Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - carpet: protected the floor or hurt it?

I guess it's a crapshoot with each house but figured I'd ask here anyway. Except for my bedroom, the entire house is covered in carpet. I've been told there's hardwood throughout. This appears to be true since in the entryway of my living room from my breezeway door, there is about a 3x3 section they didnt carpet for some reason. (no clearance problems so unsure what's up with that)

Most certainly that 3x3 section gets heavily abused and even though i had a throw rug on it, the floor still got stones/mud etc on it. So if it looks this good with all that abuse, i'm hoping if i pull up my carpet, that the floor underneath is in wonderful shape :)

pipe dream, or possibility?

LR and DR carpets are in good shape wear wise, but on one side of dining room there's about a 3x 10 section where the cat peed and id love to just even cut that piece out and see what's up.

i ripped up a corner of the carpet in the dining room closet..the floor appears to be in very good shape..except i know there will be those strips all over and probably even some staples..

And whats the procedure to fill in all the holes where all those strips used to be?

edit: i did start doing my hallway..wow a decent amount of staples...but the floor is very nice except for it bucking..tell me you dont have to fill in those staple holes lol...in a tiny area i got at least 20 so far....so what's the secret on the tacking strips..seems like they used a ton of nails...my little putty knife and wonder bar dont seem to be doing the trick...and this is just my first little area :eek:

http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo155/luckydriver/floor/IMG_2797.jpg

http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo155/luckydriver/floor/IMG_2796.jpg