Which folder is the Windows® system folder?
Windows® always only has one system folder, which is called SYSTEM under Windows® 9x and SYSTEM32 under Windows® 2000 and XP.
If the DLL a program wants is not found in the program's own folder, Windows® only looks in two other places: the folder defined as the system folder and the Windows folder.
WINNT\SYSTEM and WINNT\SYSTEM32
However, under Windows® 2000 and XP you may notice that some DLLs are located in a folder called WINNT\SYSTEM, and that DLL Cleaner tells you that it is safe to delete these files because they are "not in the system folder".
What is going on here? This folder is sometimes created automatically by programs designed with Windows® 9x in mind. If they don't find a folder called SYSTEM they simply create it and store their DLLs there (this is a little like gatecrashing someone else's party, but who are we to complain).
However, since there is only one real system folder (which is defined in the Windows® configuration) this folder is actually treated as a normal program folder. If your system folder is WINNT\SYSTEM32 and a redundant duplicate DLL is stored in WINNT\SYSTEM you really can safely delete the file stored in WINNT\SYSTEM.
Subfolders of the system folder:
The same applies to subfolders of the system folder. Many programs store their DLLs in subfolders of the system folder which they create themselves. Only DLLs actually located in the system folder itself are regarded as being in the system folder. Duplicates in subfolders can safely be deleted.
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Multiple System Folders?
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