Can I get rid of 'uninstall' files in windows directory?

R

Rhea

He everyone,

I'm trying to clear out my old desktop and salvage it for my son to use. It
only has a 30 GB harddrive so I'm find it difficult to clear out enough stuff
to make it serviceable. The windows directory takes up in total 11GB and
these uninstall files take up 1 GB of it. They look like
'$MSI31uninstall_KB89380$' and they're highlighted in blue and are unlinded.
They look active like a weblink.

I suspect that they are the uninstall programs for all the updates I've
received over the years but as XP generally works well, can I move these to
an external harddrive where I'm not so tight for space?
 
N

Norm Cook

Since I had a very large usb drive attached, I copied all of the
$...uninstall... folders & files to a "Just in Case" folder there.
This was about 6 months ago and I have seen no ill effects.
 
G

Gerry

You can create more free space in C by
carrying any of the measures suggested below.

The default allocation to System Restore is 12% on your C partition
which is over generous. I would reduce it to 700 mb. Right click your My
Computer icon on the Desktop and select System Restore. Place the cursor
on your C drive select Settings but this time find the slider and drag
it to the left until it reads 700 mb and exit. When you get to the
Settings screen click on Apply and OK and exit.

A default setting which could be wasteful is that for temporary internet
files, especially if you do not store offline copies on disk. The
default allocation is 3% of drive. Depending on your attitude to offline
copies you could reduce this to 1% or 2%. In Internet Explorer select
Tools, Internet Options, General, Temporary Internet Files, Settings to
make the change. At the same time look at the number of days history is
held.

The default allocation for the Recycle Bin is 10 % of drive. Change to
5%, which should be sufficient. In Windows Explorer place the cursor
on your Recycle Bin, right click and select Properties, Global and
move the slider from 10% to 5%. However, try to avoid letting it get
too full as if it is full and you delete a file by mistake it will
bypass the Recycle Bin and be gone for ever.

If your drive is formatted as NTFS another potential gain arises with
your operating system on your C drive. In the Windows Directory of
your C partition you will have some Uninstall folders in your Windows
folder typically: $NtServicePackUninstall$ and $NtUninstallKB282010$
etc. These files may be compressed or not compressed. If compressed
the text of the folder name appears in blue characters. If not
compressed you can compress them. Right click on each folder and
select Properties, General, Advanced and check the box before Compress
contents to save Disk Space. On the General Tab you can see the amount
gained by deducting the size on disk from the size. Folder
compression is only an option on a NTFS formatted drive / partition.

Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System
Information, Tools, Dr Watson and verify that the box before "Append to
existing log" is NOT checked. This means the next time the log is
written it will overwrite rather than add to the existing file.

The default maximum size setting for Event Viewer logs is too large.
Reset the maximum for each log from 512 kb to 128 kb and set it to
overwrite.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us


Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp to
Empty your Recycle Bin and Remove Temporary Internet Files. Also
select Start, All Programs, accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp,
More Options, System Restore and remove all but the latest System
Restore point. Run Disk Defragmenter.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
J

Jim

He everyone,

I'm trying to clear out my old desktop and salvage it for my son to use. It
only has a 30 GB harddrive so I'm find it difficult to clear out enough stuff
to make it serviceable. The windows directory takes up in total 11GB and
these uninstall files take up 1 GB of it. They look like
'$MSI31uninstall_KB89380$' and they're highlighted in blue and are unlinded.
They look active like a weblink.

I suspect that they are the uninstall programs for all the updates I've
received over the years but as XP generally works well, can I move these to
an external harddrive where I'm not so tight for space?

Shouldn`t be a problem .
 
J

ju.c

Those folders are for uninstalling Windows updates and
Hotfixes. It is perfectly fine to delete them, but you
must not delete this folder:

C:\WINDOWS\$hf_mig$\

That folder is used by Automatic Updates. But before you
delete them for good, copy them to a CD or DVD, in case
you need to uninstall an update in the future.

Here is a good tutorial:

Making Your Windows Folder Smaller
http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?s=1de168d77b4b50d7d6252b7a51011aa6&showtopic=80511


ju.c
 
P

Paul

Rhea said:
He everyone,

I'm trying to clear out my old desktop and salvage it for my son to use. It
only has a 30 GB harddrive so I'm find it difficult to clear out enough stuff
to make it serviceable. The windows directory takes up in total 11GB and
these uninstall files take up 1 GB of it. They look like
'$MSI31uninstall_KB89380$' and they're highlighted in blue and are unlinded.
They look active like a weblink.

I suspect that they are the uninstall programs for all the updates I've
received over the years but as XP generally works well, can I move these to
an external harddrive where I'm not so tight for space?

You can get a new drive pretty cheap.

Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JB 80GB IDE Ultra ATA100 3.5" Internal Hard Drive $38
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822144122

Some companies offer free tools for copying the old disk to the new one. The
new one should be big enough, there will be more room to work with. At least,
as long as the copy tool will resize the partition for you. I cannot immediately
find confirmation of that.

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=502&lang=en

You can find jumper information here, to help while installing the drive.

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=699&p_created=#jumper

If you need help with jumpers, post a question with details to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

You can keep the old drive around, in case your son ever acquires viruses,
and needs to be bailed out.

Paul
 

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