talking about updates...

[Ammammata]

today I received a win xp computer to check for viruses
once it was cleaned and I was sure was ok, I made come cleaning in Windows
folder

do you know those $ntuninstall... folders?

I deleted 755 of them
yes, seven hundred fifty five

LOL

 

[VanguardLH]

today I received a win xp computer to check for viruses
once it was cleaned and I was sure was ok, I made come cleaning in Windows
folder

do you know those $ntuninstall... folders?

I deleted 755 of them
yes, seven hundred fifty five

You're talking about a decade-old OS!!! So obviously there will be lots
of program, feature, and security updates since then. Now that YOU
choose to delete those folders on behalf of your customer, you've made
it impossible for your customer to uninstall many of those updates
should they incur problems. Your customer will now have to do a fresh
install of the OS and walk through all those hundreds of updates just to
eliminate the one or two that cause problems with their mission-critical
software.

The count is unimportant. You failed (possibly deliberately) to mention
just how much space you recovered on your customer's hard disk. For my
instance of Windows, those folders consumed a whopping total of just 764
MB of disk space. Oooh, almost a whole gigabyte. Well, if you have a
really old XP host that has a small 20 GB hard disk then 1 gigabyte does
represent a significant consumption (5%). It is also likely on such a
small hard disk that there isn't much free space left. If the host had
a 2 TB hard disk then the 1 GB consumed by the update backups (that are
now gone due to what appears was your unauthorized cleanup) is trivial.
If the current consumption of disk space was 500 GB on that 2 TB disk
(just a guess since you didn't provide any statistics) which means there
was 1.5 TB still free, your customer gained an insignificant amount of
more free space. You "saved" your customer all of 0.05% of the total
consumption of their disk space and removed the means to uninstall those
updates.

So did the customer actually authorize you to perform that "cleanup"?
If that small gain in free space was really so crucial to the customer,
it is an extremely short stop-gap measure as the customer will easily
and quickly re-consume that disk space after your cleanup. Your cleanup
won't solve the customer's problem of the lack of free space.

 

[Linea Recta]

You're talking about a decade-old OS!!! So obviously there will be lots
of program, feature, and security updates since then. Now that YOU
choose to delete those folders on behalf of your customer, you've made
it impossible for your customer to uninstall many of those updates

Did you ever have to uninstall updates?
When I get to my XP computer I'm going to have a look how much space I can
regain removing those $ntuninstall folders.




--
regards,

|\ /|
| \/ |@rk
\../
\/os

 

[VanguardLH]

Did you ever have to uninstall updates?

Yes. That is also why companies do NOT have their workstations go to
the Windows Updates site to get the updates. Instead they run their own
SUS server from which their workstations obtain updates. The IT dept
reviews the updates to determine if they will be permitted on the
company's workstations. Even then, there have been occasions where a
company has to remove a previously authorized update. I've also seen
where a company will permanently ban an update by not having it on their
SUS server.

When I get to my XP computer I'm going to have a look how much space I can
regain removing those $ntuninstall folders.

Have you never noticed users posting in Usenet and in forums stating
that after a recent Windows update that their OS misbehaved or there
were problems with their applications? I have.

 

[Linea Recta]

Yes. That is also why companies do NOT have their workstations go to
the Windows Updates site to get the updates. Instead they run their own
SUS server from which their workstations obtain updates. The IT dept
reviews the updates to determine if they will be permitted on the
company's workstations. Even then, there have been occasions where a
company has to remove a previously authorized update. I've also seen
where a company will permanently ban an update by not having it on their
SUS server.


Have you never noticed users posting in Usenet and in forums stating
that after a recent Windows update that their OS misbehaved or there
were problems with their applications? I have.

Well it seems I have 234 updates taking up 485 MB. Taking your advice I
think I'll leave them alone for the time being since the need for space
isn't acute yet...



