Can I delete old service paks and security updates to free up memory on my hard drive?1 person needs an answerI do too

You will be in big trouble if you delete Service Packs and Security Updates. Even though you may have received them some time ago they are always working to enhance and protect your computer. You can do a Disk Cleanup to regain some disk space. Open My Computer and right click Local Disk (C:) Choose Properties, Click Disk Cleanup, You can safely remove anything on that list by puting a check in the box and clicking OK. These will be recreated as you use your computer. You can regain even more Disk space by choosing the More Options Tab. If you remove any Windows componets and later need them you can go back and reenable them by putting a check in the box. Installed Programs, do not uninstall any Windows Programs but you can uninstall programs you have added from CD or downloaded from the internet. You will gain the most space by doing a Clean up with System Restore. Only cleanup System Restore if your computer is running well.fyip.....for your information please

Can I delete old service paks and security updates to free up memory on my hard drive?Not the way you're probably thinking about it.When you install some Windows updates, the system saves information that can be used if you later decide that you want to uninstall that update. If decide that you NEVER want to uninstall updates, you can delete these $NTUninstallKBxxxxxx$ folders (although it would be prudent to burn these folders to a CD first). For directions, seehttp://windowsxp.mvps.org/Hotfix_backup.htmThere are several other things you can do to free up hard drive space, although sooner rather than later you should simply buy a larger hard drive. You may be able to add a second hard drive if you have a desktop with a vacant drive bay or you may simply replace your existing hard drive with a larger one. In the event you replace, you would "clone" your existing hard drive to the newer, larger one, thus preserving all of your applications and data.In the meantime:Run Disk Cleanup: Start > Run > cleanmgr > OKEnsure that System Restore doesn't use more than about 1 GB. See http://bertk.mvps.org/html/diskspace.htmlIf you use Hibernation, consider disabling it. This doesn't gain much disk space: hibernation uses an amount of disk space equal to the amount of RAM you have. Control Panel > Power Options > Hibernate.Uninstall applications that you don't use.Download and run JDiskReport (it's free, and you can uninstall it when you're done). This will show you what files are taking up space on your hard drive so that you can decide what, if anything, you're willing to delete (or move to some other storage media) in order to gain space.

JulieIncreasing free disk doesn't increase memory. It will mean that the pagefile needs to expand there is more disk for the pagefile to use. That's something I have never done.There is a half way measure. Instead of deleting the uninstall files you can compress them on an NTFS formatted hard drive.If your drive is formatted as NTFS another potential gain arises withyour operating system on your C drive. In the Windows Directory ofyour C partition you will have some Uninstall folders in your Windowsfolder typically: $NtServicePackUninstall$ and $NtUninstallKB282010$etc. These files may be compressed or not compressed. If compressedthe text of the folder name appears in blue characters. If notcompressed you can compress them. Right click on each folder andselect Properties, General, Advanced and check the box before Compresscontents to save Disk Space. On the General Tab you can see the amountgained by deducting the size on disk from the size. Foldercompression is only an option on a NTFS formatted drive / partition.Other things you may wish to consider.The default allocation to System Restore is 12% on your C partitionwhich is over generous. I would reduce it to 700 mb. Right click your MyComputer icon on the Desktop and select System Restore. Place the cursoron your C drive select Settings but this time find the slider and dragit to the left until it reads 700 mb andexit. When you get to the Settings screen click on Apply and OK andexit.A default setting which could be wasteful is that for temporary internetfiles, especially if you do not store offline copies on disk. Thedefault allocation is 3% of drive. Depending on your attitude to offlinecopies you could reduce this to 1% or 2%. In Internet Explorer selectTools, Internet Options, General, Temporary Internet Files, Settings tomake the change. At the same time look at the number of days history isheld.The default allocation for the Recycle Bin is 10 % of drive. Change to5%, which should be sufficient. In Windows Explorer place the cursoron your Recycle Bin, right click and select Properties, Global andmove the slider from 10% to 5%. However, try to avoid letting it gettoo full as if it is full and you delete a file by mistake it willbypass the Recycle Bin and be gone for ever. Hope this helps, Gerry Cornell

