Safe to delete stuff from C:\Program Files\InstallShield InstallationInformation\?

[Ant]

Hello!

Is it safe for me to manually delete subfolders/subdirectories and files
from C:\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\? It takes
up over 115 MB, 303 files total, and 67 folders/directories. I noticed
most of them have setup.exe, version.ini, and setup.ini files so I
run/view them to see what programs/games they are associated to. Most of
them are what I have installed. Some of them do not even have those
files so I have no idea whose files they belong to.

So far, I only found one that shouldn't be there. ATI WDM. I don't have
have my ATI Radeon 9800 All-In-Wonder card anymore so I know that can be
removed.

Thank you in advance.
--
"Ants can lift up to 50 times their own weight. And your monitor is
missing. Time to bring out the bugspray." --BBspot's Geek Horoscopes
(2/28/2003)
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Remove ANT from e-mail address: (e-mail address removed)
( ) or (e-mail address removed)
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on his home computer.

 

[Dave Patrick]

I'd look elsewhere. Some things to check;
Clean out your %systemroot%\Temp, and \Documents and
Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Temp directory. Delete the Temporary
Internet Files, and History. You could use Find|Files/ Folders and search
the drive for; say files greater than 5mB and then decide if they're needed.
Check the %systemroot% directory for a $NtServicePackUninstall$ directory,
if your current service pack is stable and you don't anticipate backing
down, you can delete the dir. Also check for the existence of User.dmp and
Memory.dmp (both, by default should be in the %systemroot% directory) you
can delete these unless your going to send them to the application vendor,
or Microsoft for troubleshooting purposes. Other options are; moving the
pagefile to one of the other drives, uninstall your programs that are
installed in C:\Program Files and reinstall them to D:\Program Files If you
have a lot of local user profiles stored, you can move them, see this
article for info on this.



How to Move the Location of a Locally Cached Profile
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q214470/


--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Hello!
|
| Is it safe for me to manually delete subfolders/subdirectories and files
| from C:\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\? It takes
| up over 115 MB, 303 files total, and 67 folders/directories. I noticed
| most of them have setup.exe, version.ini, and setup.ini files so I
| run/view them to see what programs/games they are associated to. Most of
| them are what I have installed. Some of them do not even have those
| files so I have no idea whose files they belong to.
|
| So far, I only found one that shouldn't be there. ATI WDM. I don't have
| have my ATI Radeon 9800 All-In-Wonder card anymore so I know that can be
| removed.
|
| Thank you in advance.
| --
| "Ants can lift up to 50 times their own weight. And your monitor is
| missing. Time to bring out the bugspray." --BBspot's Geek Horoscopes
| (2/28/2003)
| /\___/\
| / /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| | |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
| \ _ / Remove ANT from e-mail address: (e-mail address removed)
| ( ) or (e-mail address removed)
| Ant is currently not listening to any songs on his home computer.

 

[Drew Tognola]

Ant,

I always get good results by opening the Win XP Search Utility,

* Copy & Paste this location into the Search utility's 'Look in:' box,
C:\Documents and Settings\Drew Tognola\Local Settings\Temporary Internet
Files\Content.IE5
* click 'Search Now'
* when search ends, right-click one of the folders named with scrambled
numbers & letters (6GGZWKE6 for example), select 'Open Containing Folder'
* click inside each of the shown folders & delete contents

ps-I guarantee you'll find no less than 300 files in each of those folders
Drew

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Dave

A 115 mb folder is large. Mine is only 5.17 mb but I have only just
reinstalled Windows XP and have not yet reinstalled all programmes. If Ant
has Windows XP located on a NTFS formatted drive / partition then using the
file compression option would provide a worthwhile increase in free space.


