Deleting safely MS Security Setups?

Made today a clean reinstall of MS Win XP SP2. 61 Security updates.

Is there a tool out there, which can delete safly all the setup files, etc. from installed MS Security Setups, etc. (KBxxxxxx). I don't mean uninstall but deleting all the setup file which are flying arround in the Windows directory.

 

CCleaner lets u delete the hotfix uninstallers.

 

tHANKS, will have a look at that

 

I change folder options to show hidden files and in the %windir% folder I delete all the hidden folders that start with $***.

 

What does $*** mean?


-HandsOff

 

teh folders for hotfixes start with "$" followed by the hotfix number, iirc.

 

Okay, so they are all expendable! Thanks. (as you might recall I use CCleaner so probably do not have any $*** folders, but just wanted to make sure I understood.


-HandsOff!

 

Hello,
I would not delete them. They contain valuable information and are the best place to start if things go wrong.
Mrk

 

Like WSFuser said, CCleaner remove that, but you can also use the XPlite (not free) to remove those files and other stuff...

 

Do you use xplite? What do you think of it?

 

You'll find the downloads for your 61 updates in C:\Windows\Software Distribution\Download. You can delete everything inside that folder.

(Don't delete the contents of the hidden folder C:\Windows\$hf_mig$. There was a thread on the forum concerning an earlier version of CCleaner which did that when deleting the $NTUninstall folders.)

 

It's a nice application to remove Windows XP components, and temp files like those we are talking on this forum...

It seems that it does its job very well...

 

Thanks

 

Well thanks all for your advice. I deleted about 500 MB of trash, and Win XP is still running. Puh

 

Yes there is and requires some study, but you should have asked before reinstalling

RyanVM's Windows XP Post-SP2 Update Pack

 

@diginsight
Nice page - for the next time i will remember that, but as i have a Vaio Laptop this won't help becuase i don't have a WinXP Setup CD. I install from a hidden rescue partition.

 

True you can remove lots with the paid version, however removing the files in question is a part of the free version.

Actually, we get into semantics here (industry wide problem, actually). Technically the free version is a trial version, but the trial never expires. This is NOT the same as having the paid version which they designate as the pro version. What makes the trial version worth installing and keeping is that it allows you to switch the FPS on and off like a light bulb. Or, like me, just turn it off and leave it off. Personally I think Microsoft has placed more emphasis on dictating which components the user can uninstall, than on actually protecting files in the sense of a security feature. But to each his own. It's a nice tool.

That said, even though I like the idea of deleting components I don't need, I find the reality is there is not much more that I deleted than:
-Windows Tour
-Uninstalls
-Dllcache

deleting things like extra fonts, themes, games, ect...is also deleting capability. Most of the othere stuff is small anyway. I would have probably bought the full version if it contained more choices for removing compontents without sending you back to the pre-color monitor computing days


-HandsOff

 

After I am absolutely sure I will not want to uninstall the service pack, security update or hotfix I simply delete it's corresponding $NTUninstall folder in my Windows folder.

I then go in to the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel applet, find the service pack, security update or hotfix and click Remove. (You will need to check "Show updates".) This results in a dialog box informing you an error occurred while trying to remove the entry and that it may have been uninstalled. (It has not, you just deleted it.) In the same dialog it will offer to remove the entry from the Add or Remove Programs applet, clicking "Yes" will remove the entry.

 

Tip: I use the free myUninstaller to remove all the entries at once.

 

I found this:
XP_Remove_Hotfix_Backup.exe
It removes files and registry entries.

 

CCleaner also has that option

 

Thanks, it works well as i just deinstalled CCleaner right now, because of the strange wisnock problems it could trigger.

Does it realy delete all the files or only the entry in the Uninstall dialog?

 

Just the registry entries, you can delete the files yourself.