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Duplicate installations in Program Files and Program Files (x86)
I have a x64 PC, can I delete the duplicate installations of programs in Program Files (x86) that are also installed in Program Files?
I have a x64 PC, can I delete the duplicate installations of programs in Program Files (x86) that are also installed in Program Files?
It would be better to Uninstall unwanted programs rather than just deleting them as the installation would have created Icons, support files in other places and Registry entries. The uninstall of some programs can be less clean than for other programs. It's also possible for some programs to have entries in both places, don't know why that is but maybe just to assure compatibility?
Here is what I found out.
I tried adding a contact by using search (Contacts > New Contact) and the feedback I got from Task Manager was that it ran the one in the Programs Files (C:\Program Files\Windows Mail\wab.exe) so I renamed the one in Program Files (x86) and tried it again and it ran without any issues.
After doing some googleing, it seems that they install 32 bit and 64 bit without paying any attention to what processor you are running. The only reason (x86) is there is for programs that run in 32 bit mode which is the way I install Office.
No.
Unless you really understand what you are doing the "Program files", "Program files (x86)" and "Windows" folders and all of their subfolders should be considered read only. There is a lot more going on here than is apparent. This is complex, often unintuitive, and sometimes appears to make no sense. That doesn't make it wrong. Initial conclusions are often wrong. Even experienced application developers may have difficulty with this.