What are these files in my Windows 7 user folder for, and are they necessary to keep?

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I have the following files in my user folder:



enter image description here



Although the files are system files, I'm constantly seeing them because I'm used to browsing Explorer with system files shown for the greater level of knowledge and control that it gives me over the OS. In the many years that I've used Windows 7 like this, I don't ever recall seeing so many system files in this folder.



I understand that ntuser.dat and ntuser.dat.LOG1 are, respectively, the HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry hive and the log for that hive, which explains the very recent timestamp of both files. However, the other four files in the folder (two .regtrans-ms files, one .blf file and one .LOG2 file) were all last modified over 6 months ago, and at least one is a 0-byte file. Despite this, trying to delete any of them brings up a dialogue claiming System has a lock on them:



enter image description here



I'd like to either remove these 4 files to get rid of the clutter in my user folder, or otherwise understand why I've never seen them before, and what purpose they're actually serving.




Update



Taking into account answers and comments that claim these files are simply registry transaction files that have likely been merged into the Registry and simply failed deletion, I proceeded to try to remove these files from my system using Unlocker 1.9.2, a utility I've used for years successfully for similar purposes. Unlocker warned that it would only be able to delete the files on the next boot. After rebooting the PC, I've found that Unlocker did indeed delete the files, but the files were simply regenerated in their original sizes (note the updated timestamps):



enter image description here



In other words, it seems that there's a lot more to these files than them being registry changes that have already been pushed to the registry. Perhaps a problem caused them to fail to merge with the registry, and as a result the system has left them in a limbo state as files that can't be merged or, or perhaps something else entirely is at play.










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    up vote
    1
    down vote

    favorite












    I have the following files in my user folder:



    enter image description here



    Although the files are system files, I'm constantly seeing them because I'm used to browsing Explorer with system files shown for the greater level of knowledge and control that it gives me over the OS. In the many years that I've used Windows 7 like this, I don't ever recall seeing so many system files in this folder.



    I understand that ntuser.dat and ntuser.dat.LOG1 are, respectively, the HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry hive and the log for that hive, which explains the very recent timestamp of both files. However, the other four files in the folder (two .regtrans-ms files, one .blf file and one .LOG2 file) were all last modified over 6 months ago, and at least one is a 0-byte file. Despite this, trying to delete any of them brings up a dialogue claiming System has a lock on them:



    enter image description here



    I'd like to either remove these 4 files to get rid of the clutter in my user folder, or otherwise understand why I've never seen them before, and what purpose they're actually serving.




    Update



    Taking into account answers and comments that claim these files are simply registry transaction files that have likely been merged into the Registry and simply failed deletion, I proceeded to try to remove these files from my system using Unlocker 1.9.2, a utility I've used for years successfully for similar purposes. Unlocker warned that it would only be able to delete the files on the next boot. After rebooting the PC, I've found that Unlocker did indeed delete the files, but the files were simply regenerated in their original sizes (note the updated timestamps):



    enter image description here



    In other words, it seems that there's a lot more to these files than them being registry changes that have already been pushed to the registry. Perhaps a problem caused them to fail to merge with the registry, and as a result the system has left them in a limbo state as files that can't be merged or, or perhaps something else entirely is at play.










    share|improve this question

























      up vote
      1
      down vote

      favorite









      up vote
      1
      down vote

      favorite











      I have the following files in my user folder:



      enter image description here



      Although the files are system files, I'm constantly seeing them because I'm used to browsing Explorer with system files shown for the greater level of knowledge and control that it gives me over the OS. In the many years that I've used Windows 7 like this, I don't ever recall seeing so many system files in this folder.



      I understand that ntuser.dat and ntuser.dat.LOG1 are, respectively, the HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry hive and the log for that hive, which explains the very recent timestamp of both files. However, the other four files in the folder (two .regtrans-ms files, one .blf file and one .LOG2 file) were all last modified over 6 months ago, and at least one is a 0-byte file. Despite this, trying to delete any of them brings up a dialogue claiming System has a lock on them:



      enter image description here



      I'd like to either remove these 4 files to get rid of the clutter in my user folder, or otherwise understand why I've never seen them before, and what purpose they're actually serving.




