Uninstall Files

  • Thread starter Thread starter Joe
  • Start date Start date
J

Joe

There are 112 uninstall files (~ 60 MB) residing in my WINDOWS folder. Is it
safe to delete them? Does a Microsoft update sometimes need an uninstall file
to remove the program or applet being updated?
 
Joe, if the file folder is named $UNINSTALL they are the Uninstaller for
the MS Updates. If you are Ok with the updates then you can delete the
folders.
 
Joe, if the file folder is named $UNINSTALL they are the Uninstaller for
the MS Updates. If you are Ok with the updates then you can delete the
folders.
Click to expand...


On the other hand, I'd like to point out that these uninstall files
really take up very little room. Unless you are very short of disk
space, I think it's safer to keep them even if you think you'll never
need them, just in case.
 
Ken Blake said:
On the other hand, I'd like to point out that these uninstall files
really take up very little room. Unless you are very short of disk
space, I think it's safer to keep them even if you think you'll never
need them, just in case.
Click to expand...

They also make it easier to determine whether you have a particular
update installed.
 
Roger to both Rich Barry & Ken Blake; I appreciate your responses. I am
somewhat of an administrative organizer nut & have always felt these
uninstaller files were useless; even had a Networking instructor once suggest
to the class that we could delete them. However, as you may have been
thinking Ken, there's always the chance that some update needs to completely
remove an earlier one, & uninstaller files are necessarily specific/unique to
the earlier installation (meaning that a generic uninstaller file most
probably would not be included in the new update). Thanks much.
 
Roger to both Rich Barry & Ken Blake; I appreciate your responses. I am
somewhat of an administrative organizer nut & have always felt these
uninstaller files were useless; even had a Networking instructor once suggest
to the class that we could delete them.
Click to expand...


He's largely right, Usually you can.

But...

However, as you may have been
thinking Ken, there's always the chance that some update needs to completely
remove an earlier one, & uninstaller files are necessarily specific/unique to
the earlier installation (meaning that a generic uninstaller file most
probably would not be included in the new update). Thanks much.
Click to expand...


You're welcome. Glad to help.


 
Thanks Rich Barry & Ken Blake for your replies. I agree that it's best to
leave them alone. Though I would never uninstall an update myself, updating a
program or applet via MS's Update site may include an automatic removal of a
prior update for the program/applet that's being updated.
 
Thanks Rich Barry & Ken Blake for your replies. I agree that it's best to
leave them alone. Though I would never uninstall an update myself, updating a
program or applet via MS's Update site may include an automatic removal of a
prior update for the program/applet that's being updated.
Click to expand...


You're welcome. Glad to help.




 
Good point, Twayne, though the Registry is also a good source for what
updates have been installed.
For the record, I actually did this -- killed ALL $files in the WINDOWS
folder a couple of years back & sufferred no operational problems as a result.
As a matter of routine, I wipe my HD each year prior to installing a new
version of NIS; this ensures my Registry is in its best shape, & it wipes out
any problems I may have inadvertently created w/experimental tweaking &
whatnot (not to mention eliminating guaranteed problems associated with
Symantec still trying to perfect unistalling its programs prior to installing
new versions). During my last reinstall of everything last spring, I left all
the uninstall files alone. This past year is probably the first that I've not
seen any unexplainable red Event Log entries. This discussion thread has led
me to believe that Ken Blake's suggestion to leave the files alone is right
on the money.
 
Your welcome Joe. Ken gave very good advice about keeping the folders
since the amount of disk space they take up is
not that much. I usually have my system partitions almost full so I am
forever doing a cleanup of Temp files and System Restore. But, that is my
own system setup. I guess I can move the $UNISTALL folders to another less
crowded partition.
 
Rich, I would suggest that if you move the files you may have to manually
change their locations in the Registry. Cheers.
 
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