patch files

[lewmur]

Can I safely delete the patch folders in the Windows directory in XP? The ones that start with $? I'm assuming these folders are there in case you want to uninstall a patch that causes problems. Is that correct?

[Guitar Man]

You're partly correct. They're actually the uninstall files for updates. And because one of them may be a service pack, it's important to verify that you're not removing a major one. And as long as those updates (or hot fixes as they were called in the past) don't cause issues (and you only really know once you run your system after a "Patch Tuesday") then you can delete the uninstaller files.The major reason in the past for wanting to remove them was to save space on smaller hard drives. On newer systems, this is no longer a concern.

[lewmur]

You're partly correct. They're actually the uninstall files for updates. And because one of them may be a service pack, it's important to verify that you're not removing a major one. And as long as those updates (or hot fixes as they were called in the past) don't cause issues (and you only really know once you run your system after a "Patch Tuesday") then you can delete the uninstaller files.The major reason in the past for wanting to remove them was to save space on smaller hard drives. On newer systems, this is no longer a concern.

It isn't so much the disk space, though that can be an issue on netbooks, as it is the irritation of scrolling through all that mess every time I open the Windows directory. If the only purpose is to "roll back" to a place I haven't been in months, and wouldn't want to be anyway, then it's "bye bye baby!!!" :whistling:edit; "Disk space" can also be a big issue when dealing with "virtual drives." Something I deal with quite often. Edited April 17, 2010 by lewmur