What i would pay more for - winsys and installer cleaner

[greg b roberts]

Hi

 

More than 50% of the disk space used on my vm template is using c:\windows\installer , c:\windows\winsxs

 

I am pretty confident there are orphaned files here.

 

I tried wicleanup for the installers and this deleted some MSI's which were referenced in the registry, so this is a no go and warning to others. (i.e. uninstalls did not work)

 

To me, any these are the two items any serious cleanup tool should have in the advanced section.

 

Regards

[Andavari]

I wish something could deal with WinSxS too, that folder is gargantuan on my system.

[Willy2]

- Quite simple. If one has installed ALL the MS Updates then one can use the build-in "Disk Cleanup" tool. The webarticle was written for Win 8 but it also works in Win 7.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/44274-windows-update-cleanup-windows-8-a.html

 

In Windows Vista one can do something similar

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/142656-sp1-disk-cleanup-tool.html

 

Also clean out the "C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution" folder. Can contain GBs.

[dvdbane]

try this
http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/59389-Dism-A-Powerful-Tool-of-Clean-and-Tweak

[greg b roberts]

Willy2 - The windows cleanup tool does not do many things, orphaned side by side files, and installers are not part of it .

 

Nor from memory does it clean the whole c:\windows\softwaredistribution areas

 

A 4rd party cleanup tool can attract a premium if it does the lot, ccleaner does not currently.

 

Regards

[greg b roberts]

      dvdbane I am familiar with DISM bit I am not aware of an cleanup of orphaned files

 

I know it restricts what it copies making the WIM file but this is for re-imaging.

 

I am after in place tools.

 

regards

[dvdbane]

      dvdbane I am familiar with DISM bit I am not aware of an cleanup of orphaned files

 

I know it restricts what it copies making the WIM file but this is for re-imaging.

 

I am after in place tools.

 

regards

well, it's not for imaging only

i don't use it to edit WIM file, just use the "Clean Up" feature

for win 7, it's quite limited on cleaning but still manage to free up a few hundred MB even after running Windows Update Cleanup

 

supported OS

Windows 7 Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows 8 Windows RT Windows Server 2012 Windows 8.1 Windows RT 8.1 Windows Server 2012 R2 Windows 10

 

[Willy2]

- Agree. The standard "Disk Clean Up" doesn't clean too much. But one can add more scripts to the tool. Don't ask me how it can be done, but it's possible. The "paid for" version of Tweaking's Windows Repair contains a number of those scripts. Then one can delete temporary files for all profiles/users.

[Winapp2.ini]

well, it's not for imaging only

i don't use it to edit WIM file, just use the "Clean Up" feature

for win 7, it's quite limited on cleaning but still manage to free up a few hundred MB even after running Windows Update Cleanup

 

supported OS

Windows 7 Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows 8 Windows RT Windows Server 2012 Windows 8.1 Windows RT 8.1 Windows Server 2012 R2 Windows 10

 

Slightly OT but I looked into this dism++ tool and found that it seems to also clean offline systems which is really cool (i happened to have my laptop drive with several windows installations plugged in via usb when I tried the tool out)

[jopower]

After the usual hard drive cleanup of my little XP notepad, I noted the Windows folder was still pretty big. So... using Glary Utils: Disk Space Analyzer, I discovered that 64% of my WinXP folder and nearly half of my 16gb SSD was held in the Installer folder. A bit of sleuthing indicated that many of these installers may be orphaned. DSIM++ wasn't showing up in my searches, so thanks for that. Some others had tried some rather old programs to clean them out... but had no way of acurately knowing if the removal was good or bad, beyond the simple saving of space. It looks like a real opportunity for you to help those with small drives free up some space. I REALLY hope you can come up with a good utility to add to your current lineup or add to Glary Utilities.

 

(PS: Don't rag me for still using XP. I'm tired of it. XP works and I like how it works. I use proper protection ware and that works too. No damage or infections in 5-6 years. Only other choice is a Linux install might fit on this little thing... if, if, if they like each other. And then I have to like it.)

[hazelnut]

You mean like Ccleaner's Disk Space Analyzer listed under Tools?

 

http://www.ghacks.net/2014/12/27/first-look-at-ccleaners-disk-analyzer-tool/

[Andavari]

Don't rag me for still using XP. I'm tired of it. XP works and I like how it works.

 

Same here, it just works!

 

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

 

Maybe Piriform could delve into cleaning that area, then again maybe they won't. I'd imagine they'd need to very thoroughly examine the changes, etc., to make sure it wouldn't cause serious issues which are easy enough to undo if someone has a disk image of the OS drive, but I feel allot of people probably don't.