MS OS Update files take up too much HD space

[B David]

Help please - My C:WINDOWS\INSTALLER directory uses 24.6 GB of HD space. The
directory has 4,000+ objects (files and folders some from late 2005 thru
today). What can I delete and free up this space? And how can I keep from
getting all of these files, etc. from returning? This is on an old Pent 4
chip; 1.8MHZ PC with XP Pro OS from OEM. SP 3 was upgraded along the way.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

How much space on C: drive is Used vs Unused?

I wouldn't advise messing with the contents of that folder if I were you.
You might see http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_hotfix_backup.htm (and you
may wish you'd seen it before you'd installed SP3).

 

[John John (MVP)]

Heath Stewart's Blog
How to Safely Delete Orphaned Patches
http://blogs.msdn.com/heaths/archive/2007/01/31/how-to-safely-delete-orphaned-patches.aspx

John

 

[B David]

Thanks very much. The MsiZap.exe G! instructions from Heath Stewart's site
that you recommended did the job. No side affects so far. All programs
installed are genuine MS (like MS Office) or other OEM software and I have
the original media to reinstall if necessary. Recovered ~24GB. That was
24GB from a 40GB drive so it really is helpful.

 

[B David]

Thanks for your response. I went with the suggestion from John John and it
worked really well. Went to Heath Steawart's blog and downloded "WIndows
installer clean up utility" and ran MsiZap.exe G! Worked great.
Cleared out ~24GB from a 40GB HD. So that helped a lot. No side affects.
I have all genuine MS (like MS Office) or other OEM programs so I can reload
if needed.

 

[John John (MVP)]

You're welcome.

John

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

God help you if you ever need to uninstall SP3 for any reason! <w>