[Sumanji]

Hey,

I installed a custom nLite version of XP Pro (SP3 slipstreamed), and was really happy that the Windows folder was barely 500MB (this is on an 8GB SSD). Now all I have done is install all the critical patches & .NET 3.5 from Windows Update and the Windows folder has plumped itself up to over 2.3GB!! I'm assuming there are an assload of temporary files, backups and other such rubbish causing this? Can anyone help me slim it down again please?!

Cheers,

Suman

P.S. I have System Restore turned OFF, and a static 256MB page file so it's definitely neither of those issues

[Sumanji]

Ok an update to my own thread! Apparently it is safe to clean out:

C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download

There was over 600MB of crap in there, so that's a good start! Will keep you all updated if I find any other files suitable for culling

Cheers,

Suman

[webwbr]

How did you find out removing this was "safe"?

Originally Posted by Sumanji

Ok an update to my own thread! Apparently it is safe to clean out:

C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download

There was over 600MB of crap in there, so that's a good start! Will keep you all updated if I find any other files suitable for culling

Cheers,

Suman

[Sumanji]

Originally Posted by webwbr

How did you find out removing this was "safe"?

Personally? I deleted all the crap in there, and Windows still works

If you want a more detailed explanation hit Google - unfortunately I didn't save the link to the discussion on MSDN which I got the info from...

Cheers,

Suman

[CoolMe]

Yeah it is safe to remove the contents of this folder once you have applied your updates and restarted.

Its just a temp file for windows update to perform its updates from. Not a clue why it don't delete it self!

[anguish]

Originally Posted by CoolMe

Yeah it is safe to remove the contents of this folder once you have applied your updates and restarted.

Its just a temp file for windows update to perform its updates from. Not a clue why it don't delete it self!

I read somewhere that it supposedly does after 10 days or so. I don't know if that's true or not, as I have never seen it.

Vista on the other hand, has serious issues with the WinSxS folder. That though, you don't want to delete things out of. You can break a lot of things really easy.

[ronin510]

Check out CCleaner. (Crap Cleaner, originally).

It has options to clear all the windows temporary files left behind by other programs such as Firefox, Internet Explorer, Media players, program installer files, as well as the Hotfix Uninstallers (under Advanced; Hotfix backup files can take up 100's of MBs). I'd recommend checking anything under Advanced except for "Wipe Free Space" and maybe Window Size/Location cache if prefer the window sizes you've created. I've saved over 1.5 GBs of temp/hotfix files from fresh XP installs on tons of computers.

Go to Options>Advanced and uncheck "Only delete files in Windows Temp folders older than 48 hours."

The program also offers a nice registry cleaner as well.

[turbocrow]

thnx for this threaqd helped me loads

[bobnmo78]

C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache

This is a dll backup folder, pretty large. If you need a dll replaced in the future for some reason, google it.

[bjd223]

Right from the horses mouth.

How to reclaim disk space on a Windows XP-based computer that has a hard disk capacity of 4 GB or less