What programs can I safely remove to make room for Windows 10 upgrade?

I have an 80gb SSD and am removing everything possible because I am concerned that there won't be enough space for the Windows 10 upgrade. From what i've read, the windows.old folder where the old system is stored can be 30gb or more. Currently, I only have 20gb available. The Windows 10 app says my computer is ready for Windows 10, but it doesn't mention space needed.

Obviously, I don't want to prevent my machine from operating, but I'm wondering if some older versions of some Microsoft objects can be safely removed.

Microsoft Sliverlight 3 SDK - just for developers?
Microsoft Sliverlight 4 SDK

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Tools for Office Runtime (x64) - I previously installed VS 2010, but is this necessary for Windows to function?

Many, many named Microsoft Visual C++ 20nn Redistributable (where 20nn is a year) - probably shouldn't remove?

Thanks for any help!

@spedwards
How big is your current Windows folder ?
I'm not sure, but I think the Windows.old would be a copy of the current Windows folder, and be the same size.
I also delete Windows.old whenever one gets created, so i don't have any now to check.

Also, if you have a lot of User data, can you copy it to an external drive for backup ?
Then delete it from your current OS before the upgrade, and restore it back to W10 after the upgrade.

ignatzatsonic: Thank you, I have done most of what you suggest, but I haven't minimized the paging file. I want to take advantage of the free upgrade before the deadline. All things being equal, I'd prefer a clean install, but don't want to pay $200.

indianacarnie: Thanks for the specifics on those items that I can safely remove.

DavidE: My windows folder is currently 27gb. There are still a few things I can delete from the C: drive when I'm ready to run the install. Fortunately, most of the data I care about is on a separate hard drive.

Thanks one and all for your input!

ignatzatsonic said:

You could reduce space currently used on Windows 7 through several methods:

1: removing all possible currently installed programs
2: reducing or eliminating space devoted to System Restore
3: turning off hibernation
4: minimizing the size of your page file.
5: running Disk Cleanup including the "system files" option.

Maybe you've already done some or all of that?

Another option is to do a clean install of Windows 10, which would NOT result in the Windows.old folder. If you did this, you would not be able to use the Windows 10 "rollback" feature to revert to Windows 7. You'd instead have to rely on an imaging application to restore Windows 7 should you ever want to do that.

I have no idea about those specific items you mention.

indianacarnie said:

The Silverlight's can go as well as the Visual studios 2010. None of those is "needed" for windows to function. I've already deleted my windows .old folder but I'm sure it was nothing even close to 30GB.

DavidE said:

@spedwards
How big is your current Windows folder ?
I'm not sure, but I think the Windows.old would be a copy of the current Windows folder, and be the same size.
I also delete Windows.old whenever one gets created, so i don't have any now to check.

Also, if you have a lot of User data, can you copy it to an external drive for backup ?
Then delete it from your current OS before the upgrade, and restore it back to W10 after the upgrade.

Trying to run a computer on an 80 GB drive is like trying to sail the Atlantic in a rowboat.
And fixing the computer problem is easy. Buy a bigger disk drive. You can get a TB drive for under $100.