--

Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'd look elsewhere. Some things to check;
Clean out your %systemroot%\Temp, and \Documents and
Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Temp directory. Delete the Temporary
Internet Files, and History. You could use Find|Files/ Folders and search
the drive for; say files greater than 5mB and then decide if they're
needed.
Check the %systemroot% directory for a $NtServicePackUninstall$ directory,
if your current service pack is stable and you don't anticipate backing
down, you can delete the dir. Also check for the existence of User.dmp and
Memory.dmp (both, by default should be in the %systemroot% directory) you
can delete these unless your going to send them to the application vendor,
or Microsoft for troubleshooting purposes. Other options are; moving the
pagefile to one of the other drives, uninstall your programs that are
installed in C:\Program Files and reinstall them to D:\Program Files If
you
have a lot of local user profiles stored, you can move them, see this
article for info on this.



How to Move the Location of a Locally Cached Profile
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q214470/


--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Hello!
|
| Is it safe for me to manually delete subfolders/subdirectories and files
| from C:\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\? It takes
| up over 115 MB, 303 files total, and 67 folders/directories. I noticed
| most of them have setup.exe, version.ini, and setup.ini files so I
| run/view them to see what programs/games they are associated to. Most of
| them are what I have installed. Some of them do not even have those
| files so I have no idea whose files they belong to.
|
| So far, I only found one that shouldn't be there. ATI WDM. I don't have
| have my ATI Radeon 9800 All-In-Wonder card anymore so I know that can be
| removed.
|
| Thank you in advance.
| --
| "Ants can lift up to 50 times their own weight. And your monitor is
| missing. Time to bring out the bugspray." --BBspot's Geek Horoscopes
| (2/28/2003)
| /\___/\
| / /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| | |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
| \ _ / Remove ANT from e-mail address: (e-mail address removed)
| ( ) or (e-mail address removed)
| Ant is currently not listening to any songs on his home computer.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Ant

Your objective should be to achieve 15% to 20% free space on each and
every drive / partition! The more the better. However, remember
that further Windows Updates will bring that down again.

To investigate how you are using hard disk space you need to make sure
that you can see all files. Go to Start, Control Panel, Folder
Options, View, Advanced Settings and verify that the box before "Show
hidden files and folders" is checked and "Hide protected operating
system files " is unchecked. You may need to scroll down to see the
second item. You should also make certain that the box before "Hide
extensions for known file types" is not checked. Next in Windows
Explorer make sure View, Details is selected and then select View,
Choose Details and check before Name, Type, Total Size, and Free Space.

You still will not see the System Volume Information folder and Norton
Protected Storage ( if you have it? ).
How to Gain Access to the System Volume Information Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;309531

Download Dirsize.dll plug-in and place the file in Windows\System32
folder. Select Start, Run and type "regsvr32 dirsize.dll" without the
quotes and hit ENTER. Next in Windows Explorer open a folder and set it
to Detail view. From the View menu, click Choose Details. Put a
checkmark near Folder Size, and click OK. Use CTRL and + key ( Numeric
Keypad ) combination to resize the column width, so that the Folder Size
column is displayed correctly. To apply this setting for all the
folders, click Tools, Folder Options. In the View tab and click Apply to
all folders. You can download Dirsize from:
http://markd.mvps.org/

You can most likely create extra free space by a number of measures.

You can limit the disk space used by System Restore. Right click on the
My Computer icon on your Desktop and select, Properties, System Restore,
Settings. This will give you the amount of Disk Space allocated to
System Restore in terms of % of size of Drive and megabytes or
gigabytes. The default maximum is 12%, which is often excessive. You can
move the slider to the left to reduce the size of the allocation. If you
give me the drive / partition size and free space for each partition in
which Windows XP resides to I can suggest allocations. Once the
allocated space is fully taken the oldest restore point is removed when
a new restore point is created ( or it should be ).

System Restore only needs to monitor the Windows XP partitions on each
machine ( if any machine has another version of Windows installed e.g.
Windows you need to say so that I can check out the implication for that
operating system. If you have System Restore monitoring removable drives
they should not be monitored.

Try Start, All Programmes, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp to
Empty your Recycle Bin and Remove Temporary Internet Files. Delete all
but the most recent Restore Point ( Start, Programs, Accessories, System
Tools, Disk Cleanup, More options). Run Disk Defragmenter by selecting
Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter.

