OK to delete empty subdirectories?

[ima_newb]

Total newbie question, I know, and I searched but didn't find the answer.

Zen Cart 1.3.8a Patch: 1::

I inherited my store, so wasn't involved from the start. I'm learning my way around much better, but trying to "clean up" the system. For some reason, I'm finding empty and/or duplicated subdirectories. Everything appears to be working fine in my store, so is it ok to delete them?

One example is .htpasswds\public_html\images.

My folder structure is very scrambled, with the empty directories and duplicated directories, but somehow it still seems to work, so I'm afraid to mess with things to much. I did download the file tree hierarchy gif that someone posted, but it seems incomplete.

Would it be okay to rename the folders that are empty or duplicates to something like XYZimages and then test everything to confirm functionality and then delete them later?

Is there any *easy* (HA) way to figure out which files and folders are really used by my live store so I can delete the rest?

Thanks a ton!

[DrByte]

Download a clean copy of Zen Cart (link on the home page of zen-cart.com) and unzip it to your PC, retaining folder structure.
That will show you which folders come with Zen Cart.
Then you can decide what to do with the "extra" folders you find on your server.

[schoolboy]

Bear in mind that if the person who built the site made use of a CUSTOM template, there may be "empty" folders bearing the "custom" template name. These are to be found at various sub-directory levels - most commonly in the LANGUAGES and MODULES folders.

As Dr Byte suggests, use a "fresh copy" of the zencart software to indicate the directory structure.

There should be a "custom" folder (template over-ride) at every level where you see a corresponding "classic" folder. Even if these are empty, leave them where they are so that (future) customizations can be loaded into their proper places.

[ima_newb]

Thanks for the suggestions! Is there anything special I need to do when I download the new copy of ZC so as not to interfere with my live store?

Oh, wait - edited to add that I just had a d'oh moment- my site is not on my local PC so it shouldn't interfere! Disregard! Thanks again!