--
regards,

|\ /|
| \/ |@rk
\../
\/os

 

[VanguardLH]

Well it seems I have 234 updates taking up 485 MB. Taking your advice I
think I'll leave them alone for the time being since the need for space
isn't acute yet...

I don't see why anyone focuses on the number of updates when the real
intent is to gain some more free disk space. It's the disk consumption
of those updates that has users deleting them. Yet the disk space
regained from their deletion is rather puny. If the user is so
desparate to acquire a tiny bit more free disk space then it will not be
very long thereafter until that tiny bit of freed space gets reused and
the user is back to square one of having too little free disk space.

If the user is under dire financial straits so a new larger hard disk is
not an option now or in the forseeable future then it would be smarter
for the user to start moving their data files onto optical or other
removable storage along with deciding which least-used or rarely-used
apps they could uninstall.

 

[Ken Springer]

If the user is under dire financial straits so a new larger hard disk is
not an option now or in the forseeable future then it would be smarter
for the user to start moving their data files onto optical or other
removable storage along with deciding which least-used or rarely-used
apps they could uninstall.

But not all users, especially users of old computers with small hard
drives, can afford those other options either. :-(

--
Ken

Mac OS X 10.6.8
Firefox 16.0.1
Thunderbird 16.0.1
LibreOffice 3.5.6.2

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

But not all users, especially users of old computers with small hard
drives, can afford those other options either. :-(

Assuming that he has a CD-ROM drive, anyone can afford a CDR. They
cost only a few pennies.

And almost anyone can afford a thumb drive. Looking at Amazon.com, I
see 16GB drives starting at $5.79

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP

 

[VanguardLH]

But not all users, especially users of old computers with small hard
drives, can afford those other options either. :-(

Once installed, just how many times would you need to use a 3rd party
partition manager? When you're done, uninstall it. If you're that
tight on free disk space, uninstall the 3rd party disk defragmenter and
just use the one included in Windows. Uninstall all those utilities
you've used just once or twice. You obviously don't need them again
after you first used them. How robust a word editor do you need? Maybe
you could do with a freebie one that eats less disk space than MS Office
(where the user likely installed ALL of its modules instead of just
Word). You don't need a canon to kill a mosquito. Do you really need
all those e-mails dating back 10 years, or more? Or would the last 5
years be sufficient where you keep the important ones and delete the
garbage ones and then compact the message store for your e-mail client?
How often do you refer to those 5+ year-old e-mails? Slice them out
into a separate message store you can, if needed, load into your e-mail
client to see them later. Do you really need to have a local message
store and client instead of using a webmail client so you don't have to
store anything on your computer? If you're into gaming, do you really
need to leave every game you've ever played on your hard disk?
Uninstall the old games, leave just the one game you're playing now, and
then uninstall it and reinstall an old game when you want to replay it.
If you're that tight on free disk space, why do you waste any on Windows
or non-Microsoft games? Do you need the full-blown software package
with all its utilities for your video card when all you really need is
just the driver? There are many items in "Add/Remove Windows
Components" that aren't critical and perhaps not even used that you
could uninstall. For example, do you really need to install the Windows
Fax Service rather than using free online fax services for both outbound
and inbound faxing (although typically the free services only provide
one direction so you have to use two of them to go both ways)? Do you
really need the Chat, Hyperterminal, and Phone Dialer apps installed?

There are LOTS of ways to cleanup a hard disk to gain more free space
but it does require initiative and effort. Users tend to fill up what
space they have instead of manage it. When there's too little space is
when they panic and yet they're still reluctant to do cleanup. They do
catastrophice maintenance instead of preventative maintenance.

How old is a computer that doesn't have a CD/DVD-RW drive? If it's a
really old computer then they can use floppies to store .zip files for
their data. Since they can post here then they could make use of online
file storage, like the disk space their ISP affords them for personal
web pages, adrive.com, or other online file storage resources that are
FREE. If you have no optical drive then see if someone at Craigslist is
dumping one for free or super cheap (I guess you can even ask for stuff
there and not just sell/donate). There are electronic junkers where you
can get this stuff cheap.

