I tried to install a Philips webcam made for XP on my Dell Inspiron 640m running Vista Home Premium. It corrupted one of my boot files. I had to get a replacement Vista disc sent from Microsoft after I discovered that using a friend’s Vista disc gave me only 30 days of use (Microsoft customer service was awesome—no joke!). Anyway, I thought all my programs and files had been wiped, but a month or so later I noticed that the hard drive was almost full. I checked the C: drive and, low and behold, all my old files and programs were in a folder called “Old Windows.” How do I get those reinstalled to their rightful place?

Darius, Microsoft recommends that you reinstall your old programs, but in our experience many will run if you just open them from C:\Windows.old\Program Files. As for your files, it’s a simple matter of copying the ones you want into your current Documents folder. You can find more information on Microsoft’s Knowledge Base: KB933209 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933209) and KB932912 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932912).

After you have the documents you need from your Windows.old folder, you can delete it to free up room on your hard drive.

Once you have everything you need, right-click your C: drive and select Properties. Hit Disc Cleanup on the first tab, then Clean up System Files, and you’ll see an option to remove previous Windows installations. That will free up space by deleting your Windows.old file and its contents, so only do it when you’ve got everything you need from your old install.

SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION Are flames shooting out of the back of your rig? First, grab a fire extinguisher and douse the flames. Once the pyrotechnic display has fizzled, email the doctor at doctor@maximumpc.com for advice on how to solve your technological woes.