"C:\Windows\Installer" --- $PatchCache$ -- Gigabytes on Windows for CCleaner 6

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1

Could CCleaner remove the "patch cache"?

image.png.4d425c07c9e731b68af806e86b88a2e8.png

2

See also https://superuser.com/questions/82578/can-i-delete-the-folder-c-windows-installer-patchcache

3

That linked article is from 2009 - so it's 13 years old. 

Windows has changed a lot in those 13 years.

You've asked this question before back in 2019 and were advised to leave the Windows install files alone:

https://community.ccleaner.com/topic/54551-massive-win10-cwindowsinstaller-leavings-old-patchcleaner-no-longer-available/#comment-308771

What is the capacity of your OS drive?

If you are running short of the disc space needed for Windows 10 (It needs at least 32 Gb these days) then it's time to swap it out for a larger capacity drive.

4
16 minutes ago, nukecad said: 
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	<p>
		What is the capacity of your OS drive?
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</div>

118GB 

Just trolling through using WinDirStat for potential bloat.

5
2 hours ago, Bryce Nesbitt said: 
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		118GB




		Just trolling through using WinDirStat for potential bloat.
	</p>
</div>

Fair enough, I understand looking for bloat to remove.

If you really want to clear that 'installer' folder then you could make that folder an 'Include' in CCleaner Custom Clean, that way Custom Clean would clear it when run.

Doing that does mean that the files will no longer be cached, so will need to be reinstalled if anything wants to use them in future. 

It's also possible that some programme is using one or more of them regularly and will stop working properly if it's removed - that's why we recommend leaving them alone. You won't realy know unless you delete them and something stops working.


(PS. I don't even have that "C:\Windows\Installer" folder on this laptop).

While 118GB is sufficient, if that's for the OS and you store files on another drive, you might want to look at getting a larger capacity drive for your OS drive. 

Particularly if the 118GB is a HDD, I'd clone it to a 250GB or 500GB SSD and swap it out.

I recently swapped out the old 75GB HDD spinning disc in an old laptop for a new 250GB SSD, vastly improved performance and it flies along now running Win 10 22H2. 

(Cost me under £25 GBP, $30 US, and took me about an hour to do).