How big Windows folder is?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jack
  • Start date Start date
J

Jack

Hello,
I have just finished installation of Windows XP PRO from the
scratch.
With all the updates including SP3 the size of \Windows folder is over 4.2
GB
Is that normal?
Why is it so big?
Jack
 
Sounds about right, if you check add/remove - windows components - there
maybe some items you dont require.
Its large because thats the nature of the beast
 
Jack,

My Windows XP Home/SP3 is 5.48 Gig.

Remember, bigger is always better. And you can't have enough "more"?

Milt
 
Jack said:
Hello,
I have just finished installation of Windows XP PRO from the
scratch.
With all the updates including SP3 the size of \Windows folder is over
4.2 GB
Is that normal?
Why is it so big?
Jack
Click to expand...

Media Center edition, 6.39 GB, 38020 files, 2819 folders,
a few days after installing SP3, nothing else added.
I'd look on 4.2GB as a remarkable reduction :)
 
Jack said:
I have just finished installation of Windows XP PRO from
the scratch.
With all the updates including SP3 the size of \Windows folder is
over 4.2 GB
Is that normal?
Why is it so big?
Click to expand...

Depends on what you have going on - what you installed originally, etc.

I currently have a Virtual Box machine with the following installed:

- Windows XP Professional w/SP3
- 7-Zip 4.57
- Adobe Flash Player ActiveX
- Adobe Flash Player Plugin
- Adobe Shockwave Player 11
- Alt-Tab Task Switcher Powertoy for Windows XP
- AVG Free 8.0
- CmdHere Powertoy For Windows XP
- Foxit Reader
- ImgBurn
- Java(TM) 6 Update 6
- Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1
- Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0
- Microsoft Compression Client Pack 1.0 for Windows XP
- Microsoft Silverlight
- Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable
- Mozilla Firefox (2.0.0.14)
- Mozilla Thunderbird (2.0.0.12)
- OpenOffice.org 2.4
- Paint.NET v3.30
- PDFCreator
- QuickTime
- Real Alternative 1.8.0
- Shockwave Director 11.0
- Tweak UI
- Windows Internet Explorer 7
- Windows Media Player 11

It takes up a total of 3.95 GB (4,250,427,392 bytes) of space - including
everything you see.
 
Hello,
I have just finished installation of Windows XP PRO from the
scratch.
With all the updates including SP3 the size of \Windows folder is over 4.2
GB
Is that normal?
Why is it so big?
Click to expand...


Everybody's system is different, and there is no "normal,"

But yes, that's well within the typical range of sizes.

Considering that you can buy a 160GB drive for under $50 US these
days, what you call "so big" is about $1.25 worth of disk space. Not
much at all.
 
Jack said:
Hello,
I have just finished installation of Windows XP PRO from the
scratch.
With all the updates including SP3 the size of \Windows folder is over
4.2 GB
Is that normal?
Why is it so big?
Jack
Click to expand...
It takes a lot of code to get a windowing operating system to function.
Jim
 
Hello and pardon mty butting in but...if I may ask 2 small questions:

1. How can I measure my WinXP home ed.?
2. What's "SP3"? Is itpart of Windows Security patches much like the
"SP2"?

Thanks so much! Adela (a nubie)
 
If you mean how big is your Windows folder, then open My Computer,
doubleclick on C: and find the Windows folder. Right click on the Windows
folder and choose Properties. It may take a while for the final number to
show since it calculates on the fly but don't be surprised if it 2 to 4GB.

SP3 stands for service pack three. It is a general upgrade for XP and
unless you know of some reason not to upgrade to SP3 you should go ahead and
do so in the near future. There is no hurry and there will be many replies
to your post, some saying it is the worst thing on earth and others saying
it is the greatest thing since sliced bread and everything in between.

SP3 is available now by going to Windows Updates and checking for new
updates. It will not be an automatic update for another three months or so.
Like I said, there is no hurry. One way to learn about it is to begin
following SP3 subjects in this newsgroup.

No matter what you do about SP3, you should read the Release Notes to see
what it is all about and what it can do and not do for you. You can
download the release notes at
https://www.microsoft.com/downloads...3A-8969-4DDF-BEB2-8BFAC9ED416B&displaylang=en

If you upgrade now and have a problem you can get free Microsoft support for
SP3 at
https://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?ln=en-us&prid=11273&gprid=522131
 
I have to smile a little at this thread because I am sitting here looking at
a Windows folder on my Vista Ultimate x64 system that would almost not fit
on a 20GB drive. 18.7GB containing 76,920 files in 16,799 subfolders.

That is part of the sticker shock some folks get when considering migrating
to Vista. Doesn't faze me but I can see why some react as though it were a
bad thing.

It does put the size of my Windows folder (6.3GB) on my XP Pro SP3 system
into perspective, though.
 
Hello and pardon mty butting in but...if I may ask 2 small questions:

1. How can I measure my WinXP home ed.?
Click to expand...



Sorry, I don't understand that question. What does "measure my WinXP
home ed." mean? Exactly what about it do you want to measure, and most
important, *why* do you want to measure it? What are you trying to
accomplish here?

2. What's "SP3"? Is itpart of Windows Security patches much like the
"SP2"?\
Click to expand...


Not exactly. "SP3" is short for "Service Pack 3." Like SP2 (Service
Pack 2) before it, it's largely a rollup of previously-issued fixes
(many of which, but not all, are security-oriented), but also includes
a number of new fixes and changes.

For the future, let me make two recommendations:

1. Please ask your questions by starting a new thread, not by replying
to an existing one as you did here.

2. Questions that are unrelated to each other, as your two questions
are, should be asked in separate messages, not mixed together.
 
I have to smile a little at this thread because I am sitting here looking at
a Windows folder on my Vista Ultimate x64 system that would almost not fit
on a 20GB drive. 18.7GB containing 76,920 files in 16,799 subfolders.
Click to expand...



That's about 1/8 of a 160GB drive. Putting it into dollars (using my
example below), that's a little over $6.


That is part of the sticker shock
Click to expand...


If people would calculate sticker shock in dollars instead of billions
of bytes, they'd realize how trivial all this is.

By the way, my Windows folder on my Vista machine, is 27GB. That's
about $8.50 worth. Still nothing to get excited about.
 
The folder is on a 500GB drive so by the economy of scale I am probably a
dollar to the good. :)
 
The folder is on a 500GB drive so by the economy of scale I am probably a
dollar to the good. :)
Click to expand...


LOL!

Yep, the bigger the drive, typically the lower the per gigabyte cost.



 
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