"Okay to Delete?" Prompt When You Are Using Disk Cleanup

When you run Disk Cleanup, you may receive the following prompt: There is no explanation of what the file is or why it should be kept or deleted.

This behavior can occur if you downloaded a program from the Internet that installed .dll files on your computer. If you have not used the files, the counter is not incremented in the Downloaded Program Files cleaner in Microsoft Internet Explorer. When you run the Disk Cleanup utility, it sees the files as not being used and prompts you to delete them, regardless of whether or not they may be used by other programs. Program files installed with Active Server Pages (ASP) scripts are not registered or tracked with the Add/Remove Programs tool in Control Panel.

If you are certain that the file that is mentioned in the prompt is not shared or otherwise needed, delete it. If you are unsure, do not delete the file.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.