If they have tiny hard disks then they also have tiny need for offline
storage. How many dollar-menu burgers would they have to sacrifice over
a month, or two, to buy a USB flash drive? You can get a 32GB USB flash
drive for $15. How could the user have Internet access who also cannot
afford to amass $15 over a couple months? Computers and Internet are
not for those who have absolutely no money to spend. Both will
differentiate the haves from have nots, and the haves will have to
continue spending money to stay that way. The dirt poor can't afford
any computer. Even if someone gave them one, how would they pay for the
electricity?

My point is that the OP, who appears to be employed (free or paid) by
some customer or friend, has deleted files that the customer or friend
never authorized. He did cleanup that very likely was unnecessary. He
didn't even claim his customer or friend said they needed more free disk
space. He never mentioned how much free space there was before. He
just went ahead and did it. That's like some "friend" doing you a favor
by using steel wool and detergent to clean your seasoned cast iron
skillets so then you end up having to re-season them again. They
thought they were doing you a favor but really didn't.

The OP deleted 755 files but no mention of how much disk space got
reclaimed (to be free). No mention of how much free space there was
before. No mention that his customer or friend said it was okay to
delete those files. I bet the OP could reclaim even more disk space by
deleting his customer's or friend's data files, too.

 

[Barry Schwarz]

I was in Future Shop (owned by Best Buy) the other day and noticed a
portable 1 gig hard drive for $67.00 (Can). As electronics are much
cheaper in the U.S. I can only guess what it would sell for there.

You actually saw a commercial drive that had a capacity of only 1 GB?
Even at flea markets I don't see anything smaller than 100 GB.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

You actually saw a commercial drive that had a capacity of only 1 GB?

I remember drives that small, and even smaller. My first drive, back
in 1987, was 20MB.

But I haven't seen anything that small in many years.

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP

 

[Ammammata]

Il giorno Wed 31 Oct 2012 07:28:59p, *VanguardLH* inviava su
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general il messaggio
Vediamo cosa scrisse:

Now that YOU
choose to delete those folders on behalf of your customer, you've made
it impossible for your customer to uninstall many of those updates
should they incur problems.

I usually remove all those backup folders some weeks after any update, once
I'm sure the computer is ok. This on my old pcs with XP, on Vista and Seven
I do more or less the same, deleting all restore points and creating just
one when I re-enable the system protection. The only thing I'm missing is a
safe way to make some cleanup also in the winsxs folder...

The customer said: clean the viruses and make room on the disk

 

[Greegor]

Il giorno Wed 31 Oct 2012 07:28:59p, *VanguardLH* inviava su

Now that YOU
choose to delete those folders on behalf of your customer, you've made
it impossible for your customer to uninstall many of those updates
should they incur problems.

I usually remove all those backup folders some weeks after any update, once
I'm sure the computer is ok. This on my old pcs with XP, on Vista and Seven
I do more or less the same, deleting all restore points and creating just
one when I re-enable the system protection. The only thing I'm missing is a
safe way to make some cleanup also in the winsxs folder...

The customer said: clean the viruses and make room on the disk

I posted these responses to somebody else some time ago
but I thought they would be appropriate here.


Why is hard disk space THAT precious to you?

What are your system specs, in detail?
Processor, Speed, exact Windows version,
Especially your hard disk and partition sizes...

Attempting to deprive your system of
working space is counterproductive.

Do you live in a rural part of the Hindu Kush, or what?

Why are you THAT poor?

Maybe if you got rid of all of that anonymous posting
garbage on your system you'd have more room
for YouTube to work?

Do you have Aspergers?

--

People who obsess too much about small amounts
of hard disk space tend to be headed for problems.
They tend to try things they THINK are solutions
but which ultimately lead to disaster for them.

1. They usually FAIL to make proper backups to
protect them against the eventual drive failure.
2. They are tempted to delete system files that
they THINK they don't need, but which often ends badly.

