Missing Hotfix Uninstallers

[OLLI_S]

Hello,

 

I use CCleander 2.14.763.

I also let it clean "Hotfix uninstallers".

 

After deleting the files I recognized that in my Windows directory there are still some files, where I think that they also should be deleted by CCleaner.

 

The folder c:\Windows\ie7updates (141 MB)

There are some folders like KB938127-IE7

Are these "Hotfix uninstallers" that can be also deleted (if yes, please add them to CCleaner).

 

The folder c:\Windows\$hf_mig$ (129 MB)

There also are all folders beginning with KB.....

Same question like before: are these "Hotfix uninstallers" that can be also deleted (if yes, please add them to CCleaner).

 

Last but no least the folder C:\Windows\Installer (1122 MB)

There I have sub-folders like "$PatchCache$" or "{00000407-78E1-11D2-B60F-006097C998E7}".

Also many MSI (Windows Installer) and MSP (Windows Installer Patch).

And again the same question.....

 

It would be nice to get rid of all this wasted space.

So please tell me if those files can be deleted and what they are really for (especially the "Installer" folder).

 

Thank you for your answers!

 

Greetings

 

OLLI

[hazelnut]

Re the c\windows\installer issue, see this thread

 

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showto...p;hl=msizap.exe

[OLLI_S]

Hello hazelnut,

 

thank you for your answer.

 

I read the other topic, but unfortunately only 2 MB were deleted in "C:\Windows\Installer".

But I wrote this in a reply of the other topic, so the folder "C:\Windows\Installer" is handled there.

 

There are two questions remaining.

 

1) Is the folder "c:\Windows\ie7updates" a folder that contains "Hotfix uninstallers"?

If yes, then that folder should also be cleaned by CCleaner.

And if you plan to implement to clean that sub-folder, is it planed for the next release?

 

2) Same questions for the folder "c:\Windows\$hf_mig$"

Are these also "Hotfix uninstallers"?

If yes, then that folder should also be cleaned by CCleaner.

And if you plan to implement to clean that sub-folder, is it planed for the next release?

 

Greetings

 

 

OLLI

[Eric2]

Hi Olli, I just registered to this forum as I had the same questions than you about my windows folders "C:\Windows\Installer" (1321 MB), "C:\Windows\$hf_mig$" (643 MB) , and "C:\Windows\ie7updates" (237 MB), but also about "C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles" (470 MB) , "C:\Windows\$NTServicePackUninstall$" (342 MB)

 

.. all those folders which are not cleaned up by the last version of CCleaner v2.15.815 and which take lot of space on the disk.

 

I started some searches in this forum and found an answer for "C:\Windows\$hf_mig$" which should not be deleted because it does not contain uninstall data but rather backups of hotfix file versions; see the follwing topic about it : http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=4288

 

I read the topic about "C:\Windows\Installer" but did not find much a good answer as you... and on some friends of mine that folder can be more than 2 GB!

 

And I did not find anything about the other folders...

[OLLI_S]

Hello,

 

I looked up again all those directories (the actual sizes) and found some more stuff that is wasting my space.

 

c:\Windows\$hf_mig$ (136 MB)

Eric2 wrote that this folder should not be deleted, so I believe it.

 

C:\Windows\Installer (1120 MB)

Running the "Windows Installer Clean Up utility" does only delete 2 MB, see http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showto...p;hl=msizap.exe

 

c:\Windows\ie7updates (147 MB)

I think that this folder contains"Hotfix uninstallers" because all sub folders begin with "KB..." and this shows that this are hotfixes.

So CCleaner should delete this folder.

 

C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles (546 MB)

This is in my eyes (but I am not an expert, so I can be wrong) a folder that contains files to un-install an service pack.

So I can un-install the Service Pack 3 of WindowsXP.

So CCleaner should delete this folder.

 

C:\Windows\Downloaded Installations (20 MB)

There are two installation packages of very old applications (ebay turbo lister for example).

CCleaner should delete this folder.

 

C:\Windows\Temp (12 MB)

I normally have assigned all temp variables to d:\temp

Just one application copies the installation files there.

So CCleaner should delete this folder.

Even if all 4 temp variables are set to d:\temp, CCleaner should also look in C:\Windows\Temp

 

I do not have the folder "C:\Windows\$NTServicePackUninstall$".

Maybe because I used an "delete uninstaller" script from a PC magazine.

 

So if I sum up all folders that CCleaner should clean in my eyes, then I would get:

- c:\Windows\ie7updates (147 MB)

- C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles (546 MB)

- C:\Windows\Downloaded Installations (20 MB)

- C:\Windows\Temp (12 MB)

In total this are 725 MB of space that normally should be deleted.

 

Maybe one of the Piriform staff should answer here and tell me what folders contain uninstallers and what folders don't.

I think that not all of the files can be deleted without damaging the system.

It also would be interesting if some folders (like "c:\Windows\ie7updates") are just missing in CCleander and so they will be added in one of the next versions.

 

Greetings

 

 

OLLI

[Eric2]

+1 up

 

So would not any CCleaner developer or expert answer to our request ?

 

 

Happy new year to all by the way!

[Andavari]

The only folder I've seen listed in this whole thread that is 100% safe to remove files from is:

C:\Windows\Temp

 

Since CCleaner isn't finding files in that "C:\Windows\Temp" folder it would probably mean a misconfiguration in that particular systems Environment Variables. If that's the case the Environment Variables could be repaired, or that folder can be added into CCleaner by going into:

1. Options->Include, then click Add Folder, and browse to C:\Windows\Temp

2. Then on the main CCleaner GUI page on the Windows tab just make sure to tick under Advanced the Custom Files and Folders box.