How are drives formatted -FAT32 or NTFS? To get this information whilst
in Windows Explorer place the cursor on the C drive, right click
and select Properties? More opportunities here depending on the answer.

Are you using any Norton software?


--

Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Dave Patrick]

FYI; mine is ~ 400 mB

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Dave
|
| A 115 mb folder is large. Mine is only 5.17 mb but I have only just
| reinstalled Windows XP and have not yet reinstalled all programmes. If Ant
| has Windows XP located on a NTFS formatted drive / partition then using
the
| file compression option would provide a worthwhile increase in free space.
|
|
| --
|
| Regards.
|
| Gerry
| ~~~~
| FCA
| Stourport, England
|
| Enquire, plan and execute

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Dave

Ouch <g>.

With that size to be contemplated I might want to find out whether any
installers are redundant. The problem most users encounter will be
determining which, if any, are no longer of use.

Are they automatically removed as part of the tidying process after
uninstalling the original programme for which they were needed?

--

Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Dave Patrick]

It isn't a problem for me. Just some perspective.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Dave
|
| Ouch <g>.
|
| With that size to be contemplated I might want to find out whether any
| installers are redundant. The problem most users encounter will be
| determining which, if any, are no longer of use.
|
| Are they automatically removed as part of the tidying process after
| uninstalling the original programme for which they were needed?
|
| --
|
| Regards.
|
| Gerry
| ~~~~
| FCA
| Stourport, England
|
| Enquire, plan and execute

 

[Ant]

I'd look elsewhere. Some things to check;
Clean out your %systemroot%\Temp, and \Documents and
Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Temp directory. Delete the Temporary
Internet Files, and History. You could use Find|Files/ Folders and search
the drive for; say files greater than 5mB and then decide if they're needed.

Yep, already got those cleaned.

Check the %systemroot% directory for a $NtServicePackUninstall$ directory,
if your current service pack is stable and you don't anticipate backing
down, you can delete the dir. Also check for the existence of User.dmp and
Memory.dmp (both, by default should be in the %systemroot% directory) you
can delete these unless your going to send them to the application vendor,
or Microsoft for troubleshooting purposes. Other options are; moving the

Yep, got those removed. Even removed the Windows Updates that I know
that worked for months.

pagefile to one of the other drives, uninstall your programs that are
installed in C:\Program Files and reinstall them to D:\Program Files If you
have a lot of local user profiles stored, you can move them, see this
article for info on this.

Yep, done that. I only keep important programs (AV, disk utilities,
etc.) on C: drive.

How to Move the Location of a Locally Cached Profile
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q214470/

Interesting. I could regain abou 241 MB by moving C:\Documents and
Settings\. Maybe.
--
"For while the giants have just been talking about an information
superhighway, the ants have actually been building one: the Internet."
From "The Accidental Superhighway." The Economist: A Survey of the
Internet, 1-7 July 1995, insert.
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Remove ANT from e-mail address: (e-mail address removed)
( ) or (e-mail address removed)
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on his home computer.

 

[Ant]

With that size to be contemplated I might want to find out whether any
installers are redundant. The problem most users encounter will be
determining which, if any, are no longer of use.

Are they automatically removed as part of the tidying process after
uninstalling the original programme for which they were needed?

That is what I would like to know. Maybe that is why I see no setup.exe
files.
--
"Forbear, thou great good husband, little ant." --Richard Lovelace
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Remove ANT from e-mail address: (e-mail address removed)
( ) or (e-mail address removed)
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on his home computer.

 

[R. McCarty]

In Disk Space "Tight" XP OS instances, you can also redirect the following
to gain back some additional space. (Most require Registry changes)

1.) DllCache
2.) ServicePackFiles
3.) DriverCache
4.) i386 Installer folder, if OEM computer

 

[Ant]

Your objective should be to achieve 15% to 20% free space on each and
every drive / partition! The more the better. However, remember
that further Windows Updates will bring that down again.

