over 30 years of experience. My sideline business is to help people with computer problems.

For the benefit of the readers, if not the asker, I'll just say that anyone who asks a question like this is probably not legit, because the average person has very little computer skills - - other than knowing how to turn on and off the computer, and to use the internet and e-mail, etc - - and would never know what a legitimate file looks like, much less a "bad" one. In other words, the asker probably just found this on the 'net somewhere, and decided it would be neat to ask about it, or is just trying to stir up trouble and panic (high user levels don't mean the person is "trustworthy"). Having said that, here's the scoop:

The phrase "%SystemDrive%" indicates that it is a "variable", which means that, in that regard, at least, it is not supposed to be a file (it's hard to explain to a non-computer person; look at the links, below). This variable tells your computer where the "bootable" part of your system is, which, usually is also where to find the "operating system", which, usually, is on the "C" drive (again, it's very involved; don't worry about it!). Think of it like this: If I say "traffic light", you might ask, "is it green, yellow, or red?" If I say it's "green", then it could be said that a "variable" called "traffic light" is set to "green". It does not mean that there is a traffic light out there that is green. Capisce?

As such, there should not be any file called
"%SystemDrive%" anywhere on your system. The file you are seeing might be the remnant of a virus (either having renamed a legitimate file to that odd name, or just tossing some random junk into a file and calling it by that name), or, possibly (though highly unlikely) due to your computer being interrupted by a power failure or some other minor "catastrophe". It could also be that someone or something (i.e., a program - - legit or not) wrote a "script" (for the sake of argument, consider it to be like a tiny program) for your computer, which was improperly designed, so instead of saying "go to the drive listed in the variable called '%SystemDrive%', it was misinterpreted as "create a file called '%SystemDrive%'.

As such, it's probably okay to ignore or delete it,
but, here's what you should do BEFORE doing that, if only to make you feel warm and fuzzy, and for me to give my fingers a workout typing it. ;)

1) Run your anti-virus program on your ENTIRE computer (if you don't have an anti-virus program (highly unlikely these days!), then get one or update your current one). If your anti-virus program indicates that file is a virus, then nuke it!

2) After doing step 1, shut down your computer in the "good" way (i.e., click "start" then "shut down", etc), wait a minute or so (there's a "hardware" reason for waiting, which most people ignore at their peril!), then turn the computer on, to make sure it boots properly. If it doesn't, it probably had nothing to do with the file, but you'll probably need to use a "rescue" disk, which should have come with your computer.

3) After doing step 2, if the computer has booted properly, then rename the "%SystemDrive%" file to "MIGHT_BE_BAD.NG" or whatever rocks your boat. Then, repeat step 2. If nothing bad happens (it shouldn't!), then either leave the file alone, or nuke it. If Windows won't let you rename it, then leave it alone, but I doubt that will be the case. If you renamed it but didn't delete it, then try to run all your typical day-to-day programs (text editor, like Word; internet; e-mail; etc, etc, etc); I'll bet they work just fine (and they probably would even if the file was not renamed).

BTW, if you search the net for this very question, you'll find it ALL over the place, including FIVE instances on the "Yahoo Answers" pages, all of which say the same thing: ignore it or nuke it (I wish "Yahoo Answers" would prevent duplicate questions!).

Regardless, there are MANY, MANY, MANY files on your computer that the average person will neither recognize nor even have a reason to do so. In general, just ignore everything you see on your computer, and you'll live a nice, happy, long life! ;)

Answer 3

%SystemDrive% is an environmental variable for, guess what, the drive your system is on. You'd be a fool to delete it.

Answer 4

Heh - boy you have a bad virus on your machine - its just waiting for you to delete that, and then it will wipe your hard drive clean. You need to take a look at these anti-virus/anti-trojan things:

Comodo Firewall
Comodo Antivirus
Comodo BOCclean
XoftSpy
CounterSpy

Install these and run them and scan your system and see if they get rid of that file.

Answer 5

This is a system file, leave it alone.

Answer 6

No. Do not delete

Answer 7

Oh Man !! You would be dead, if you delete it.. !!