File clutter - what can I delete?

[Philip Herlihy]

I'm working on a friend's laptop which seems to have an awful lot of space
taken up with files whose value I don't recognise. I'm using the neat
"Treesize" utility to give me a breakdown.

The following folders seem particularly bloated - I'd be really grateful for
any guidance:

C:\Windows\winsxs (12.4 GB)
C:\SwSetup (1.6 GB)
C:\ProgramData\Apple\Installer Cache (0.7 GB)

I've cleared out the various Temp folders (before moving on to the stacks of
user data!) but I'd be glad to know if I can delete some or any of the
above.

Thanks!

Phil, London

 

[Philip Herlihy]

I'm working on a friend's laptop which seems to have an awful lot of space
taken up with files whose value I don't recognise. I'm using the neat
"Treesize" utility to give me a breakdown.

The following folders seem particularly bloated - I'd be really grateful
for any guidance:

C:\Windows\winsxs (12.4 GB)
C:\SwSetup (1.6 GB)
C:\ProgramData\Apple\Installer Cache (0.7 GB)

I've cleared out the various Temp folders (before moving on to the stacks
of user data!) but I'd be glad to know if I can delete some or any of the
above.

Thanks!

Phil, London

Just an update - another web search brought up this useful article on the
winsxs ("Windows Side by Side" folder):
http://www.winvistaclub.com/f16.html
12.4 GB still seems vast, even if a lot of the contents are supposedly hard
links! Or am I showing my age...?

Phil

 

[Michael]

I'm working on a friend's laptop which seems to have an awful lot of space
taken up with files whose value I don't recognise. I'm using the neat
"Treesize" utility to give me a breakdown.

The following folders seem particularly bloated - I'd be really grateful
for any guidance:

C:\Windows\winsxs (12.4 GB)
C:\SwSetup (1.6 GB)
C:\ProgramData\Apple\Installer Cache (0.7 GB)

I've cleared out the various Temp folders (before moving on to the stacks
of user data!) but I'd be glad to know if I can delete some or any of the
above.

Thanks!

Phil, London

I'm not sure about the other 2, but stay away from the winsxs folder. Bad
mojo to be deleting stuff in there. Google or Bing winsxs to get an
overview of what that folder contains.

 

[Philip Herlihy]

have a read here, great info





'Demystifying the WinSxS directory in Windows XP, Vista and Server
2003/2008 - Aaron Tiensivu's Blog'
(http://blog.tiensivu.com/aaron/arch...in-Windows-XP,-Vista-and-Server-20032008.html)


http://www.vistax64.com/general-discussion/105445-can-i-remove-c-windows-winsxs.html

http://www.vistax64.com/vista-file-management/186900-winsxs.html



this too:
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/229239-sp2-disk-cleanup-tool.html


--
pacinitaly

SpellCherkers aren't worth a shirt ya no

If I helped you, please tip my scales. If I have not, curse me out like
a drunken sailor

Thanks to Michael and Pacinitaly - I'll certainly leave winsxs well alone!
I ran the SP2 cleaner and that got rid of 2.4 GB, so at 10GB it seems quite
tiny now!
Phil