When downloading stuff lately, I've been seeing some strange filenames. They don't seem to hurt the performance of the item (at least not the first ones), but they do take up space, and the less space I use, the more Downloads I can enjoy!

What on earth are $OLD files?

Don't get me wrong. I haven't taken anything in my tea that would cause me to not know what an old file is! These files have an .old extension.

According to Googling ... which I also remember how to do ... these are backup files that my computer ... or someone ... generated. Since these are backup files, I would guess they're safe to delete, correct? I back up quite often ... I don't need backup files in-game. And that would leave me a whole BUNCH of space to download cool stuff. (Eying road default replacement files eagerly.)

Also, when downloading poseboxes, particularly here, I'll often come across .IMPORT files. I'd say these were old files (pre Clean-Installer), but these were created in 2011. In the past, when I've accidentally forgotten to uncheck that IMPORT box in Clean Installer and wound up with IMPORT files, all they did was take up space, and I deleted them. Old posts here indicate these files are OK to delete ( http://modthesims.info/t/305645 ). But these did come with the files when I used Clean Installer to download these boxes. Do these files serve any purpose whatsoever?

No idea really but the game only reads package files.

Well, I deleted any file that wasn't a .package file (except for a few read files), and put them elsewhere on the machine in their own folder for the time being. I was just curious how many of these I had. Egads, there were a lot of them! My Downloads folder is noticeably slimmer. This is good ... I didn't even have to delete any CC files I use in the game!

While I was at it, I looked for jpg files to see if there were any that slipped into the files that I didn't want. I actually did find some. Strange ... I look for those when putting them in my Downloads folder. I was surprised I missed any. I didn't find that many, but every bit counts. I'm taking it I don't need the .png files, either, unless I want a record as to what colors and styles are in a download.

My Downloads folder hasn't looked like this in a while. I think I extended the time in the future when I'm going to have to purge like crazy at least another 6 - 8 months.

While I just did this a week or so ago, it's now on to the Clean Installer, just to see if there are any errant doubles hiding in there.

From what I know, $Old files are older files from a package that's been updated by the creator. I've had a few of them, and they're not harmful in any way-it's safe to delete them from your downloads folder. Backup files are always (at least in the game) "BAK." in the title..but they're all right to delete if you don't want them.