Bloated Installer folder

One of my PCs has 7.0 Gb in the c:\windows\installer folder and 1295 files and 56 folders.

The other PC has 690 Mb, 367 files and 27 folders.

I need to free up space and memory in the 1st PC in order to run a bootable AV program (that is, this is not a candidate for "just add more memory")

So - are there any types of files in Installer that I can safely delete, probably manually (using miniXP on bootable CD)?

$NtUninstall**$ files were suggested as one safe type to delete...

As always - thank you for your help

 

Ooops - ALSO:

Is it safe to use "Duplicate File Finder 3.5" on the Installer folder, and delete the found duplicates? It says it will take out 6.18 GB out of 7.04 - which seems about right...

 

Don't mess with the Installer folder at all. Windows needs it whenever you want to use Add/Remove.

It's best to start by finding out just what is gobbling up your disk space. There are various freeware programs for this so you could take a look at WinDirStat for starters. It's an excellent tool though personally I don't find the graphic representation helpful and suppress it.

 

There's something terribly amiss when the Installer eats up 7 GB. One way or another I must figure out why....and hopefully fix it...

 

You can try msizap !G which will delete orphaned pathces. I tried it on a test VM, but it didn't find anything.

You can get the file located here:

http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4459

Make sure you read the description, since this is a no longer supported application. But, msizap comes included with this download. Note, you have to run this in the directory it is instlled. Also, I've read this can/may break office 2007+.

Orphaned patches are patches within the windows\installer folder that are no longer needed for anything.

 

doc, thanks for pointing this out. :cool

My Windows 7 Ultimate OS laptop has 1.26 Gb in the c:\windows\installer folder, 993 files and 99 folders, for comparison.

I use TreeSize Free v2.5 @ http://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/ to find my space hogs.

If you find your major C:\Windows\Installer space hogs, and tell us here at MG, someone will be able to advise you whether to delete, or not.

Check out http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=234215 for info on a similar problem.

Bazza

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