i think what i'll do is try writing a little script and then bring it back for you all to have a look and either approve or show me the error of my ways, is there a command to delete all sub directories like you mentioned but leave the parent folder alone?

and just to save me some homework does anyone know off the top of their heads the locations of:

saved texts
saved im
call records
fmms images
web bookmarks
web history
cache
saved passwords etc.