Windows warning: Don't delete that weird 'inetpub' folder. Already did? Here's your fix

Windows 10 and Windows 11 users who installed last week's April Patch Tuesday updates may have noticed a strange new folder appear on their system drive, or C drive. 

Also: 10 pesky Windows 11 24H2 bugs still haunting PCs despite several patches

Named "inetpub," the folder is associated with Microsoft's IIS (Internet Information Services), a component for hosting a website on your PC.  If you do not use IIS, you may think the new folder is unnecessary and simply delete it. Not so fast.

Leave it alone

The new folder is needed, though not for IIS. Instead, it is part of a security fix designed to squash a bug that could leave your PC vulnerable to attack. Specifically, the CVE-2025-21204 security flaw involves a scenario in which symbolic links are not handled properly and, therefore, could be exploited by an attacker to ...