Windows XP Uninstall Folders

[nivrip]

With nothing better to do I looked in My Computer >Boot >Windows and was surprised to find a huge number of folders that I had not seen before. They all seemed to be related to SP2 which I added to the system a lifetime ago. One file had the "name" $hf-mig$ and looked like it should be left alone.The next 178 folders were all named $NtUninstall and varied in size from a few kb to >201MB.

They are obviously taking up a fair bit of space and I wonder if they could be deleted without causing any major problems.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[V_R]

They are the hotfix uninstall files. If your updates aint a prob then you can delete them. Personally i use Ccleaner to remove them and the reg files they leave behind.

If your interested you can find Ccleaner in my sticky in this forum here

 

[nivrip]

They are the hotfix uninstall files. If your updates aint a prob then you can delete them. Personally i use Ccleaner to remove them and the reg files they leave behind.

If your interested you can find Ccleaner in my sticky in this forum here

A thousand thanks V_R. I have no problems with updates so I will delete them all. I will also look at Ccleaner - it sounds very useful.

 

[Abarbarian]

You could always save them to a CD as a backup just in case , and then delete them .

 

[nivrip]

You could always save them to a CD as a backup just in case , and then delete them .

Thanks Abarbarian, interesting idea.What do you think the chances are that I may need to delete a hotfix? Would any future problems be solved by another hotfix?Or am I being too simplistic.

 

[V_R]

Yes, no, maybe.....

Seriously if they aint causing a problem the you will be ok. If you just installed an update and now your pc keeps crashing windows then thats a problem. then dont delete the uninstall files. if you do you will loose the ability to uninstall the patch. Same as if you delete the uninstall files they disappear from add and remove programs.

I delete them every few months of so if i have no problems. so far all is well.

 

[Abarbarian]

Thanks Abarbarian, interesting idea.What do you think the chances are that I may need to delete a hotfix? Would any future problems be solved by another hotfix?Or am I being too simplistic.

My suggestion was gleaned from a PC mags article on freeing up space on your pc and the cost of a CD is only about 10p . I'm using AutoPatcher so I already have backups if I need them .