Why are there 13 separate copies of WordPad on a fresh XP install?

[Jack]

It's a rhetorical question meant to express bemusement at the
cobbled-together, Frankenstein like nature of any particular version of
Windows.

I just reinstalled XP with all the updates and in the process of
reconfiguring things to my liking I found 13 separate copies of Wordpad:
one in the ServicePackFiles\i386 directory, one in the system32\dllcache
directory, four copies in various folders in the $hf_mig$ directory and
seven copies in various folders in the SoftwareDistribution\download
directory. The version numbers vary slightly: 5.1.2600.3355,
5.1.2600.5512, 5.1.2600.5584, 5.1.2600.6010

That's it... I'm done

 

[Mint]

It's a rhetorical question meant to express bemusement at the
cobbled-together, Frankenstein like nature of any particular version of
Windows.

I just reinstalled XP with all the updates and in the process of
reconfiguring things to my liking I found 13 separate copies of Wordpad:
one in the ServicePackFiles\i386 directory, one in the system32\dllcache
directory, four copies in various folders in the $hf_mig$ directory and
seven copies in various folders in the SoftwareDistribution\download
directory. The version numbers vary slightly: 5.1.2600.3355,
5.1.2600.5512, 5.1.2600.5584, 5.1.2600.6010

That's it... I'm done

Do a search for index.dat.



Andy

 

[VanguardLH]

It's a rhetorical question meant to express bemusement at the
cobbled-together, Frankenstein like nature of any particular version of
Windows.

You know of another OS that doesn't retain old files and uninstall logs
for updates so you can back them out?

I just reinstalled XP with all the updates and in the process of
reconfiguring things to my liking I found 13 separate copies of Wordpad:
one in the ServicePackFiles\i386 directory, one in the system32\dllcache
directory, four copies in various folders in the $hf_mig$ directory and
seven copies in various folders in the SoftwareDistribution\download
directory. The version numbers vary slightly: 5.1.2600.3355,
5.1.2600.5512, 5.1.2600.5584, 5.1.2600.6010

You only need 2 copies:

C:\Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories\wordpad.exe (the program)
C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache\wordpad.exe (backup used by sfc.exe)

If you want, you can delete the DLLCACHE folder. That means if you or
the OS ever runs sfc.exe (System File Check) that you'll have to go
digging for your installation CD to rebuild this folder from the CD.
Read http://support.microsoft.com/kb/222193.

On the $hf_mig$ folder, read http://support.microsoft.com/kb/824994. In
the Notes section: "When a security update, critical update, update,
update rollup, driver, or feature pack installs GDR version files, the
hotfix files are also copied to the %windir%\$hf_mig$ folder." Also see
http://www.pagestart.com/hfmigpart1.html.

It's up to you if you want to retain all the $ files under %systemroot%
after doing the updates. Their presence lets you uninstall them. If
you don't intent to ever uninstall any of them, you don't need any of
those files. In my Windows XP, they consume all of 732MB which is not
large enough for me to be concerned about their disk waste (it's only
two-tenths of a percent of my 500GB OS partition). If you're so tight
on disk space that you think deleting these files will give you more
breathing room, you'll get one breath and then have to delete more files
so the real solution is to get a bigger hard disk.

http://forum.soft32.com/windows/Remove-Windows-Update-Files-ftopict355306.html
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290402
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308008
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/956324

There are more backup folders, too, under %systemroot%: ie8\spuninst,
ie8updates, ie7updates, Prefetch, and perhaps others.

ServicePackFiles folder
Mentioned here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/329260

SoftwareDistribution folder
Read http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822798, Method 10, which mentions
clearing out this folder. The KB956324 mentioned above also tells how
to clear out this folder.

That's it... I'm done

Which presumably means you did not come here to ask a question or to
provide any inside but instead just to rant. Go post in a *.test
newsgroup if you want to vent.

 

[Mint]

You know of another OS that doesn't retain old files and uninstall logs
for updates so you can back them out?

Clax is one O.S. that does not.

It's up to you if you want to retain all the $ files under %systemroot%
after doing the updates.  Their presence lets you uninstall them.  If
you don't intent to ever uninstall any of them, you don't need any of
those files.  In my Windows XP, they consume all of 732MB which is not
large enough for me to be concerned about their disk waste (it's only
two-tenths of a percent of my 500GB OS partition).  If you're so tight
on disk space that you think deleting these files will give you more

732 Mb is no small amount.

I am running from a 30 Gb hard drive.

Which presumably means you did not come here to ask a question or to
provide any inside but instead just to rant.  Go post in a *.test
newsgroup if you want to vent.

He isn't venting but bringing up a legitimate concern.

 

[Jack]

Do a search for index.dat.



Andy

I found five copies of index.dat in the Windows directory and another
twelve in Documents and settings. But index.dat can be used to hold all
kinds of different data. Wordpad is a very specific program and it seems
one copy would suffice

 

[Jack]

I have just two: in system32 and in servicepackfiles
Your system needs some cleanup

I just ran Disk Cleaner on C: and I still have 13 copies. I suppose I
could run Dupfinder or Duplicate Cleaner, but why would one have to go
outside Windows to clean up a Windows installation?

Have you updated XP with all the updates? That's where the other eleven
came from, I'm sure.

 

[Jack]

Which presumably means you did not come here to ask a question or to
provide any inside but instead just to rant. Go post in a *.test
newsgroup if you want to vent.

But then what would you do fer fun?