      Update



      Taking into account answers and comments that claim these files are simply registry transaction files that have likely been merged into the Registry and simply failed deletion, I proceeded to try to remove these files from my system using Unlocker 1.9.2, a utility I've used for years successfully for similar purposes. Unlocker warned that it would only be able to delete the files on the next boot. After rebooting the PC, I've found that Unlocker did indeed delete the files, but the files were simply regenerated in their original sizes (note the updated timestamps):



      enter image description here



      In other words, it seems that there's a lot more to these files than them being registry changes that have already been pushed to the registry. Perhaps a problem caused them to fail to merge with the registry, and as a result the system has left them in a limbo state as files that can't be merged or, or perhaps something else entirely is at play.










      share|improve this question















      I have the following files in my user folder:



      enter image description here



      Although the files are system files, I'm constantly seeing them because I'm used to browsing Explorer with system files shown for the greater level of knowledge and control that it gives me over the OS. In the many years that I've used Windows 7 like this, I don't ever recall seeing so many system files in this folder.



      I understand that ntuser.dat and ntuser.dat.LOG1 are, respectively, the HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry hive and the log for that hive, which explains the very recent timestamp of both files. However, the other four files in the folder (two .regtrans-ms files, one .blf file and one .LOG2 file) were all last modified over 6 months ago, and at least one is a 0-byte file. Despite this, trying to delete any of them brings up a dialogue claiming System has a lock on them:



      enter image description here



      I'd like to either remove these 4 files to get rid of the clutter in my user folder, or otherwise understand why I've never seen them before, and what purpose they're actually serving.




      Update



      Taking into account answers and comments that claim these files are simply registry transaction files that have likely been merged into the Registry and simply failed deletion, I proceeded to try to remove these files from my system using Unlocker 1.9.2, a utility I've used for years successfully for similar purposes. Unlocker warned that it would only be able to delete the files on the next boot. After rebooting the PC, I've found that Unlocker did indeed delete the files, but the files were simply regenerated in their original sizes (note the updated timestamps):



      enter image description here



      In other words, it seems that there's a lot more to these files than them being registry changes that have already been pushed to the registry. Perhaps a problem caused them to fail to merge with the registry, and as a result the system has left them in a limbo state as files that can't be merged or, or perhaps something else entirely is at play.







      windows-7 windows windows-registry user-profiles user-folders






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      share|improve this question













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      edited 18 mins ago

























      asked 3 hours ago









      Hashim

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          However, the other four files in the folder (two .regtrans-ms files, one .blf file, and one .LOG2 file) were all last modified over 6 months ago.




          The *.regtrans-ms contains write and read transactions changes made to NTUSER.DAT. Since those changes have already been applied to the registry these files can be safely removed.



          The *.LOG2 file was created due to *.LOG1 already existing more than likely. The *.blf file contains metadata that is used to manage access to the log data contained within *.Log1. The other files are logs of changes, they can be removed, but will be created again if they are needed.




          They're not backups of registry changes, actually, they're what changes to the registry are before they become changes to the registry.



          As a protection against registry corruption, which used to be a fairly common, and very nasty problem in Windows, what newer versions of Windows do when a change to the registry is requested, is write the requested change to a file before doing anything.



          Once Windows has determined that it's "safe" to write the change to registry, it does so, and following that, it will then verify that the change has been made, at which time it will delete the file and move onto other OS tasks. When something in this process fails, you end up amassing these files.



          Once you're done analyzing them, any of these .blf or .regtrans-ms files that were created prior to the last system boot can be safely deleted. There's no way they will (or should) be written to the registry, so they're junk.




          Source: NTUSER.DAT and UsrClass.dat files building up by the thousands, why and can I delete?