JulieIncreasing free disk doesn't increase memory. It will mean that if the pagefile needs to expand there is more disk for the pagefile to use. That's something I have never done.There is a half way measure. Instead of deleting the uninstall files you can compress them on an NTFS formatted hard drive.If your drive is formatted as NTFS another potential gain arises withyour operating system on your C drive. In the Windows Directory ofyour C partition you will have some Uninstall folders in your Windowsfolder typically: $NtServicePackUninstall$ and $NtUninstallKB282010$etc. These files may be compressed or not compressed. If compressedthe text of the folder name appears in blue characters. If notcompressed you can compress them. Right click on each folder andselect Properties, General, Advanced and check the box before Compresscontents to save Disk Space. On the General Tab you can see the amountgained by deducting the size on disk from the size. Foldercompression is only an option on a NTFS formatted drive / partition.Other things you may wish to consider.The default allocation to System Restore is 12% on your C partitionwhich is over generous. I would reduce it to 700 mb. Right click your MyComputer icon on the Desktop and select System Restore. Place the cursoron your C drive select Settings but this time find the slider and dragit to the left until it reads 700 mb andexit. When you get to the Settings screen click on Apply and OK andexit.A default setting which could be wasteful is that for temporary internetfiles, especially if you do not store offline copies on disk. Thedefault allocation is 3% of drive. Depending on your attitude to offlinecopies you could reduce this to 1% or 2%. In Internet Explorer selectTools, Internet Options, General, Temporary Internet Files, Settings tomake the change. At the same time look at the number of days history isheld.The default allocation for the Recycle Bin is 10 % of drive. Change to5%, which should be sufficient. In Windows Explorer place the cursoron your Recycle Bin, right click and select Properties, Global andmove the slider from 10% to 5%. However, try to avoid letting it gettoo full as if it is full and you delete a file by mistake it willbypass the Recycle Bin and be gone for ever. Hope this helps, Gerry Cornell

JulieIncreasing free disk space doesn't increase memory. It will mean that if the pagefile needs to expand there is more disk for the pagefile to use. That's something I have never done.There is a half way measure. Instead of deleting the uninstall files you can compress them on an NTFS formatted hard drive.If your drive is formatted as NTFS another potential gain arises withyour operating system on your C drive. In the Windows Directory ofyour C partition you will have some Uninstall folders in your Windowsfolder typically: $NtServicePackUninstall$ and $NtUninstallKB282010$etc. These files may be compressed or not compressed. If compressedthe text of the folder name appears in blue characters. If notcompressed you can compress them. Right click on each folder andselect Properties, General, Advanced and check the box before Compresscontents to save Disk Space. On the General Tab you can see the amountgained by deducting the size on disk from the size. Foldercompression is only an option on a NTFS formatted drive / partition.Other things you may wish to consider.The default allocation to System Restore is 12% on your C partitionwhich is over generous. I would reduce it to 700 mb. Right click your MyComputer icon on the Desktop and select System Restore. Place the cursoron your C drive select Settings but this time find the slider and dragit to the left until it reads 700 mb andexit. When you get to the Settings screen click on Apply and OK andexit.A default setting which could be wasteful is that for temporary internetfiles, especially if you do not store offline copies on disk. Thedefault allocation is 3% of drive. Depending on your attitude to offlinecopies you could reduce this to 1% or 2%. In Internet Explorer selectTools, Internet Options, General, Temporary Internet Files, Settings tomake the change. At the same time look at the number of days history isheld.The default allocation for the Recycle Bin is 10 % of drive. Change to5%, which should be sufficient. In Windows Explorer place the cursoron your Recycle Bin, right click and select Properties, Global andmove the slider from 10% to 5%. However, try to avoid letting it gettoo full as if it is full and you delete a file by mistake it willbypass the Recycle Bin and be gone for ever. Hope this helps, Gerry Cornell

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