C:\Windows\ occupying large disk space

[Guest]

My computer's C:\Windows folder is occupying 4.08 GB which I suppose is too
large, since my other friends' computers have this folder of not more than 2
GB.
What's the reason & how can I clean the Windows the folder?

 

[Mike Williams]

My computer's C:\Windows folder is occupying 4.08 GB which I suppose is too
large, since my other friends' computers have this folder of not more than 2
GB.
What's the reason & how can I clean the Windows the folder?

It could be full of update patches, or maybe you have been saving data
files there. Perhaps you could check which subfolders or large files are
present and do some preliminary analysis

 

[R. McCarty]

Direct comparisons don't always apply. Things vary, like Service Pack
level, Fonts, DllCache...(.) On average, a \Windows folder tree will be
sized at around 1.7 Gigabytes. "Cleaning" isn't advised - perhaps some
folder redirection, but I wouldn't go in there and start removing content.
Besides, most of the Windows tree is Windows File Protection enabled
and what you take out may be automatically replaced.

 

[Micky]

It could be full of update patches, or maybe you have been saving data files there. Perhaps
you could check which subfolders or large files are present and do some preliminary
analysis

My Windows folder is almost 8GB. However, 1GB of that is occupied
by Windows symbols (for developement). System32 occupies an additional
1GB, of which 0.5GB is taken up by my dllcache. Installer and Assembly
occupy another 1GB between them. Microsoft.NET occupies 250MB,
hile my two Splinter Cell patches occupy 200MB between them. All
other files and folders are under 100MB.

Note that the best tool for folder size analysis is FolderSizes, by Key Metric
Software. However, there are several freeby solutions that'll help track down
bloated folders.