Microsoft have released a patch to the Disk Cleanup utility as part of the October patches. If you do not have Update is available that enables you to delete outdated Windows updates by using a new option in the Disk Cleanup wizard in Windows 7 SP1 I recommend you download and install it. If it is already installed run the disk cleanup utility.
From the in the “More Information” section on usage:
“After you install this update, follow these steps to clean up Windows update files.
Note You must have administrator permissions to clean up Windows update files.
1.Start the Disk Cleanup wizard. To do this, use one of the following methods:◦Method 1: Click Start, type cleanmgr in the Start Search box, and then click OK.
◦Method 2: Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, click System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup.
◦Method 3: If a Low Disk Space notification appears, click the notification to open the Disk Cleanup wizard.
2.Select the Windows 7 system drive, and then click OK.
Note This operation might take several seconds because the Disk Cleanup wizard searches for files on the drive that can be cleaned up.
3.If the Windows Update Cleanup option is not displayed on the Disk Cleanup tab, click Clean up system files. If the Windows Update Cleanup option is displayed on the Disk Cleanup tab, go to step 5.
Note The Windows Update Cleanup option is available only when you log on by using administrator permissions.
4.Select the Windows 7 system drive, and then click OK.
5.On the Disk Cleanup tab, select Windows Update Cleanup, and then click OK.
Note By default, the Windows Update Cleanup option is already selected.
6.When a dialog box appears, click Delete Files.
Notes•The Disk Cleanup wizard runs in the background.
•You may have to restart the computer to finish the cleanup process.
For more information about how to use a command line to configure the Disk Cleanup wizard to automatically clean up certain files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
315246 How to Automate the Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows XP and Windows 7 ”
NOTE: You must have SP1 installed.
This patch allows you to significantly reduce the amount of disk space used in the WinSXS folder. On one PC I recovered 4 GB. On another 3.4 GB.
Joe
--Joe