3. They're often running a computer that was a
castoff and so foolishly refuse to consider spending
even $20 to buy a larger hard disk drive for it.

4. Their obsessive efforts may actually accelerate the
end of their old hard disk because of concentrated
and repetitive wear patterns.

5. Even if you're living in a rural part of the Hindu Kush,
buying an additional hard disk and making useful backups
are viable options, especially if you want to watch YouTube!

 

[glee]

Il giorno Wed 31 Oct 2012 07:28:59p, *VanguardLH* inviava su



I posted these responses to somebody else some time ago
but I thought they would be appropriate here.


Why is hard disk space THAT precious to you?

What are your system specs, in detail?
Processor, Speed, exact Windows version,
Especially your hard disk and partition sizes...

Attempting to deprive your system of
working space is counterproductive.

Do you live in a rural part of the Hindu Kush, or what?

Why are you THAT poor?

Maybe if you got rid of all of that anonymous posting
garbage on your system you'd have more room
for YouTube to work?

Do you have Aspergers?

--

People who obsess too much about small amounts
of hard disk space tend to be headed for problems.
They tend to try things they THINK are solutions
but which ultimately lead to disaster for them.

1. They usually FAIL to make proper backups to
protect them against the eventual drive failure.
2. They are tempted to delete system files that
they THINK they don't need, but which often ends badly.

3. They're often running a computer that was a
castoff and so foolishly refuse to consider spending
even $20 to buy a larger hard disk drive for it.

4. Their obsessive efforts may actually accelerate the
end of their old hard disk because of concentrated
and repetitive wear patterns.

5. Even if you're living in a rural part of the Hindu Kush,
buying an additional hard disk and making useful backups
are viable options, especially if you want to watch YouTube!

Your snide comment about Asperger syndrome is insulting, irrelevant and
inappropriate, as well as showing that you don't actually know what it's
symptoms are.
As for your comment concerning backups, there is no relationship
whatsoever between someone trying to gain disk space and your claim that
such a person doesn't do backups.

As for spending $20 to buy a new large hard drive.... seriously? Where
do you see new large hard drives for $20?! It is perfectly valid for a
user on limited income (retired, elderly, or a low-income family with
children, and ,many others) to not be able to afford replacing a good
hard drive with a larger one for the sole purpose of gaining disk space,
when they need their money for other things. Apparently you do not work
with a large number of home users or are unaware of the priorities some
people must set in regards to how they spend and on what. Perhaps it is
you who live in the remote part of Hindu Kush.... another of your snide
and unnecessary remarks, by the way.

 

[Steve Urbach]

Your snide comment about Asperger syndrome is insulting, irrelevant and
inappropriate, as well as showing that you don't actually know what it's
symptoms are.
As for your comment concerning backups, there is no relationship
whatsoever between someone trying to gain disk space and your claim that
such a person doesn't do backups.

As for spending $20 to buy a new large hard drive.... seriously? Where
do you see new large hard drives for $20?! It is perfectly valid for a
user on limited income (retired, elderly, or a low-income family with
children, and ,many others) to not be able to afford replacing a good
hard drive with a larger one for the sole purpose of gaining disk space,
when they need their money for other things. Apparently you do not work
with a large number of home users or are unaware of the priorities some
people must set in regards to how they spend and on what. Perhaps it is
you who live in the remote part of Hindu Kush.... another of your snide
and unnecessary remarks, by the way.

I bet there are plenty of 'lightly used' drives that came out of systems that
were upgraded that could be had for that.

Many (not the ultra mini ones) 'desktop' systems have room for a second HD. so
there would be no *need* to get a 'big' drive

XP can *span* drives if having a new drive letter would confuse.

 

[glee]

e!

I bet there are plenty of 'lightly used' drives that came out of
systems that
were upgraded that could be had for that.

Many (not the ultra mini ones) 'desktop' systems have room for a
second HD. so
there would be no *need* to get a 'big' drive

XP can *span* drives if having a new drive letter would confuse.

