Files with .msp extension

[anon]

I have had my computer for about four years. The number of
files on my machine, according to Norton Anti-Virus is around
180,000. This is triple the number of files on the machine when
it was new. I closely watched the most recent anti-virus scan.
About 120,000 of the files had an extension of .msp, and they
were all in subdirectories of c:\WINDOWS\Installer.

Are all these files necessary? If not, how can I find out
which ones can safely be erased?

 

[Bob I]

Virus infection?

 

[Pop`]

I have had my computer for about four years. The number of
files on my machine, according to Norton Anti-Virus is around
180,000. This is triple the number of files on the machine when
it was new. I closely watched the most recent anti-virus scan.
About 120,000 of the files had an extension of .msp, and they
were all in subdirectories of c:\WINDOWS\Installer.

Are all these files necessary? If not, how can I find out
which ones can safely be erased?

..msp is MS Patch files. They come as parts of the updates.
I don't know how to remove them.