          Eventually, these files might be created again, if everything works right, they are deleted after the changes are applied and verified. Any number of things could have caused the cleanup to fail, you likely will have to use your favorite third-party program, to kill the handle so you can delete the files.






          share|improve this answer






















          • Just tried to delete these. See update in question.
            – Hashim
            25 mins ago










          • @Hashim - My answer already explains that they could come back. I honestly feel I have answered your question as it was originally written. The contents of the logs files likely will explain what is going on.
            – Ramhound
            18 mins ago











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          1 Answer
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          up vote
          6
          down vote














          However, the other four files in the folder (two .regtrans-ms files, one .blf file, and one .LOG2 file) were all last modified over 6 months ago.




          The *.regtrans-ms contains write and read transactions changes made to NTUSER.DAT. Since those changes have already been applied to the registry these files can be safely removed.



          The *.LOG2 file was created due to *.LOG1 already existing more than likely. The *.blf file contains metadata that is used to manage access to the log data contained within *.Log1. The other files are logs of changes, they can be removed, but will be created again if they are needed.




          They're not backups of registry changes, actually, they're what changes to the registry are before they become changes to the registry.



          As a protection against registry corruption, which used to be a fairly common, and very nasty problem in Windows, what newer versions of Windows do when a change to the registry is requested, is write the requested change to a file before doing anything.



          Once Windows has determined that it's "safe" to write the change to registry, it does so, and following that, it will then verify that the change has been made, at which time it will delete the file and move onto other OS tasks. When something in this process fails, you end up amassing these files.



          Once you're done analyzing them, any of these .blf or .regtrans-ms files that were created prior to the last system boot can be safely deleted. There's no way they will (or should) be written to the registry, so they're junk.




          Source: NTUSER.DAT and UsrClass.dat files building up by the thousands, why and can I delete?



          Eventually, these files might be created again, if everything works right, they are deleted after the changes are applied and verified. Any number of things could have caused the cleanup to fail, you likely will have to use your favorite third-party program, to kill the handle so you can delete the files.






          share|improve this answer






















          • Just tried to delete these. See update in question.
            – Hashim
            25 mins ago










          • @Hashim - My answer already explains that they could come back. I honestly feel I have answered your question as it was originally written. The contents of the logs files likely will explain what is going on.
            – Ramhound
            18 mins ago















          up vote
          6
          down vote














          However, the other four files in the folder (two .regtrans-ms files, one .blf file, and one .LOG2 file) were all last modified over 6 months ago.




          The *.regtrans-ms contains write and read transactions changes made to NTUSER.DAT. Since those changes have already been applied to the registry these files can be safely removed.



          The *.LOG2 file was created due to *.LOG1 already existing more than likely. The *.blf file contains metadata that is used to manage access to the log data contained within *.Log1. The other files are logs of changes, they can be removed, but will be created again if they are needed.




          They're not backups of registry changes, actually, they're what changes to the registry are before they become changes to the registry.



          As a protection against registry corruption, which used to be a fairly common, and very nasty problem in Windows, what newer versions of Windows do when a change to the registry is requested, is write the requested change to a file before doing anything.



          Once Windows has determined that it's "safe" to write the change to registry, it does so, and following that, it will then verify that the change has been made, at which time it will delete the file and move onto other OS tasks. When something in this process fails, you end up amassing these files.



          Once you're done analyzing them, any of these .blf or .regtrans-ms files that were created prior to the last system boot can be safely deleted. There's no way they will (or should) be written to the registry, so they're junk.




          Source: NTUSER.DAT and UsrClass.dat files building up by the thousands, why and can I delete?



          Eventually, these files might be created again, if everything works right, they are deleted after the changes are applied and verified. Any number of things could have caused the cleanup to fail, you likely will have to use your favorite third-party program, to kill the handle so you can delete the files.






          share|improve this answer






















          • Just tried to delete these. See update in question.
            – Hashim
            25 mins ago










          • @Hashim - My answer already explains that they could come back. I honestly feel I have answered your question as it was originally written. The contents of the logs files likely will explain what is going on.
            – Ramhound
            18 mins ago













          up vote
          6
          down vote










          up vote
          6
          down vote










          However, the other four files in the folder (two .regtrans-ms files, one .blf file, and one .LOG2 file) were all last modified over 6 months ago.