"Spanning" drives in XP can only be done with XP Pro, not XP Home, and
cannot be done on a portable computer, e.g. a laptop.

While there are some laptops that have a second hard drive bay, they are
not particularly common.

Yes, a used hard drive may be available for $20, but I would not suggest
a user "upgrade" to a used hard drive as their primary single drive.

 

[Buffalo]

"Spanning" drives in XP can only be done with XP Pro, not XP Home, and
cannot be done on a portable computer, e.g. a laptop.

While there are some laptops that have a second hard drive bay, they
are not particularly common.

Yes, a used hard drive may be available for $20, but I would not
suggest a user "upgrade" to a used hard drive as their primary single
drive.

Always appreciated your advice, and I see you are still being very logical.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Buffalo
PS: I may soon have to upgrade from my dual boot Win98SE and Win2000ProSP4
systems.
I'm not sure if I want to go to the 64bit Win7 or maybe just upgrade to the
32bit WinXP-SP3.
SSD's are another concern of mine.

 

[Greegor]

I stand by my comment about people who would
remove uninstall files in some perverse attempt to
save hard disk space. They have other "comorbidities"
like the habit of not making backups.

What are the specs of the system you did that to,
Ammammata?

As others have pointed out, that method of
freeing space can easily become catastrophic.

If you really want to pare down Windows, you
could use nLite, and slipstream it, which would
gain you a lot more space, but deleting 100K
of uninstall files from an 8 to 10 GB Windows install
is perverse, obsessive and actually counterproductive.

Do you think a "neurotypical" person would
do that rather than add more hard disk space
or replace the drive with a larger one, Glen?

Glen > As for your comment concerning backups,
Glen > there is no relationship whatsoever between
Glen > someone trying to gain disk space and
Glen > your claim that such a person doesn't do backups.

Somebody who would delete 100K of uninstall files
on an 8GB+ system install sure sounds to ME like
the kind who is short on space, as in too short on
space to make backups because they lack
common sense enough to replace and enlarge
their hard disk.

Aspies typically lack common sense, among other things.

 

[glee]

replies inline...

I stand by my comment about people who would
remove uninstall files in some perverse attempt to
save hard disk space. They have other "comorbidities"
like the habit of not making backups.

That's a totally unsupported as well as illogical conclusion with no
basis.

What are the specs of the system you did that to,
Ammammata?

As others have pointed out, that method of
freeing space can easily become catastrophic.

No, not catastrophic. Removing the $NTUninstall$ folders (which is what
the original post was about) only remove the ability to uninstall
updates and service packs. Once a good period of time has gone by
following installation of those updates and service packs, the need to
have to uninstall them dwindles to nothing, and removing the uninstall
files does no harm.

If you really want to pare down Windows, you
could use nLite, and slipstream it, which would
gain you a lot more space, but deleting 100K
of uninstall files from an 8 to 10 GB Windows install
is perverse, obsessive and actually counterproductive.

Where did you come up with 100K?? The $NTUninstall$ files take up in
the range of 1.5GB or more.

Do you think a "neurotypical" person would
do that rather than add more hard disk space
or replace the drive with a larger one, Glen?

Yes, if they could not afford a new hard drive and did not want to
remove certain other files. This was already mentioned. I have worked
on client machines that had a small hard drive in good working order,
and the client could not afford to replace the drive at this time. In
such cases, every bit of extra space that can be gained can be
important.

Glen > As for your comment concerning backups,
Glen > there is no relationship whatsoever between
Glen > someone trying to gain disk space and
Glen > your claim that such a person doesn't do backups.

Somebody who would delete 100K of uninstall files
on an 8GB+ system install sure sounds to ME like
the kind who is short on space, as in too short on
space to make backups because they lack
common sense enough to replace and enlarge
their hard disk.

