Possible unnecessary Security updates

[Charles W Davis]

I have a computer club member's computer that I was able to get SP3
installed on. Hard drive is down to 14% free space. XP Professional.

In looking at the Add or Remove Programs with updates checked, there are 102
Security updates listed. On my own XP Professional system there are only 7
of these listed.

Can the 95 of 102 be uninstalled?

 

[JS]

Things to check or perform to free up more disk space:

First use Windows 'Disk Cleanup' to create more space on your C: drive.
Description of the Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310312

Next: Empty the Recycle Bin.

You can also free up more disk space by reducing
the number of 'System Restore' points:
Select Start/Control Panel/System, then in the System Properties window
click on the System Restore tab.
Next select the drive letter where Windows is installed (usually C,
Then click on the Setting button
Now in the Drive Settings window move the Disk space usage slider to the
left to reduce the amount of drive space System Restore points will use.
This will remove some of the older restore points and free up some space.

Disable Hibernation and delete hiberfil.sys file (If you have it enabled):
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/...sys-hibernation-file-in-windows-xp-and-vista/
and:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/mobility/getstarted/hibernate.mspx

Next if you still need more space (Not by using Add/Remove):
You will be deleting the folders used to uninstall the updates!!!
These folders and the associated files in these folders are safe to remove,
however once deleted you will no longer be able to un-install a patch or
update that was associated with the deleted folder/files.
I would keep the most recent set (last two months just in case) of folders
and delete the older updates.
As a safety net I burned these folders to a CD before deleting them.
These files are located in the Windows folder and have folder names
like $NtUninstallKBXXXXXX$.
They are hidden folders so enable viewing of hidden files in Windows
Explorer.
Warning: One folder you should not delete is: $hf_mig$
Also See the following web pages on this issue:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/spack.htm
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_hotfix_backup.htm
http://www.pagestart.com/ntuninstall.html

Finally - You can reduce the size of the Internet Explorer Disk Cache:
How and Why to Clear Your Cache:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ie6/using/howto/customizing/clearcache.mspx
Just follow the instructs but instead of increasing the size (as stated in
the article) decrease it.

If you have more than one partition or drive then:
How to Change the Default Location of Mail and News Folders:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/175037

Change the Default Location of the My Documents Folder
(Example: move it to the D drive)
See: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310147
Also:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/how_to_move_my_documents.htm

How to move the Spool folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q308666

JS
www.pagestart.com

 

[Charles W Davis]

JS, Thanks for the reply.
Before doing anything, I realsized that the Windows Installer wasn't
working. I downloaded and installed Windows Installer 4.5 and many things
cleared up. I decided to uninstall one of the unique Security updates. It
turned out that it had already been uninstalled, and I had the system remove
it from the list. ...and so on for all 95.

 

[Charles W Davis]

This afternoon, a Symantec technician took control of the system and removed
all of the AntiVirus definitions. He said that when LiveUpdate was again
executed, the definitions would be replaced and would be much smaller in
size. I am now finally getting the defragmentation under control. I have
moved My Documents to a second drive.

 

[JS]

Thanks for the update.

JS

This afternoon, a Symantec technician took control of the system and
removed all of the AntiVirus definitions. He said that when LiveUpdate was
again executed, the definitions would be replaced and would be much
smaller in size. I am now finally getting the defragmentation under
control. I have moved My Documents to a second drive.