Windows 7: Windows 7 folder is huge

Hey

So I checked today why i have so little space on my drive and it turns out my windows folder is almost 16 GB. Is that normal? How can I shrink it.

I tried already Advance Clean-up but nothing has changed. Any suggestions?

Thanks

the winsxs folder may seem to be large, but it's mostly hard linked files (ie. if you hard link to a 2gb file, system reports 4gb used tho it's really only the one file and a virtual link to the same file), it appears to take up a lot of room, but it's effectively counting the space twice. do not delete anything in the winsxs directory. try searching microsoft's site for winsxs if you get tempted. the free space is more than reported.

you can try running ccleaner from piriform, it'll clear out a lot more junk than microsofts cleaner & is relatively safe.

be careful tho.

Yes your windows folder size is perfectly normal.Mine is around 18 GB.

And you can't and should not shrink your windows folder.It would make your system unusable.

Installing windows 7 on 60-90 GB partition is enough in my opinion.Whats the size of your C drive anyway?

Welcome to Windows Seven Forums.

Out of curiosity, I checked my Windows folder and it currently sits at 23.5 GB.

Of that the WinSXS folder accounts for 9.5 GB.

In my view you've got nothing to be overly concerned about.



That said, you can:

1. Run Disk Cleanup
2. Delete the Windows.old folder if you have one and there is nothing you need in it
3. Reduce the size of your shadow storage space
4. Invest in a bigger hard drive
5. Uninstall any software you don't use

Whatever you do, don't try and compress your Windows folder. Also, leave the WinSXS folder as it is or you may encounter instability problems.

Check out this excellent tutorial by Brink: Optimize Windows 7

Hi Kermunos

More
If you often use third party downloader program to download large files sized to gigabyte, if any, try to set the temp folder other then C. In case it fail to complete it won't leave big size trash on it.

Can you explain how to do that, please ?
Thanks

Click Start and type cmd in the Search field.

Right-click cmd under the Programs list and choose Run as Administrator.

Accept the UAC prompt then type the following command and press Enter to run it:

Vssadmin Resize ShadowStorage /For=C: /On=C: /MaxSize=2GB

Next, type Exit then press Enter to close the command window.

Pay particular attention to the spaces in the command line. Note the drive letter of the drive you want reduce the shadow storage on and the MaxSize, which can be any size you want, but be aware that by reducing the size allocated for shadow storage you also reduce the number of restore points available.

Once your restore points have filled the allocated drive space, Windows will start to delete the oldest ones.

I never use Windows backup- restore, only Acronis.
So, in this case, cand i do
Vssadmin Resize ShadowStorage /For=C: /On=C: /MaxSize=0GB
?

You could, but it's just as easy to go into System Properties and turn System Restore off.

16GB isnt much when compared to today's hard disk sizes. But the principle is that we are "doing less with more". Windows 7 doesnt have that many more features than Win XP. Yet the install is 10 times the size! Tens of thousands of files. The .Net content of Windows 7 alone is larger than a full XP install. It strikes me as being laziness on Microsoft's part. However they dont have a monopoly on promoting bloat, it seems to be the norm with all modern commercial software houses.