After Install of XP sp2 What Files Related To The Install Can I Remove Safely?

Per Newt's suggestion I finally got around to installing XP sp2 last night. I followed all the prep work to a tee and it went very smoothly (even though everything all together took over 4hours).

However, I noticed that my hard drive space dwindled over 2 gigs worth. Are there files / folders related to my XP sp2 install that I can safely delete? If so how and which ones? Also what are the pitfalls of doing so (if any) if I decide to remove them?

Thanks, a Tar Heel fan unlike Newt lol (smile)

 

This may help

What's a tarheel?

 

tarheelfan001--the reference provided by DumbTerminal is for Win2000, but much of the same info applies to XP as well. The files being suggested for deletion are the uninstall files for SP2.
However notice the statement "NOTE: The Service Pack uninstall capability must only be removed after you have determined that there is no longer a need to return the system to the pre-Service Pack state. "
So if you delete these files, you will not be able to uninstall SP2. (You should find an entry in Control Panel|Add/Remove to permit removal of SP2 now, but that will not work if you delete the mentioned files.) You might want to wait awhile to be sure all is OK and you want to keep SP2.

 

Thanks for The Advice

Thanks to both of you for the advice. I think I will wait awhile to make sure everything is working fine before I uninstall those files.

 

A poor misguided soul who supports the athletic programs of the University of North Carolina. Those of us who favor Duke University feel only pity for UNC (tarheel) fans. We do know they mean well but .....

tarheelfan001 - if you want to reclaim some space, I'd suggest
- removing the indexing on all your drives. It is supposed to speed up searches but my experience has been that it does not and the database built to support indexing is just wasting drive space.
- turning off hibernation and standby if you don't use either feature. If you do use one or the other, turn off the one you don't use.
- reduce the amount of space set aside for temporary internet files. It is way too big by default.

 

Newt How Do I Turn Off the Indexing Service?

Hey Newt ,

How do I turn off the indexing service as you suggested?

Also, since I installed sp2 as you suggested, I can no longer get my pchealth / helpctr.exe to work. I have done so many things to correct it. I did all the things as listed on Kelley's corner. I reinstalled it out of the Windows inf folder, I copied the winhlp32.exe .cnt and . hlp files off of my xp disks ( expanded them) and put them in my windows folder, all to no avail. When I click on it nothing happens, no error msg, no nothing. The files / folders are there, I have reinstalled them and checked several times. Any suggestions?

Thanks, Tar

 

tarheelfan001--Here is a fairly comprehensive discussion of the various XP Services
http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm
The links at the bottom connect you to the specifics on each, such as Indexing.