Vista's winsxs folder!

Discussion in 'Windows Vista' started by aqua, May 3, 2008.

  1. aqua

    aqua MDL Novice

    May 24, 2007
    13
    0
    0
    In my winsxs folder Vista 64, there are more than 14000 folders, and 50000 files that take about 10 gig! There are 2 to 8 similar files in different folders. explore.exe has 8 entries, many with same size and even same version! Is there any way to pick and delete unnecessary files, and why the old ones are not deleted automatically when updated with new versions?
    Any suggestions?
     
  2. FuzzyMaster

    FuzzyMaster MDL Member

    Jun 21, 2007
    220
    0
    10
  3. aqua

    aqua MDL Novice

    May 24, 2007
    13
    0
    0
    Hi and thanks for a very informative and also very alarming response!
    And thanks for the links. The only problem with a fresh install is always reinstalling all software, going through all personal configurations and calling MS for activation! Just now HD space is not a problem but just having so many numbers of files on partition, and so many entries in the registry would by time slow down the system.
    Regards.
     
  4. FuzzyMaster

    FuzzyMaster MDL Member

    Jun 21, 2007
    220
    0
    10
    You're welcome :D

    I know exactly what you mean about re-installing, I've gone through it a couple of times in the past so now I'm almost paranoid about doing complete drive image backups.

    But starting from scratch really is the best way to get the best performance out of your machine, especially with Vista.

    I recently used an existing PC with a duplicate identical hard drive & a fresh Vista install to do some application testing and was amazed at the difference in performance compared to the original Vista/drive (which had been through several OS upgrades). With essentially the same drivers, applications & documents, the fresh install would boot up to the desktop in 2 minutes compared to about 7 minutes for the original (multiple OS upgrade) Vista/drive.

    This wasn't particularily scientific, but the difference was noticible in every application, leading me to believe that the time taken to re-install everything fresh was well worth it in the long run. I am still using this new install for testing and it is still very responsive. :)
     
  5. haXXa

    haXXa MDL Junior Member

    Oct 25, 2007
    55
    0
    0
    Now I know where my 4,59 GB went :p


    Shame on you Microsoft!