Yep, and any new program installations. The worse ones that required C:
like shared files.

To investigate how you are using hard disk space you need to make sure
that you can see all files. Go to Start, Control Panel, Folder
Options, View, Advanced Settings and verify that the box before "Show
hidden files and folders" is checked and "Hide protected operating
system files " is unchecked. You may need to scroll down to see the
second item. You should also make certain that the box before "Hide
extensions for known file types" is not checked. Next in Windows
Explorer make sure View, Details is selected and then select View,
Choose Details and check before Name, Type, Total Size, and Free Space.

Yep, got those.

You still will not see the System Volume Information folder and Norton
Protected Storage ( if you have it? ).
How to Gain Access to the System Volume Information Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;309531

I always wondered what was in System Volume Info folders. I see that it
is for Windows XP's System Restore feature.

Download Dirsize.dll plug-in and place the file in Windows\System32
folder. Select Start, Run and type "regsvr32 dirsize.dll" without the
quotes and hit ENTER. Next in Windows Explorer open a folder and set it
to Detail view. From the View menu, click Choose Details. Put a
checkmark near Folder Size, and click OK. Use CTRL and + key ( Numeric
Keypad ) combination to resize the column width, so that the Folder Size
column is displayed correctly. To apply this setting for all the
folders, click Tools, Folder Options. In the View tab and click Apply to
all folders. You can download Dirsize from:
http://markd.mvps.org/

You can most likely create extra free space by a number of measures.

You can limit the disk space used by System Restore. Right click on the
My Computer icon on your Desktop and select, Properties, System Restore,
Settings. This will give you the amount of Disk Space allocated to
System Restore in terms of % of size of Drive and megabytes or
gigabytes. The default maximum is 12%, which is often excessive. You can
move the slider to the left to reduce the size of the allocation. If you
give me the drive / partition size and free space for each partition in
which Windows XP resides to I can suggest allocations. Once the
allocated space is fully taken the oldest restore point is removed when
a new restore point is created ( or it should be ).

Yeah, I set 200 MB only for C: drive.

System Restore only needs to monitor the Windows XP partitions on each
machine ( if any machine has another version of Windows installed e.g.
Windows you need to say so that I can check out the implication for that
operating system. If you have System Restore monitoring removable drives
they should not be monitored.

Try Start, All Programmes, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp to
Empty your Recycle Bin and Remove Temporary Internet Files. Delete all
but the most recent Restore Point ( Start, Programs, Accessories, System
Tools, Disk Cleanup, More options). Run Disk Defragmenter by selecting
Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter.

I use PerfectDisk for disk defragging. Heh, I only can regain 58KB
according to Disk Cleanup on C:.

How are drives formatted -FAT32 or NTFS? To get this information whilst
in Windows Explorer place the cursor on the C drive, right click
and select Properties? More opportunities here depending on the answer.
NTFS.


Are you using any Norton software?

Yes, but NSW 2002. I don't use the NAV AP and Recycle Bin features.
--
"Don't step on ants... they're people too." --a quote from ANTZ movie.
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Remove ANT from e-mail address: (e-mail address removed)
( ) or (e-mail address removed)
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on his home computer.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Ant

File Compression can be used on some folders where the drive / partition is
formatted as NTFS..

In the Windows Directory of your C partition you will have some Uninstall
folders in your Windows folder typically:
$NtServicePackUninstall$ and $NtUninstallKB282010$

These files may be compressed or not compressed. If compressed the text
of the folder name normally appears in blue characters. If not compressed
you can
compress them. Right click on 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.

You clearly want to increase free disk space on the drive / partition where
your windows operating system is located. However, can you give the drive /
partition size and free space as it stands and give the same information for
all other hard drive / partitions so that other options might be considered?

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Dave

I wasn't suggesting it was a problem for you as clearly it isn't.

If you know the answer to "Are they automatically removed as part of the
tidying process after uninstalling the original programme for which they
were needed?" then this would be helpful.

