28 GB Windows folder. How to reduce bloat?

[ProfPepper]

Hi,

I have a 60 GB SSD and would like to free up storage. My C drive I've lost around 6 GB this year alone, mostly in the windows folder, however I do not think that I have installed 6 GB worth of windows updates.

I've used Disk Cleanup, use CCleaner, and my DriverStore is only 1.9 GB.

Below is a breakdown of most of my windows folder so you can see the size of each folder.

As you can see, the Winsxs is quite large but I'm not sure if there is an adequate method to reduce size.

Thanks for any help, I'll be happy to answer any questions to clarify.

 

[Megahertz07]

Don't try to shrink Windows folder or you may have an unstable system.

Under windows, the only two folders that you can clean is the C:\ Temp and C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download

See post nº5
Wondering why my C:\Windows folder is so large

 

[ProfPepper]

I was hoping that wouldn't be the case :/

Why does the Windows folder get so consistently large anyway?

 

[XweAponX]

It's the Winsxs folder, mine is about 9gb. Look through that folder, for things that ought not to be in it, I'm not clear on what that folder is for, recovery, ? There is a Backup folder in there, check that.

Check these:

How to Save Space By Cleaning Windows' WinSxS Folder

Clean Up the WinSxS Folder

This has a link to a specific cleanup tool:

winsxs folder 12Gb in size, how can I reduce?! - [Solved] - Windows 7

And again, run Disk Cleanup:

How to Reduce the Size of Your WinSXS Folder on Windows 7 or 8

 

[MourningStar]

... Under windows, the only two folders that you can clean is the C:\ Temp and C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download ...

I noticed I have a folder labeled 'SoftwareDistribution.bak'. Is it ok to delete this one?

 

[XweAponX]

I just ran the Disk Cleaner utility, and it killed 2gb off my Winsxs folder. Try it and see what happens.

I suppose any *.Bak files/Folders can be deleted

 

[MourningStar]

... I suppose any *.Bak files/Folders can be deleted

sorry, I need more than "I suppose" ... (no offense intended)

 

[AddRAM]

3 things you can do to gain space.

1) Reduce the size of the pagefile, if you`ve never touched it, it`ll be 8 GB, you don`t need a 8GB page file.

2) Disable Hibernation

3) Disable System Restore or lower the amount windows use for system restore.

I don`t recommend #3 unless you create Disk Images.

 

[townsbg]

Winsxs cannot be cleared by much without seriously damaging the system. See my thread on the subject for something that you can do. Winsxs Folder

 

[ProfPepper]

So it's best to leave it alone? I'm just trying to prevent my SSD from getting too low on free space where it starts hindering the performance. I currently fluctuate between about 13-15 GB of free space, but if the winsxs folder keeps growing the way it is, it could easily get to about 10 GB and lower.

 

[Layback Bear]

Very interesting read. I recommend it.

WinSxS Folder in Windows 10/8/7 explained

Conclusion
Let the WinSxS folder be as it is!

Jack

 

[Callender]

So it's best to leave it alone? I'm just trying to prevent my SSD from getting too low on free space where it starts hindering the performance. I currently fluctuate between about 13-15 GB of free space, but if the winsxs folder keeps growing the way it is, it could easily get to about 10 GB and lower.

After running official MS method of cleaning WINSXS and using tools like PatchCleaner my WINSXS folder is currently 13.8 GB and you can't seriously expect to get it to a much smaller size after running those tools.

You can disable hibernation to save a fairly large chunk of drive space. You can also periodically clean logs if you don't need them because your system is running okay.

Event Viewer One Click Clear or read the thread - Event Viewer One Click Clear

Also you could run an ADS scanner to remove only safe ADS.

How do I delete zone identifier files?

You can use this to find and remove .bak files. Just add them to the include list.

View attachment Disk Cleaner.zip​

​

Run a scan and inspect results. Uncheck anything that you don't want to delete.

 

[XweAponX]

Well you can only clean it through the Disk Cleanup utility, located in Accessories/System Tools on your start menu- Don't ever try to randomly delete files yourself, but the tool should remove a bunch of your bloat. When you run that tool, you want to choose the very bottom checkbox, that's the one that removes the stuff in "winsxs". It says "Temporary Files", but you should also check "downloaded program files" You can check the other selections at your leisure, but I generally run all of them.

As far as the "bak" folder, I think it's safe to delete that, in your case it was probably created when you ran the Windows Update repair Diagcab at one point. That's the folder where your downloaded windows updates are saved, if the diagcab repaired Windows Update, then it should be safe to delete that backup of the original corrupted folder.

You can also try CCleaner free version, it will delete all kinds of backups. Just download that and run it, I would not be surprised if it finds and deletes up to 10gb of bloat. Be prepared to wait a long time while it populates the files, but don't close the app, let it run, then delete the files it finds. There are two buttons, "analyze" and "clean", run analyze first, then clean.

On systems where I have never run that tool, I've found all the way up to 10gb of temp files. But try the built in Disk Cleaner tool first.