What to do with uninstall files left over from Microsoft updates

[bill]

All of the Microsoft update installations leave uninstall information in
the \Windows directory. Is it necessary/desirable to leave this
information on my hard drive? Can it be deleted or saved to a backup cd?

 

[Bruce Chambers]

All of the Microsoft update installations leave uninstall information in
the \Windows directory. Is it necessary/desirable to leave this
information on my hard drive? Can it be deleted or saved to a backup cd?

If you're confident that you won't need to uninstall either the
service pack or any of the subsequent hotfixes, you can safely delete
those folders. You can then open the Control Panel's Add/Remove
Programs applet and select each of the pertinent removal choices, in
turn. You should get an error message stating that the removal files
are missing, and asking if you'd like to delete the menu option.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[Twayne]

All of the Microsoft update installations leave uninstall information
in the \Windows directory. Is it necessary/desirable to leave this
information on my hard drive? Can it be deleted or saved to a backup
cd?

The purpose of those files is to be able to uninstall the updates. Very,
very seldom would anyone want to do that, but historically it has
happened in two instances where some people did want to uninstall an
update. So, it's unlikely you will ever want/need them.

Bruce mentioned the only side effect I'm aware of.

Depending on your level of paranoia (which can be heantly), I'd say
there are three choices:

1. Ignore them. They are a record of installed updates and sometimes
accessed if you try to do manual updates, to decide what's already on
your system. It can be a little confusing the first time you come
across it so if you're a complete neophyte you might want to leave them
there.

2. Delete them. Nothing will go wrong with your operating system.
They are not needed except as noted h ere & there in the prose. Your
computer will work fine without them.

3. Copy them to another location such as a CD or DVD, for safekeeping,
just in case some situation arises where you wish you have them back.
THEN delete them.
In my case I move them to a WinZip file on my external drive
periodically, keeping them all in zipped format in the one zip file.
That way they're always part of the periodic sets of DVDs that I create
every few months.
I don't expect to ever need them, but if I do, they will be
available. This would be the "safest" of the 3 choices. WinZip is
simply my choice of zip program; any good zip program will work just
fine, including XP's compress feature which is the WinZip Legacy 2.0
format. .


Cheers,

Twayne

 

[bill]

The purpose of those files is to be able to uninstall the updates. Very,
very seldom would anyone want to do that, but historically it has
happened in two instances where some people did want to uninstall an
update. So, it's unlikely you will ever want/need them.

Bruce mentioned the only side effect I'm aware of.

Depending on your level of paranoia (which can be heantly), I'd say
there are three choices:

1. Ignore them. They are a record of installed updates and sometimes
accessed if you try to do manual updates, to decide what's already on
your system. It can be a little confusing the first time you come
across it so if you're a complete neophyte you might want to leave them
there.

2. Delete them. Nothing will go wrong with your operating system.
They are not needed except as noted h ere & there in the prose. Your
computer will work fine without them.

3. Copy them to another location such as a CD or DVD, for safekeeping,
just in case some situation arises where you wish you have them back.
THEN delete them.
In my case I move them to a WinZip file on my external drive
periodically, keeping them all in zipped format in the one zip file.
That way they're always part of the periodic sets of DVDs that I create
every few months.
I don't expect to ever need them, but if I do, they will be
available. This would be the "safest" of the 3 choices. WinZip is
simply my choice of zip program; any good zip program will work just
fine, including XP's compress feature which is the WinZip Legacy 2.0
format. .


Cheers,

Twayne

Thanks to you and Bruce for your input.

Bill