{"id":1000,"date":"2010-02-17T23:19:56","date_gmt":"2010-02-17T17:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=1000"},"modified":"2019-05-12T03:04:07","modified_gmt":"2019-05-12T03:04:07","slug":"which-files-does-w7-system-maintenance-delete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/which-files-does-w7-system-maintenance-delete\/","title":{"rendered":"Which Files Does the Windows 7 System Maintenance Tool Delete?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/w7-icon.png\">In Microsoft Knowledgebase article <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/kb\/978980\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">KB978980<\/a> Microsoft states that when there are more than four broken shortcuts on the desktop, the System Maintenance troubleshooter automatically removes all broken shortcuts from the desktop. It implies that it only removes &quot;broken&quot; shortcuts.<\/p>\n<p>Well! Look at this screenshot.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/w7-sys-maint.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>The above dialog says that the System Maintenance cleans &quot;unused&quot; files and shortcuts. Does it mean that it removes unused (but working) shortcuts that are pointing to a valid target file\/folder? At this stage we need more clarity on what the System Maintenance cleans (only the broken shortcuts, or does it clean valid shortcuts that are kept unused.) And, does the System Maintenance tool store the unused \/ broken shortcuts in a different folder, similar to the Desktop Cleanup Wizard in Windows XP?<\/p>\n<p><i>I&#8217;ll post back my findings in due course. Also, I&#8217;d love to hear the insights from our valuable readers in the meantime.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>Update<\/b><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s now clear the the troubleshooter deletes broken shortcuts as well as unused (in 3 months) ones.<\/p>\n<h2>SCREENSHOT<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/w7-sys-maint2.png\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Microsoft Knowledgebase article KB978980 Microsoft states that when there are more than four broken shortcuts on the desktop, the System Maintenance troubleshooter automatically removes all broken shortcuts from the desktop. It implies that it only removes &quot;broken&quot; shortcuts. Well! Look at this screenshot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows-7"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":295,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/create-shortcuts-to-eject-and-close-cddvd-drive\/","url_meta":{"origin":1000,"position":0},"title":"Shortcuts to Eject and Close CD\/DVD Drive in Windows","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Windows already includes the Eject command in the context menu for optical drives. If you want to add the Close Tray option in the context menu for optical drives, then this article is for you. NirCmd is a small command-line tool that allows you to do some useful tasks without\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/openclosetray.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4654,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/pin-website-shortcut-start-screen-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":1000,"position":1},"title":"Pin a Website Shortcut to the Windows 10 Start Menu","author":"Ramesh","date":"November 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"If you've been using desktop shortcuts to open your favorite websites, you can instead pin those websites to the Windows 10 Start menu to make your desktop clutter-free. Moreover, pinning websites to the Start screen helps you get to those sites quickly especially when your Windows 10 device is in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Internet Explorer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Internet Explorer","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/internet-explorer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"pin website shortcuts to start screen windows 10","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/pin-website-start-screen-11.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/pin-website-start-screen-11.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/pin-website-start-screen-11.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/pin-website-start-screen-11.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1693,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/restore-admin-tools-shortcuts-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":1000,"position":2},"title":"Restore Missing Administrative Tools Shortcuts in Windows 10","author":"Ramesh","date":"February 28, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Administrative Tools folder in the Start menu contains a list of shortcuts to launch admin tools like Perfmon, Resmon, Computer Management, Registry Editor, etc.\u00a0If your Administrative Tools folder is empty, use one of these ways to restore the default shortcuts. Method 1: Restore missing shortcuts using SFC The default\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"admin tools shortcuts sfc.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/sfc-scanfile-admin-tools.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/sfc-scanfile-admin-tools.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/sfc-scanfile-admin-tools.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3094,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/windows-10-start-menu-user-folders-do-not-open\/","url_meta":{"origin":1000,"position":3},"title":"Windows 10 Start Menu User Folders Do Not Open When Clicked","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 7, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When you click Start and click on a shortcut to your personal folders such as Documents, Downloads, Pictures or Music, nothing may happen. 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