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Excluding multiple directories from restore

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My Windows 10 / IE 11 PC has become cluttered with directories that I cannot delete by ordinary means because I cannot figure out how to bypass security of Trusted Installer and sometimes System (gave administrators full permission but cannot find who 'owns' permission).  When a particular program says it will take a specific running time, it sometime takes all day.  I am also hampered dealing with Edge when it insists on being default.

I really want to avoid having to re-install all of my software because I am not sure how find all the setup files on places like CleverBridge, Digital River, Avantgate etc

I want to be doubly sure I do not need to start from the Dell factory image and have to restore my desired software one by one. My past misadventures involved registry issues, corrupt files, restoring old backups after re-installing the product that did the backup, and boot problems.  I have used the True Image restore pre-boot with some success.

Can I? ( in order it think is best listed below):

1)Tinker with Acronis True Image on affected PC (pre-boot maybe).

Can I skip some directories when restoring backup or can I backup only what I want to keep and restore that?  I assume I can safely go back to the factory image, install True Image and then reinstall what I want.  Pitfalls?  You never know how things are supposed to work until you actually try and fail.

2) Clone back-up PC

Can I start with a Dell factory image, put other PC clone image on a USB drive and then hook the USB drive up to the affected PC after re-installing your product?

3) Use Laplink (via USB connection?)  Not sure I will know how to use it.  I got it free in a package deal with your product.

4) Use the installation disk I used to install Windows 10 on my backup PC and somehow make it legal during installation? Other desperate measures?

With all the options in play can I be sure one of them will succeed?  How should I proceed? 

 

It is nice I can actually read your CAPTCHA image.

 

 

 

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Norman, I would not recommend any of the options you have suggested in order to achieve what you are wanting to do, i.e. to remove unwanted folders / directories to declutter your computer.

You cannot 'tinker' with Acronis when restoring without risking creating an unbootable system - you must do a disk or partition restore which doesn't allow to omit restoring folders - that is the province of a files and folders restore but this can't be used for OS files and folders!

The simplest method of getting rid of unwanted folders would be to use a Linux Live Boot CD/DVD and boot into a non-Windows environment where you can remove the unwanted directories.  I would caution that you should take a full backup image of your system **before** deleting any folders just in case you get too enthusiastic and delete something you later regret!

See the Live CD List https://livecdlist.com/ for a comprehensive list of potential boot CD candidates.

I have used this approach at various times for similar reasons.  If you are wanting a reliable Linux distribution that is reasonably easy to use, then try the latest Ubuntu distribution from http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop - this is just over 1GB in size and fits on a DVD and should work on all 64-bit systems though you will probably need to turn off Secure Boot in the BIOS settings if you have it enabled.