3. Click Analyze in CCleaner, and files in "C:\Windows\Temp" will be listed. Due note locked in-use files can't be removed.

 

------------------------------

 

The other Windows folders are there for a valid reason, and a web search may and/or will most likely reveal documentation why they're needed. Or just do a search on Microsoft's website to get the official documented information.

 

The folder "C:\Windows\Downloaded Installations" used to be in winapp2.ini however I personally reported many months ago that it should be removed and it was. The reason was it caused severe issues with some online web-based applications like free online virus scanning services such as; making it impossible to update them, and making it impossible to uninstall them. Hence its removal.

 

If hard disk space is such an issue and at a premium I'd recommend buying a larger capacity hard disk instead of messing around in the Windows folder. Also adding all those Windows folders mentioned in this thread into CCleaner's default installation would quickly have millions of CCleaner users very upset, myself included, and would cause CCleaner to lose its crown as a safe system cleaning application.

[Alan_B]

c:\Windows\ie7updates (147 MB)

I think that this folder contains"Hotfix uninstallers" because all sub folders begin with "KB..." and this shows that this are hotfixes.

So CCleaner should delete this folder.

 

I think you are wrong.

 

I believe many (and possibly all) hotfixes have an associated "KB...",

BUT every Patch Tuesday security update I have monitored has a "KB..." for each and every item.

 

I believe "KB..." merely indicates a K(nowledge) B(ase) reference number to tell you what M.$. wants you to know,

and "KB..." tells you nothing about whether it is a hotfix or otherwise.

 

I do not know, but as a matter of interest, what is a hotfix ?

My suspicion is that every time M.$ has another security hole to fix,

they try to fix it and test it a bit, and depending upon the urgency of issuing a fix,

they either have confidence that the fix will be good for at least another month, and we get a "proper" patch,

or they know it is not good enough, so we get a "hotfix" which they hope will hold us till they make it better ! !

 

Regards

Alan

[Eric2]

The only folder I've seen listed in this whole thread that is 100% safe to remove files from is:

C:\Windows\Temp

.....

 

The other Windows folders are there for a valid reason, and a web search may and/or will most likely reveal documentation why they're needed. Or just do a search on Microsoft's website to get the official documented information.

 

 

Thanks Andavari for your answer. That is fair enough. I understand that you don't know yet if the other Windows folders are safe to clean up or how to clean them up. Ok fine. Maybe one day somebody will provide that knowledge for the benefice of CCleaner.

It works well on so many windows folders already.

 

All the best, keep us with the good work!

[JDPower]

As Andavari said the only folder mentioned in this thread that would be completely safe to delete is C:\Windows\Temp.

 

On another computer I did alot of playing around with what can and can't be deleted, including most of the above mentioned, and from my experiences (including some major issues that were caused) the only other folder mentioned that I would ever consider deleting the contents of would be C:\Windows\ie7updates. I do occasionally delete this and have had no issues but that is not to say I would suggest anyone else do the same. I would not touch any of the others.

[Eric2]

Thanks for you contribution and sharing your experience on this matter. Very much appreciated.

 

As we don't know for most of those windows folders which ones could be cleaned-up and how, for the time being I would not try to delete contents out of them. However what I could at least do is to move those folders and files at the end of the partition/disk to faster windows and apllications on my PC.

I am talking here of about 3 GB !

 

"C:\Windows\Installer" (1321 MB)

"C:\Windows\$hf_mig$" (643 MB)

"C:\Windows\ie7updates" (237 MB)

"C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles" (470 MB)

"C:\Windows\$NTServicePackUninstall$" (342 MB)

[JDPower]

Thanks for you contribution and sharing your experience on this matter. Very much appreciated.

 

As we don't know for most of those windows folders which ones could be cleaned-up and how, for the time being I would not try to delete contents out of them. However what I could at least do is to move those folders and files at the end of the partition/disk to faster windows and apllications on my PC.

I am talking here of about 3 GB !

 

"C:\Windows\Installer" (1321 MB)

"C:\Windows\$hf_mig{:content:}quot; (643 MB)

"C:\Windows\ie7updates" (237 MB)

"C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles" (470 MB)

"C:\Windows\$NTServicePackUninstall{:content:}quot; (342 MB)

I use JKDefrag which moves those files to the end of the disk data (into a designated spacehogs area, along with some other files)

[hartvix]

First of all, like several others have said, do NOT delete anything in your windows folder unless you are 100% sure what you are doing!

The folder $hf_mig$ is needed for FUTURE updates to the system, so deleting it could easily get you into trouble.

 

For those of you still running Windows XP (yep, myself included, most of the time...), you may want to check out this little program called Windows XP Update Remover by Tech-Pro. Before you use it, make sure you understand the difference between the 2 buttons: Uninstall update and Remove backup folder. I cannot personally guarantee your safety using this program, but i never had any problems with it myself. Also, I'm not sure how it compares to CCleaner when it comes to how much it will remove. Anyway, it will let you handle each update/hotfix separately.

Link: http://downloads.tech-pro.net/windows-xp-u...ver_tpwu01.html

 

After installing a hotfix or a service pack, i would suggest you leave those backup files for a while, so you can uninstall the update if it proves to be a problem. After a while, if it seems your system is working ok, remove the backups. If you delete the folders manually, your system will still think it's there, and show options to uninstall the updates. Should you try to uninstall from Control panel, this would cause an error message, since the files will not be found.

If you use the Update Remover mentioned above, it will also clear this info from registry etc. so they won't be listed in Control Panel. And, most important, i trust the writers of the program will only present stuff that's safe to delete. The manual method is a bit risky...