How do you clean out the C:\Windows\Installer folder?

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When looking in that folder here and finding a lengthy list of temp sub folders used for the original installation of MS Office 2010 beta and other programs I simply hightlighted and right clicked on the entire contents found and simply chose the delete option to send them on their way since they were no longer needed. Now all I see when looking there is an empty folder without having any effect on the programs that saw subs there. Windows likes to hold onto files that lack installer cleanup functions.

Actually it uses them as a cache for when you need to do a repair install or change insall of the app.

So for Office, if you need to run detect and repair, it will pull the files from there,, if you delete them, you will have to provide the location of the install files or an install disk.
Or if there is a feature you didn't install previously, you can just have it install without having to provide a disk or location.

The others will be found in the Add/Remove area, when you go in there,, any app that has a repair or change function to it will search for the install files in that location first.

You can delete them if you really need to, but you should have the installation files ready in another location or on Disk when needed.

The files found here were about 649mb total. That will vary between different systems for obvious reasons there. Those won't be needed here however once the new drive is actually moved into the new build inprogress where it will wiped entirely.

For the system there you may want to browse each to hand pick which ones you know will be safe to delete. If drive space is an issue the last and final option would be simply manual deletion. Tepid also brings up a good point there too about you find you need some of them at a later date.

If 7 came preinstalled on your labtop any recovery would see the entire primary reformatted with a clean install of 7 put back on as part of the process. If you have software disks or downloaded programs that can be reinstalled again those items you can simply pick those out and toss them since none of these are required to the program installed run.

On a repair install of Windows or rather an upgrade repair using the upgrade option while booted in Windows to repair the present installation the entire registry as well as files and folders for the programs are backed up and restored during the installation. Under those circumstances some things may end up needing to see a fresh install anyways. Video, sound, and other addon devices(if any) drivers and softwares usually take a hit and need to redone there.

If you feel you need to back them up use an rw disk or other removable media "just in case?" while none of them are essential for programs to run. Hightlight and right click on them to see how much drive space is being used.