remove old version of windows

[maniacal]

Hi,

 

I recently bought a new laptop with vista buisiness with an xp downgrade intalled (why would you want a downgrade?!). So I re-installed vista, but must have made a mistake because it left xp as an old version of windows. But my C drive is almost full and I need to remove the xp installation.

 

I've tried removing it using the installation disk. I can't actually find a reference to it on C drive, and windows wouldn't let me simply remove the folder if I could.

 

Can CCleaner or anything else help?

[DennisD]

Hi maniacal, and welcome to Piriform.

 

No, you didn't make a mistake apparently. Unless you format a hard drive before installing a new Operating System, the previous one is retained in a "Windows.old" folder.

 

I've no experience of this, but it's recommended to run with the new OS for while to make sure all your settings and stuff are working, but if you're desperate for space, there are instructions here for removing the Windows.old folder:

 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/How-do-I-remove-the-Windows-old-folder

 

This refers to an install of Win7, but the removal of the Windows.old folder will be the same.

 

Hope that helps.

[pwillener]

How do you find that XP is still on your machine - is it still bootable? If so, is it on a different partition than your C: drive, or is it on another (hidden) C: drive?

 

Either way, we can help you to remove that old Windows installation, but this is not something that CCleaner or any automated program should be doing.

[Sora96]

If you can install XP you should its much better than Vista, if its XP Professional you should probably downgrade to it, your computer will feel like a upgrade but will look like a downgrade.

 

I dont get why people get such trouble with Windows.Old folders when i upgraded Windows, i could delete Windows.Old by Right Clicking it and click Delete than emptying the Bin.

[Aethec]

If you can install XP you should its much better than Vista, if its XP Professional you should probably downgrade to it, your computer will feel like a upgrade but will look like a downgrade.

 

That is completely wrong. Vista is better than XP in everything, except managing very old hardware.

[TheWebAtom]

I don't think you will ever be able to get people to agree on whether Vista or XP is better. I'm personally with Sora96, XP runs much better and is less bloated than Vista.

[Aethec]

I don't think you will ever be able to get people to agree on whether Vista or XP is better. I'm personally with Sora96, XP runs much better and is less bloated than Vista.

 

Well, if you're still using an old computer, using Vista might not be a good idea. But if you're using a multi-core processor/SSD/more than 1 GB of memory/any modern thing/all of the above, XP will have terrible performance since it was not designed at all for that kind of thing.