I first put '#' before 'rm -rf'
I always put a '#' before a 'rm -rf' before clearing out old backups. I think a bit and then remove the '#' and then run the command. I once ran '/bin/rm -rf' as the user 'root' and deleted lots of files I wanted. I even deleted the '/etc/passwd' file and got the famous 'you do not exist' error. I work as the user 'root' because my 'X Windows' system needs this. This is because I upgraded my Linux system myself 'from scratch' and did it slightly wrong. I get a smiley '(:0)' next to my 'root' user's 'pseudo-terminal' when I run 'who' to show who is logged on