          The *.regtrans-ms contains write and read transactions changes made to NTUSER.DAT. Since those changes have already been applied to the registry these files can be safely removed.



          The *.LOG2 file was created due to *.LOG1 already existing more than likely. The *.blf file contains metadata that is used to manage access to the log data contained within *.Log1. The other files are logs of changes, they can be removed, but will be created again if they are needed.




          They're not backups of registry changes, actually, they're what changes to the registry are before they become changes to the registry.



          As a protection against registry corruption, which used to be a fairly common, and very nasty problem in Windows, what newer versions of Windows do when a change to the registry is requested, is write the requested change to a file before doing anything.



          Once Windows has determined that it's "safe" to write the change to registry, it does so, and following that, it will then verify that the change has been made, at which time it will delete the file and move onto other OS tasks. When something in this process fails, you end up amassing these files.



          Once you're done analyzing them, any of these .blf or .regtrans-ms files that were created prior to the last system boot can be safely deleted. There's no way they will (or should) be written to the registry, so they're junk.




          Source: NTUSER.DAT and UsrClass.dat files building up by the thousands, why and can I delete?



          Eventually, these files might be created again, if everything works right, they are deleted after the changes are applied and verified. Any number of things could have caused the cleanup to fail, you likely will have to use your favorite third-party program, to kill the handle so you can delete the files.






          share|improve this answer















          However, the other four files in the folder (two .regtrans-ms files, one .blf file, and one .LOG2 file) were all last modified over 6 months ago.




          The *.regtrans-ms contains write and read transactions changes made to NTUSER.DAT. Since those changes have already been applied to the registry these files can be safely removed.



          The *.LOG2 file was created due to *.LOG1 already existing more than likely. The *.blf file contains metadata that is used to manage access to the log data contained within *.Log1. The other files are logs of changes, they can be removed, but will be created again if they are needed.




          They're not backups of registry changes, actually, they're what changes to the registry are before they become changes to the registry.



          As a protection against registry corruption, which used to be a fairly common, and very nasty problem in Windows, what newer versions of Windows do when a change to the registry is requested, is write the requested change to a file before doing anything.



          Once Windows has determined that it's "safe" to write the change to registry, it does so, and following that, it will then verify that the change has been made, at which time it will delete the file and move onto other OS tasks. When something in this process fails, you end up amassing these files.



          Once you're done analyzing them, any of these .blf or .regtrans-ms files that were created prior to the last system boot can be safely deleted. There's no way they will (or should) be written to the registry, so they're junk.




          Source: NTUSER.DAT and UsrClass.dat files building up by the thousands, why and can I delete?



          Eventually, these files might be created again, if everything works right, they are deleted after the changes are applied and verified. Any number of things could have caused the cleanup to fail, you likely will have to use your favorite third-party program, to kill the handle so you can delete the files.







          share|improve this answer














          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer








          edited 3 hours ago









          Hashim

          2,52662751




          2,52662751










          answered 3 hours ago









          Ramhound

          18.4k155978




          18.4k155978











          • Just tried to delete these. See update in question.
            – Hashim
            25 mins ago










          • @Hashim - My answer already explains that they could come back. I honestly feel I have answered your question as it was originally written. The contents of the logs files likely will explain what is going on.
            – Ramhound
            18 mins ago

















          • Just tried to delete these. See update in question.
            – Hashim
            25 mins ago










          • @Hashim - My answer already explains that they could come back. I honestly feel I have answered your question as it was originally written. The contents of the logs files likely will explain what is going on.
            – Ramhound
            18 mins ago
















          Just tried to delete these. See update in question.
          – Hashim
          25 mins ago




          Just tried to delete these. See update in question.
          – Hashim
          25 mins ago












          @Hashim - My answer already explains that they could come back. I honestly feel I have answered your question as it was originally written. The contents of the logs files likely will explain what is going on.
          – Ramhound
          18 mins ago





          @Hashim - My answer already explains that they could come back. I honestly feel I have answered your question as it was originally written. The contents of the logs files likely will explain what is going on.
          – Ramhound
          18 mins ago


















           

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