Clean install XP and still bloated?

[serpico]

I did a clean install of XP Pro onto an X60. After the basic install, about 2gb of boot partition is used.

After running Lenovo's System Update and MS Windows Update - using both to install only "required", selected "recommended" and selected "optional" drivers and updates, nearly 5gb is being used on the boot partition.

What's up with that?? All the folders aside from the Windows folder are just under 1gb combined (mostly in Program Files folder). The Windows folder is 2.7gb. The rest, I suppose, is the paging file, which I set to 1-1.5gb. But why is the Windows folder so bloated?

[Musti]

I did a clean install of XP Pro onto an X60. After the basic install, about 2gb of boot partition is used.

After running Lenovo's System Update and MS Windows Update - using both to install only "required", selected "recommended" and selected "optional" drivers and updates, nearly 5gb is being used on the boot partition.

What's up with that?? All the folders aside from the Windows folder are just under 1gb combined (mostly in Program Files folder). The Windows folder is 2.7gb. The rest, I suppose, is the paging file, which I set to 1-1.5gb. But why is the Windows folder so bloated?

Enable "Show hidden files and folders" in Windows Explorer and you will see you have a lot of hidden folders in the Windows directory. They are compressed (hence the colour blue) and hidden. These are backups of old files the Windows hotfixes replace. You can delete all of them after making sure all the hotfixes work as they should.

Also look for stuff in C:\Windows\Temp and delete all (when no application is running).

Also look for stuff in C:\Documents and Settings\yourname\Local Settings\Temp

It is also a good idea to configure Internet Explorer to empty Temporary Files upon exit.

Most of these can be automatically done by CCleaner (or other) "get rid of the junk" freeware. ccleaner.com CCleaner also has a very capable Registry cleaner that you might want to run after all this cleanup so spurious Registry entries are deleted.

[RealBlackStuff]

In the \Windows folder you will find:
$hf_mig$ : do NOT delete this one.
And a whole bunch that look like:
$NtUninstallKB937894$ : you CAN delete all of these.
They are the backups that are created for every online update that Windows applies.

[Aroc]

there may also be half a gig cached from Windows Updates downloads.

net stop wuauserv
cd \windows\SoftwareDistribution
rd /s /q Download
md Download
net start wuauserv

there's usually no harmfull effects (that I've seen) that result from purging the Download folder. In fact, it's one of the checklist items I perform before sysprepping a machine for mass cloning.

good luck!

Aroc

[Stargate199]

Use CCleaner. CCleaner will looks for all of the unnecessary files and delete them. Also it will registry cleaning that will help increase performance.

[boofoo]

Also, Thinkvantage System Update downloads lots of installation files, but I don't know which of those you can delete.

[mattbiernat]

Also, Thinkvantage System Update downloads lots of installation files, but I don't know which of those you can delete.

don't use thinkvantage system update. download driver and software that you only need. the best way to find out is simply by experimenting on a machine that has everything installed. then selectively uninstall stuff that you will not use and see what happens.

[leoblob]

... And a whole bunch that look like:
$NtUninstallKB937894$ : you CAN delete all of these.
They are the backups that are created for every online update that Windows applies.

I wondered about this, but didn't think it would be that simple.

I want to dump mine (wasted space), but I just assumed there was something more complex involved.

[mattbiernat]

here are also a couple of more directories that I usually clean up. try it at your own risk.
C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download
C:\Windows\downloaded installations
here is also what I deleted to reduce my image size on the preload
C: IBMTOOLS (tested only on T23 and T60 - be careful w/other thinkpads)
C: IBMWORKS (tested only on T23 and T60 - be careful w/other thinkpads)
C: I396 (tested only on T23 and T60 - be careful w/other thinkpads)
the above tweaks resulted in fast 7 min RR restore point.

[mattbiernat]

i forgot to mention few more things that you can do:
- turn off system restore
- get rid of hotfixes back ups -- use this utility
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_hotfix_backup.htm
of course performing these depends whether you use system restore (if you don't I highly recommend always keeping a back up) and whether you are planning to uninstall windows hotfixes in the future.

[USSS]

I strongly recommend leaving System Restore ON, even if you regularly make backups. There's always a chance that a backup session might fail or the media could become corrupt.

Once you've used System Restore to recover your system, you'll never turn it off again. It's a good, secondary backup scheme to have in place. One day, you will be glad that you enabled it.

[mattbiernat]

well i got 2 back ups. one RR which is just an image, one on my ipod and a second one on another computer. all of them are current and having a system restore is an overkill.
besides when your HD fails system restore becomes uselss...

[boofoo]

here are also a couple of more directories that I usually clean up. try it at your own risk.
...
C: I396 (tested only on T23 and T60 - be careful w/other thinkpads)
the above tweaks resulted in fast 7 min RR restore point.

Assuming you mean I386, this is NOT good idea: it has the installation files for Windows, and is required by certain updates and to add/remove Windows features. It also has plug-and-play drivers for some devices, I believe.
There are ways to move this, e.g., to an external drive, but I would NOT delete it. At least this is the case for the machines I've had.

[mattbiernat]

is required by certain updates and to add/remove Windows features. It also has plug-and-play drivers for some devices, I believe.

never had any problem with add/remove windows feature or any windows updates. i don't updates lenovo applications so i can't say about that. Of course I agree that having those drivers on a CD could be convinient.