Question on files/folders no longer needed to delete in Windows 7

The only backup software i used is Windows 7 backup and is not on schedule, is run mannualy.

Any files folder in the following folder that can be deleted:
      - Program Files
      - ProgramData
      - Windows

Prior placing question we deleted and move all possible files.

We were googling also and found possible disk available within Windows folder.  A forum talked about download of windows and service packs or hot fix installs.

You guys have any info on this?

my windows is 24GB.  I thought that windows sub-folders 'Downloaded Installations', 'SoftwareDistribution', 'Prefetch' could've been delete but I see it cant. Understood.

How about the subfolders of c:\Users\Username?  are there any folder that can be deleted? (lots of stuff there)

That's what we've been doing, identifying, deleting and moving space.

My drive is 297gb with 25gb free.

I don't have TreeSize, but i can determine the sub-folder size c:\user\username.  The total size, without considering my personal data like Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Favorites, Music, Pictures, Videos, Virtual Machines, is a bit over 20gb.

The sub-folders that sum that amount are:
   - AppData
   - Application Data
   - Cookies
   - Links
   - Local Settings
   - NetHood
   - PrintHood
   - Recent
   - Saved Games
   - Searches
   - temp
   - Templates
   - Tracing

Is there a way to clean up, reduce or delete any of these folders?

The AppData alone is a bit over 17 gb

My outlook data, including emails, is in My Documents, I took it out of AppData.

We have determine the sizes of each folder, took some time, but did it.  The area I am concern is

Program Files (45gb)
ProgramData (5gb)
users\username non-user data (20gb)

We know that Program Files is where almost all apps are installed, but we see that there's more folders than apps installed.  Also ProgramData & users\username has looks suspicious.

There has to be some info regarding reducing these areas.  


 

You need to look at the various folders and see what is there.

Since you apparently only have Program Files folder you must have Windows 7 32-bit. It looks a bit large but I do not know what is installed. Program Data is a reflection of Program Files.

So you need to take TreeSize (free trial) or WinDirStat (free) and run it. Then show us Program Files, Program Data and username sort down to the next level by size.

... Thinkpads_User

We've done that; verified where the space is consumed.  We done it by files and folders.   We used Windows Explorer.  We've deleted or moved the large user files that we could identified as good or bad.  We've cleaned up to the best of our knowledge prior placing the question.

Nevertheless, the utilities mention will be downloaded and run; we'll keep you guys posted.

We've done that; verified where the space is consumed.  We done it by files and folders.   We used Windows Explorer.  We've deleted or moved the large user files that we could identified as good or bad.  We've cleaned up to the best of our knowledge prior placing the question.

Nevertheless, the utilities mention will be downloaded and run; we'll keep you guys posted.

All the users data is located in My Documents, which is aprox 53gb.  The rest of aprox 237gb of spaced used is from the folder I indicated at the beginning of the question:

      - $AVG
      - 520511c1f8b59089c21379
      - 6dcf5bf2eb81b62e6300fa64ac83
      - 953e36798f9b16a0e171ef23b2c3
      - e024ece6360a63b8a7
      - Intel
      - Logs
      - MSOCache
      - PerfLogs
      - Recovery
      - SwSetup
      - Research in Motion
      - System Volume Information
      - SYSTEM.SAV
      - Program Files
      - ProgramData
      - Windows

      and the non-user data in c:\users\username

There has to be some area we can cleanup....

Anyways, we'll be downloading the tools to compare with our finding.

First of all, the utilities downloaded  WinDirStat  is excellente and worked like a charm.  It did help us identify areas of concern and space to relocate.

Now, the requested sizes:
         - Do not delete Intel.  -  1 MB
         - Do not delete MSO Cache.  -  529 MB
         - Do not delete Perflogs as they are more or less self mananging.  -  0
         - Do not delete Recovery. It is probably a backup.  -  170 MB
         - Do not delete SwSetup.  -  262 MB
         - Delete Research in Motion if you wish.  -  1 MB
         - SYSTEM.SAV is yours.  -  2 MB

We interpreted we can 'Delete' the following based on your comments:
 - Delete Research in Motion if you wish. It is yours and your Blackberry will go with it. How big is it?
 - SYSTEM.SAV is yours. How big is it?

   Can we?  Any other strategy here?

Now, our main concern is a how-to reduce, not delete, data in the following folders, the non-user data areas:
         - root folder (8gb)
         - Program Files (45gb)
         - ProgramData (5gb)
         - users\username non-user data (25gb)
         - Windows (23gb)

With that in mind, with WinDirStat we found where the space comes from; as follows:

   Our user areas:
  - in our Music folder that iTune is about 3gb and most music are a copy of the original Mucis area.  
  - in our Picture folder, there is a folder  'iPod Photo Cache' about 2gb
  - in C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft, is about 16gb

  Non-user data:
  - c:\pagefile is 7gb
  - c:\hiberfil is 3gb
  - C:\Program Files\Common Files is 2gb
  - C:\System Volume Information is 7gb
  - C:\Windows\Downloaded Installations is 80mb
  - C:\Windows\inf is 200mb
  - C:\Windows\Installer is 8gb
  - C:\Windows\winsxs is 7gb

Based on the info we have provided, can you fine fellow recommend a way to reduce data (please note with tools we did delete some of our users info that we don't need)

I never include our user data, the data we create, copy to, etc. within c:\users\username, which is My Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, Virtual Machine, etc.

In essence, our c:\users\username total contents is 178gb which 25gb is non-user data (when we refer to non-user data is data that we don't create, such as docs, pics, videos, emails, etc., non-user data is whats created by Windows and installed apps).  In other words, c:\users\username contents is 178gb, less our user data which is 153gb, the result is non-user data is 25gb.

The utility has helped us identify and delete files in our user data that we do't need, which freed up 15gb.  We also, reviewed Program Files and freed up another 2gb of unneeded apps.

I think this thread has helped a lot.  

To close this question, in the Windows files, the folders download, inf, installer and winsxs, i know you say DONT DELETE, but is there any way to reduce this space taken?  

So the vast majority of your usage is user data (more than 150Gb) which is what I was thinking all along.

>>> in the Windows files, the folders download, inf, installer and winsxs, i know you say DONT DELETE, but is there any way to reduce this space taken?  

Not really, and here is why:

Inf files are your driver files and should be left untouched.
Download was only 80Mb and comes and goes. This is not worth your attention.
Installer are windows installer files and again, for proper operation should not be touched.
Winsxs is the record of install and some uninstall capability. This is needed to do a system restore. For proper operation, this should not be touched.

So the short answer is Do Not Delete this stuff, but I have elaborated why.

Since your data is the prime source of disk usage, you could consider getting a USB hard drive and putting older data on an external drive (data you do not use daily or weekly).

I hope this helps as well. .. Thinkpads_User

Thank you very much!

One last question, 'C:\Users\username\AppData' is about 17gb.  You mention in ID: 36479354 'which holds your email.'.  My emails is located out of AppData, not there.  Any ideas if there is something I can delete from there?

OK thanx... again, with WinDirStat we identify that from 17gb, 15gb is from Windows Virtual PC

Thanx, we are good to go!

Thank you for the update, so I hope you can now close this out after all our work.  Cheers, ... Thinkpads_User

Excellent!