WINDOWS\Installer folder is large - possible to remove?

I have an older desktop XP SP2. The folder C:\WINDOWS\Installer is large and contains a bunch of .MSI files that seem to be related to KB updates.

Can this folder be deleted to conserve space, or at a minimum, can it be moved to an external harddrive in case it's needed later?

If you have moved or deleted this folder, I'd be interested to know your experience.

Thanks a lot!

 

Installer files are just that, they were added under SP2 to install programs and components in XP.
Have a read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Installer

 

another suggestion to keep the junk to a minimum is to run Ccleaner periodically...

 

I guess you are looking to cull unwanted files to enhance whatever hard drive free space you have left.

MSI files would not be my first choice to sacrifice, so if you post a better breakdown of your hard drive we might be able to offer some other ideas.

I would certainly restrict the space for the Internet Explorer cache.
If you are prepared to run Windows without the pretty frills (It's actually heaps betteer that way) there are lots of theme files you can loose.
obviously you should practise a clean house regime, keeping the recycle bin near empty, deleting old temp and bak files etc.
Turn off windows indexing and delete index files - these can be huge
Uninstall toolbars that promote indexing and clear their files.

These are a few things you could look at there are many more but everyone's system is different.

 

Thanks all. I guess a little about my routine would have helped.

I run CCleaner everyday. IE is set to delete temp files on exit. Windows indexing is off. All unneccesary programs are removed. Disk Cleanup "compress old files" has been run many times over the life of this computer and no longer comes up with anything to compress.

It's just a 40gb HDD and I probably should go ahead and upgrade it, but until that time, I was trying to open up some space. That installer folder is sitting at about 1.5gb, a decent chunk. If that stuff is necessary, I will keep it. I just wanted to check.

How does one go about removing themes? Where would I look to find these and get an idea of what can be saved by their removal?

Thanks!

 

The installer does create log files that can be deleted with no problem.
The log file feature is off by default but some applications turn the function on when installing.
External and USB memory is becoming very inexpensive so you might want to look into moving all the non- Windows files you can to other drives.