I have lots of hidden files and folders in my home directory and I want to delete the ones that are not being used.
How do I tell which ones are in use and which ones aren’t?
Thanks.
It’s probably not a good idea. But mostly they will be folders eg: .azureus - if you use that application (Vuze) or have used it, that folder will be there. Only you know what you are using, have used, no longer need. Mostly they don’t contain anything too critical. But for Eg; the folder .VirtualBox may contain info you DON’T want to loose.
You back up the system, delete all the hidden files, then see what breaks, then you know it was needed. lol!
Just kidding of course.
> I have lots of hidden files and folders in my home directory and I want
> to delete the ones that are not being used.
>
> How do I tell which ones are in use and which ones aren’t?
here is the rule i learned years and years ago:
If you don’t know what something is, what it does, what depends on it
and what will or might happen if you delete it, then do NOT.
it fits in nicely with a few other rules handed down on stone tablets
by gray haired old men who worked with *nix on main frames back in the
'50s and '60s:
Backup.
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
Backup.
If you don’t know what the switch is for, don’t flip it.
Backup.
If something is ‘suddenly’ broken: What did you just do?
Expect hardware failure, and backup.
Expect software failure, and backup.
Expect user and administrator errors, and backup.
Never log into a *nix GUI as root.
Gonna do something as root? Think VERY carefully, and backup FIRST.
and building on “ken yaps” note–BACKUP first, then delete something
and see what breaks is ONE way to learn…it is ALSO easier (for me)
to buy a bigger hard drive (they ARE cheap) and put /home on it…and
let all the UNKNOWN stuff alone!!!
learning by mistakes is one way to learn…learning by reading is a
LOT easier…
ymmv
–
natural_pilot
Most old-timers are familiar with an old poster with a flowchart on it for troubleshooting. One decision diamond goes:
Did you touch it?
Yes: You poor b*stard. Can you blame somebody for it?
No: ...
Unfortunately, if you are the only one who touched it, then you will have to blame yourself for it. 
this the one ?
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/1864/problemsolving.jpg](http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/1864/problemsolving.jpg)
Yes, it’s one of many versions floating around.
works for me!
–
natural_pilot
Actually Unix didn’t come into existence until the early 70s, or do you mean the gray haired old men were 50 to 70 years old? 
Anyway those are good rules for any profession.
Actually this is closer to the one I remember.
then, what i got was a censored version
:\
> Actually Unix didn’t come into existence until the early 70s, or do you
> mean the gray haired old men were 50 to 70 years old? 
ok, didn’t know that…
what did the Big Iron run before there was a *nix?
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_iron> notice the logo ]
anyway, those old men who gave me the stone tablets are now 70+ (or
not breathing)…and, anyway we all know there were precious few
graphical environments to log into as root, until Mr Gates invented
Windows[tm] in the '80s…
–
natural_pilot
Older operating systems, often tied to a particular architecture. For example, IBM’s 360
IBM System/360 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
ran VM/CMS among other OSes. Because Unix was one of the first OSes (but not the only one around that time) to be written in a higher level language than assembler, it also became feasible to port it to other architectures.