What pray tell does it have to do with backups? Only a fool would
create their backups on the same physical drive as the original data....
which I see from another of your posts today in this group (re: Best
Restore Method) is what you foolishly do, by suggesting to create your
system image on the same physical drive as your OS and data.

Aspies typically lack common sense, among other things.

Now you are just showing your ignorance. People with Asperger's
Syndrome have repetitive behaviors, lack of empathy, difficulty with
social interaction.... but it has nothing to do with "lack of common
sense". "Aspies" are more often than not very intelligent and have no
"common sense" issues.

 

[Greegor]

Glen > That's a totally unsupported as well as
Glen > illogical conclusion with no basis.

Just my actual experiences dealing with people, Glen.

No, not catastrophic.  Removing the $NTUninstall$ folders (which is what
the original post was about) only remove the ability to uninstall
updates and service packs.  Once a good period of time has gone by
following installation of those updates and service packs, the need to
have to uninstall them dwindles to nothing, and removing the uninstall
files does no harm.

Are you seriously arguing that to be preferable to
replacing or adding hard disk space, Glen?

Microsoft and CompTIA should de-license you for that absurdity.

Where did you come up with 100K??  The $NTUninstall$
files take up in the range of 1.5GB or more.

What do you think 1.5 GB costs today, Glen? $2 worth?
Wow!

Yes, if they could not afford a new hard drive and did not want to
remove certain other files.  This was already mentioned.  I have worked
on client machines that had a small hard drive in good working order,
and the client could not afford to replace the drive at this time.  In
such cases, every bit of extra space that can be gained can be
important.

Did they make backups, Glen?

Did you get paid in chickens?

How much were you telling them a hard disk would cost?

Just what SIZE of hard disk did this client have?
How valuable was their data to them?

Did you give them a guarantee?

Did you get them to sign a WAIVER for doing
what you know to be risky substandard work, Glen?

I would if I had to do something like that.

What pray tell does it have to do with backups?  Only a fool would
create their backups on the same physical drive as the original data....

Yes, a fool or most major manufacturers. :>

I agree with your trite simplistic comment, but
In actual practice, backup partitiions,
especially CLONED system partitions solve
about 90% of all problems with messed up Windows.

The importance of an off drive image would be
Crucial for the INEVITABLE other 10% of the
time when more drastic measures are needed.
(And what do you know, I didn't overlook that fact
in my other post you cited, Glen! Why did you
pretend that I did overlook that?)

which I see from another of your posts today in this group (re: Best
Restore Method) is what you foolishly do, by suggesting to create your
system image on the same physical drive as your OS and data.

Yes, as preferable to the hidden OEM restore partition.

I distinctly remembered suggesting cloning
to other drives. Did you miss this part, Glen?

-------------------------------------------------
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...p.help_and_support/msg/95ea751074405fd5?hl=en
[...]
G > Ideally you would also make a CLONE of your
G > system partition to another drive or several drives
G > as well. Perhaps even a USB external hard disk
G > or a 32 GB USB Flash drive...
[...]
G > On a 200 GB HD I'd be tempted to rig it with
G > two backup bootable partitions in addition
G > to the first one, but that could add more confusion
G > than it's worth. A clone to another drive would
G > of course be preferable.
G >
G > Somewhere I saw that some business people
G > who fly a lot regularly CLONE their drive right
G > before each trip, in case an X-Ray machine
G > wipes it or it gets damaged by dropping.
G >
G > They leave a clone drive image in a locked
G > desk drawer or in an IT holding area before
G > each trip.
-------------------------------------------------


G > Aspies typically lack common sense, among other things.

Now you are just showing your ignorance.  People with Asperger's
Syndrome have repetitive behaviors, lack of empathy, difficulty with
social interaction....

Why sugar coat it, Glen, they're sociopaths by definition.
They're not all happy and positive like TV's "Sheldon Cooper" either!

but it has nothing to do with "lack of common
sense".  "Aspies" are more often than not very intelligent and have no
"common sense" issues.

Aspies are called IDIOT/SAVANTS for a reason, Glen.