Windows update cleanup for vista

When you click OK, Disk Cleanup will prompt you to confirm that you want to permanently delete the selected files Figure E. Disk Cleanup will then go to work cleaning up all the files in the categories that you selected, including the Windows Update files Figure F.

You'll want to restart your system once Disk Cleanup completes its operation. When your system restarts, any unnecessary Windows Update files will be completely removed. As you survey the results, keep in mind that the Windows Update Cleanup feature will only remove files that it finds are no longer needed by the system, so you may find that a lot of files have been removed from your system or you may find that very few files have been removed from your system.

For example, after running the Windows Update Cleanup feature on my Windows 8 system, the number of files only dropped from 58, to 58, and the size of the WinSxS folder only dropped from 6.

However, on my Windows 7 system, the number of files dropped from 54, to 47,, and the size of the WinSxS folder dropped from If so, what kind of disk savings did you encounter?

If you have comments or information to share about this topic, please drop by the TechRepublic forums and let us hear from you. Greg Shultz is a freelance Technical Writer. Previously, he has worked as Documentation Specialist in the software industry, a Technical Support Specialist in educational industry, and a Technical Journalist in the computer publishing industry.

Category Description Windows Update Cleanup Windows keeps copies of all installed updates from Windows Update, even after installing newer versions of updates that are no longer needed and taking up space. Device driver packages Windows keeps copies of all previously installed device driver packages from Windows Update and other sources even after installing newer versions of drivers. This task will remove older versions of drivers that are no longer needed.

The most current version of each driver package will be kept. Windows Defender Non critical files used by Windows Defender Windows upgrade log files Windows upgrade log files contain information that can help identify and troubleshoot problems that occur during Windows installation, upgrade, or servicing.

Deleting these files can make it difficult to troubleshoot installation issues. Service Pack Backup Files Windows saves old versions of files that have been updated by a service pack. If you delete the files, you won't be able to uninstall the service pack later.

Figure E Disk Cleanup will prompt you to confirm the permanent delete operation. The end result You'll want to restart your system once Disk Cleanup completes its operation.

What's your take? Editor's Picks. The best programming languages to learn in Check for Log4j vulnerabilities with this simple-to-use script. TasksBoard is the kanban interface for Google Tasks you've been waiting for. Paging Zefram Cochrane: Humans have figured out how to make a warp bubble. Show Comments. Disk Cleanup helps free up space on your hard disk , creating improved system performance.

Disk Cleanup searches your disk and then shows you temporary files, Internet cache files, and unnecessary program files that you can safely delete. You can direct Disk Cleanup to delete some or all of those files. Hi, Yes, you should. All you need to do is hold down the Ctrl-key and the Shift-key before you select the option. Windows will take you to the full Disk Cleanup interface right away that includes system files.

Whether intentional or accidental, your PC shutting down or rebooting during updates can corrupt your Windows operating system and you could lose data and cause slowness to your PC. This happens mainly because old files are being changed or replaced by new files during an update.

The date has been announced: Microsoft will start offering Windows 11 on Oct. The error you are receiving occurs if there is corruption in the Component Based Servicing manifest. The only way to fix this is to do a 'repair' install of Windows Vista. The 'repair' in-place upgrade install will not effect your installed programs or data.

Just make sure you are already logged into your computer when you start the install. Do not boot from the DVD. If the installation does not start automatically when you insert the DVD, run setup. Kate - did all that and got nowhere. Rick - Do a Windows Repair for what one of their own updates breakes?

Just restored an image, or actually I made an image of my broken Windows, restored a perfect image of twee weeks ago, used Beyond Compare to find out what had changed since then had updated RED, made some changes in CCleaner etc. Windows Update still works just fine, so it is as I thought - one of the new updates is what breaks the mold. Am now about to test which update is responsible, but will make a new image first and I'm in no hurry to apply those updates.

Wonder where the Office update went to, because it is not on my list. Seems I have a safe version of Word all of a sudden? I went back to an image I made two months ago, because all of the updates gave the same error It wasn't just one of them.