Can I safely trash .exe files?

[flyboyy]

Can I safely trash .exe files? I assume they are windoze programs, however I am not 100% sure.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

EXE stands for Windows EXEcutable and so it won't work on a Mac anyway. Safe to delete.

 

[IWT]

An EXE file is a file formatted to run and install software applications on Windows computers and devices.

There is no reason for not deleting them; no harm in doing so.

Ian

 

[flyboyy]

Thanks Ian!

 

[Randy B. Singer]

EXE stands for Windows EXEcutable and so it won't work on a Mac anyway. Safe to delete.

Yes, that is the common wisdom. And in most cases it is true. But if you go rooting through places on your Mac where you shouldn't be, you might see a ton of ".exe" files.

Before you go deleting them randomly, you should ask yourself why they are there in the first place. Do you have Parallels installed? Do you have some programming language, like Python, installed? Do you have some Microsoft product installed?

By and large, users shouldn't go on quests deleting files unless they are certain they know what they are and what they do.

 

[flyboyy]

Thanks Randy, I have done that in the past to my regret. Not necessarily .exe but other things.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Yes, that is the common wisdom. And in most cases it is true. But if you go rooting through places on your Mac where you shouldn't be, you might see a ton of ".exe" files.

Before you go deleting them randomly, you should ask yourself why they are there in the first place. Do you have Parallels installed? Do you have some programming language, like Python, installed? Do you have some Microsoft product installed?

By and large, users shouldn't go on quests deleting files unless they are certain they know what they are and what they do.

If you have the Mac version of Python or MS product installed, there wouldn't be any Windows executables in there.

 

[pm-r]

Yes, that is the common wisdom. And in most cases it is true. But if you go rooting through places on your Mac where you shouldn't be, you might see a ton of ".exe" files.

I agree with Randy and have often found some ".exe" files among some software I have installed over the years. One needs to check before trashing them but it's not a common occurrence so there shouldn't be very many.



- Patrick
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[Randy B. Singer]

If you have the Mac version of Python or MS product installed, there wouldn't be any Windows executables in there.

I DO have the Macintosh version of Python installed, and I DO have about 15 ".exe" files on my Mac associated with it.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

I take it back. It's more like 60 ".exe" files that I have that are associated with Python.

 

[pm-r]

I take it back. It's more like 60 ".exe" files that I have that are associated with Python.

It seems as though I have 80 ".exe" files according to Find Any File.app, most of which are associated with various utility type software.

I have no idea whether they are actually used with the software when running on a Mac but they are certainly not taking up very much hard drive space, unlike the thousands of OS installed ".lproj folders" for the support of all the various foreign language files that I don't use or need.




- Patrick
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[pm-r]

I take it back. It's more like 60 ".exe" files that I have that are associated with Python.

Speaking of Python files and assorted associated software that apparently got installed with my various Mac OS version installations, is there any reason why I should not delete it as I can't recall ever attempting to use it or any reason to even try???

I'm too old to start learning any new programming and my boot drive would probably appreciate gaining a little bit more spare room as well with it deleted.

A Google search doesn't show any reason for keeping it if it's not being used, and I couldn't find any good reason for keeping it if it's not being used.

Thanks.




- Patrick
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