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Forum Discussion

gordon451's avatar
gordon451
Helpful | Level 6
7 months ago

How to delete old Dropbox Update Logs

Every so often Dropbox updates itself, which is good, mostly.  It also makes a log of its updates, which is good, mostly.

 

Unfortunately, I now have 1,994 old update logs on my C: drive, dating back to 24-07-2020, and every time I use a malware scanner every one of these logs is summoned to give evidence, which is not good, all the time.  I am able to trim the rubbish on other software collections, but Dropbox insists that only the owner can delete its logs, and won't tell me which entity is the owner.

 

FWIW, I've used Dropbox far longer than 4 years, and I was able to delete all logs dated prior to 24-07-2020 with no noticeable untoward catastrophes happening.

 

I would like to not only save time on the malware scans, but also put the 82.5 megabytes to better use.  Maybe we only need the last 5 logs as a fall-back measure?

 

So, who is the "owner"?  And, would taking ownership of 1,900 old logs injure the Dropbox install?

  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    7 months ago

    gordon451 wrote:

    ...listed as the owner for the Program Data > Dropbox > Update > Log folder chain.  However, i am NOT the owner of any of the current log files.


    Change the owner of one of the folders above the logs to yourself (effectively not changing it at all) and set the option to replace the owner on all objects below.

  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    Hi there, gordon451, thanks for your post!

     

    Would you mind sending us a screenshot of the message you see about the owner, so we can have a visual?

     

    Thanks in advance.

    • gordon451's avatar
      gordon451
      Helpful | Level 6

      Thanks for getting back to me Hannah.

       

      Screenshots:

      Need Admin Permission

       

      Unable to display Current Owner

       

      Select User or Group

       

      FWIW, I'm using Win7SP1 with a load of vcredists and late-ish .NET

       

      PS: Shared links removed for security purposes per the Community's Guidelines]

      • Walter's avatar
        Walter
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

        Hey gordon451 - sorry to jump in here, but could you attach the screenshots to your reply through the camera icon (insert photo) within your reply's box instead of sending us shared links to them? 

         

        I'm also removing your shared links for security purposes, to avoid traffic/bandwidth issues etc. 

         

        Also, did you install the Dropbox desktop app with admin privileges on your computer in the first place and are you logged in with admin rights when you try to do this?