A tip for freeing up a lot of HD space

I'm not an expert but this worked for me...

If you seriously want more HD space, then you can remove the backup files Windows creates when it installs patches and service packs. If you've installed SP2 and your system is stable, then you can go ahead with this.

1) Make sure you have set your OS to read hidden and system files.

2) Go to the C:/ Windows folder in Windows Explorer. Copy the folder "$NtService PackUninstall$" to a CD for backup. If you ever need to uninstall SP2 you will need to put this folder back on your system.

3) Delete the above folder (ie "$NtService PackUninstall$") from your hard drive.

4) Delete all "$NtUninstallQ..." and "$NtUninstallKB..." folders (they'll have some numbers after those letters).

5) Go to C:/ Windows/Software Distribution/Download. Select all the files in this folder only and delete.

6) Delete the "xpsp1hfm" folder if you have it.

7) Click on Recycle bin and empty. It will all go away.

How much do you free up? A lot! On my desktop I cleared nearly 5,500 files and freed up 986MB of space. On my laptop, I cleared 620MB. It's a safe procedure, as you're just deleting old backup files which are not needed any more. It's also a good way to remove some of the duplicate files from your system.

Does anyone else have a good tip for deleting unnecessary files on the hard drive?

Swishsticks

I would not recommend doing this. If you can't boot into Windows, and need to fix the issue in recovery console. More info in this thread.

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Yes, I see your point. I guess it's a judgement call. I'm happy with it, especially I needed the space on my laptop.

Here's a link to a different POV.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/e...g=en&cr=US&p=1

Swishsticks