Windows update - can old update folders be deleted

[Bob McLeran]

I'm trying to free up some disk space on my C: drive. Notice that there
are a lot of hidden files in the Windows directory with names starting
with $NTUninstal . . . ending in a number. The numbers seems to
correspond with updates in my update history.

Can these folders be deleted without causing problems with the OS
(assuming they've been installed)?

 

[Rock]

I'm trying to free up some disk space on my C: drive. Notice that there
are a lot of hidden files in the Windows directory with names starting
with $NTUninstal . . . ending in a number. The numbers seems to
correspond with updates in my update history.

Can these folders be deleted without causing problems with the OS
(assuming they've been installed)?

Those are there in case you want to uninstall that update. If
everything is running fine for a while after installing then they can be
deleted. After removing the folders go to add/remove programs in
control panel, go to the update entries you removed and click on remove.
It will give a message that it can't (because the folder is gone) and
do you want to remove the entry. Click ok or yes.

Doug Knox has a utility to facilitate this if you prefer.
http://www.dougknox.com/

Click on Win XP Utilities, then Remove Hotfix Backup Files v2.1.6