It would take us forward.

--

Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Dave Patrick]

You might give this a go.

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Uninstallers/InstallShield-Installation-Information-Manager.shtml

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Dave
|
| I wasn't suggesting it was a problem for you as clearly it isn't.
|
| If you know the answer to "Are they automatically removed as part of the
| tidying process after uninstalling the original programme for which they
| were needed?" then this would be helpful.
|
| It would take us forward.
|
| --
|
| Regards.
|
| Gerry
| ~~~~
| FCA
| Stourport, England
|
| Enquire, plan and execute

 

[Ant]

Oooh, more options. Is there a program/guide for these registry changes?

In Disk Space "Tight" XP OS instances, you can also redirect the following
to gain back some additional space. (Most require Registry changes)

1.) DllCache
2.) ServicePackFiles
3.) DriverCache
4.) i386 Installer folder, if OEM computer

--
"For me, the smartest animal's a pigeon." "Huh?" "1,000 Cars on the
turnpike, they find
mine." "My vote goes to the ants." "How do you figure that?" "Know those
farms they build?
They build those things without plans. To ants! For all you do, this
one's for you."
--Cheers (unknown episode)
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Remove ANT from e-mail address: (e-mail address removed)
( ) or (e-mail address removed)
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on his home computer.

 

[Ant]

Oh, I just like to keep clean and organized on my HDD. Just wondering
what else I could do.

Ant

File Compression can be used on some folders where the drive / partition is
formatted as NTFS..

In the Windows Directory of your C partition you will have some Uninstall
folders in your Windows folder typically:
$NtServicePackUninstall$ and $NtUninstallKB282010$

These files may be compressed or not compressed. If compressed the text
of the folder name normally appears in blue characters. If not compressed
you can
compress them. Right click on 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.

You clearly want to increase free disk space on the drive / partition where
your windows operating system is located. However, can you give the drive /
partition size and free space as it stands and give the same information for
all other hard drive / partitions so that other options might be considered?

--
"But, you may argue, our uniqueness is so extreme! More extreme than the
platypus which looks like a collection of leftover parts? More unique
than the societal honeybee with its division of labor? More unique than
the communist ants who keep aphids as farm animals?" --John Logan
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Remove ANT from e-mail address: (e-mail address removed)
( ) or (e-mail address removed)
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on his home computer.

 

[R. McCarty]

Probably, but it might be easier to just list them for you.

1.) DllCache - copy the entire folder from it's original location to
where you want to redirect it. Use Regedit and add a new key
and value at:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\WinLogon
Key name SFCDllCacheDir Value = X:\'Path'
Reboot, then remove the original DllCache Dir folder from C:\Windows

For the other three move them where you want to another drive or
partition and their respective Registry key values are at:
(*Best to locate them in the Root folder of the drive)
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup
2.) ServicePackSourcePath Modify Path to Drive Letter, as X:\
3.) DriverCachePath Modify Path to Drive Letter, as X:\
4.) SourcePath Modify Path to Drive Letter, as X:\

 

[Dave Patrick]

Also note that these paths should be one level above the \i386 folder
ServicePackSourcePath
SourcePath

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Probably, but it might be easier to just list them for you.
|
| 1.) DllCache - copy the entire folder from it's original location to
| where you want to redirect it. Use Regedit and add a new key
| and value at:
| HKLM\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\WinLogon
| Key name SFCDllCacheDir Value = X:\'Path'
| Reboot, then remove the original DllCache Dir folder from C:\Windows
|
| For the other three move them where you want to another drive or
| partition and their respective Registry key values are at:
| (*Best to locate them in the Root folder of the drive)
| HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup
| 2.) ServicePackSourcePath Modify Path to Drive Letter, as X:\
| 3.) DriverCachePath Modify Path to Drive Letter, as X:\
| 4.) SourcePath Modify Path to Drive Letter, as X:\

 

[R. McCarty]

Thanks Dave - I was trying to do it from memory, really should pay
better attention to my own writing.