Unbloating C:\Windows
Monday, 5. March 2007, 23:58:02
One day while wondering why on earth is my windows drive getting so filled I decided to go through c:\windows\temp and c:\documents and settings\username\local settings\temp and temporary internet files.
Not much of a surprise, they were all filled with crap for over 500mb. Mostly in c:\windows\temp
This really makes you wonder why isn't windows able to remove temporary files on its own... and how much other useless data there is stored in the windows dir...
Not much of a surprise, they were all filled with crap for over 500mb. Mostly in c:\windows\temp
This really makes you wonder why isn't windows able to remove temporary files on its own... and how much other useless data there is stored in the windows dir...
One of the first things you see when opening the windows dir is the hundred $NTUninstallSomething...$ directories. They took about 200mb of space for me and guess what they do? They let you uninstall windows patches...
Guess what happens when you uninstall one? The next time you update your windows, it suggests that you install it again... so pretty pointless files.
Another directory under windows that is useless is Downloaded Installations... which is an another "temp" like dir! It stores some installation files for stuff... and the installation files just take extra space. Note this, though: some apps store installation files there for "future reference", ie. if they are updated they use the files in this dir too so delete only those that you are sure are useless. You could, of course, always fix it by reinstalling the application in question if you manage to screw something up.
In addition to these, you can delete all files from c:\windows\system32\dllcache\ although if something goes wrong with windows DLLs after that...
Here is a good forum post on getting rid of some more useless files.
of....
..old papers, right ?
By pfelelep, # 20. March 2007, 13:16:10
By zomg, # 20. March 2007, 18:58:09