Deleting Windows Update Cleanup. Is It A Good Thing?

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gator2013

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I've had this desktop for 10 months now. OEM purchase with 8.0, immediately upgraded to 8.1 and have applied all updates to date including the ones today. Never had any significant issues. I have a 1T HDD with over 820G free space and will probably never use half of that. Freeing up disk space is not an issue so I have never used Disk Cleanup to delete the Windows Update Cleanup files. Is there any benefit, downside or risk in deleting these files? I currently have about 190 Mb in the file but I surely don't need the extra space.

Appreciate any comments.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1 64, LT -Windows 10 Home 64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP 500-075 Desktop + HP 15-f018dx Laptop
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 3470 Ivy Bridge 3.2 GHz Quad Core/ LT - i3-4030U 1.9 GHz
    Motherboard
    Foxcon Joshua-H61-uATX
    Memory
    8 GB/ LT - 6GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD (DX10.1)
    Sound Card
    Integrated IDT 92HD73E
    Hard Drives
    1T HDD, 16G Sandisk Cache Drive, 2T Seagate 3.0 External
    Keyboard
    Wireless
    Mouse
    Wireless
    Browser
    IE11
    Antivirus
    Norton 360
    Other Info
    CyberPower UPS, Macrium Backup, Revo Pro, Malwarebytes Premium

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1 Update 1 Pro 64bit
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Pavillion H8-1202
    CPU
    I7-2600 @ 3.4 GHz
    Motherboard
    PEGATRON
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NIVDIA GeForce GT 520
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC656GR CODEC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung SyncMaster S22B350
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1080 32 bit color
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 EVO SSD 500GB
    Keyboard
    Razer Blackwidow Ultimate 2013
    Mouse
    Logitech M510
Thanks for your reply and the link to the article.

It's a good article. It seems as though the primary benefit is to free up disk space. I was think it might have a performance benefit but it really doesn't say anything like that in the article. Currently my WinSxS folder has 7.92 GB and my Update Clean-up folder has 186 MB so that's not extraordinarily large. Without a performance benefit I think I will just watch it for a while.

Disk Clean-up also shows a Windows Upgrade Log File that has 86.8 MB and I assume that is leftover from the 8.0 to 8.1
upgrade a long time ago. I think I will get rid of that one.


Thanks
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1 64, LT -Windows 10 Home 64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP 500-075 Desktop + HP 15-f018dx Laptop
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 3470 Ivy Bridge 3.2 GHz Quad Core/ LT - i3-4030U 1.9 GHz
    Motherboard
    Foxcon Joshua-H61-uATX
    Memory
    8 GB/ LT - 6GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD (DX10.1)
    Sound Card
    Integrated IDT 92HD73E
    Hard Drives
    1T HDD, 16G Sandisk Cache Drive, 2T Seagate 3.0 External
    Keyboard
    Wireless
    Mouse
    Wireless
    Browser
    IE11
    Antivirus
    Norton 360
    Other Info
    CyberPower UPS, Macrium Backup, Revo Pro, Malwarebytes Premium
The less things Windows has to sort through the better. I would think getting rid of old Updates would at least make virus scanning faster.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64-bit OEM
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 17R - 5737
    CPU
    Intel i5-4200U Processor (3M Cache, up to 2.6 GHz, UMA)
    Memory
    8 GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600MHz (4GBx2) Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3 inch LED Backlit Display with Truelife and HD+
    Screen Resolution
    1600 x 900
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital, 1-TB WD Blue SATA III, 5400 RPM, 8 MB Cache
    Mouse
    Microsoft Comfort Mouse 4500
    Internet Speed
    20 mb up / 17 mb down
    Browser
    Google Chrome 64-bit
    Antivirus
    MS Defender / Malwarebytes PRO
I'm in a very similar position, but the base version is Windows 8.1. I would just leave them. They can occasionally be useful, it's rare but possible.

It is just trivial fiddling as you have plenty of Hard Drive space, similarly with the other upgrade log. No impact whatsoever on performance.

Windows does not have to 'sort through' anything.
 

My Computer

System One

The cleaner the computer the better it is overall, less likely to have problems or slowdowns. Some of these older updates and been replaced by newer versions or cumulative updates and serve no purpose.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1 Update 1 Pro 64bit
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Pavillion H8-1202
    CPU
    I7-2600 @ 3.4 GHz
    Motherboard
    PEGATRON
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NIVDIA GeForce GT 520
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC656GR CODEC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung SyncMaster S22B350
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1080 32 bit color
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 EVO SSD 500GB
    Keyboard
    Razer Blackwidow Ultimate 2013
    Mouse
    Logitech M510
Antilope said:
The less things Windows has to sort through the better. I would think getting rid of old Updates would at least make virus scanning faster.
Click to expand...

agree ,it will not hurt to keep it clean no matter how much free space you have
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win8.1.1 enterprise
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Hinze57
    CPU
    AMD FX 6100 6core 3.30gHz
    Motherboard
    gigibyte ga-78lmy-s2p
    Memory
    4gig ddr3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radon hd5000 Series
    Sound Card
    onboard realtek hd
    Monitor(s) Displays
    19" viewsonic/ 22"Samsung
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    128gig ssd Kingston
    80gig WD 10000 rpm spinner
    Case
    micro
    Keyboard
    microsoft curve 200
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless M215
    Internet Speed
    high speed 20
    Browser
    ie 11
    Antivirus
    windows defender
    Other Info
    updated enterprise apr 2/14
I recently deleted the Windows Update files on one of my systems. The next time I ran Windows Update, it took a LLLLOOONNNNGGGG time to check for updates. It may have been a coincidence, but I don't believe it them.

After that first time, it's ran fine. And I do have a lot less space being used by the Update Log files.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    Intel I-7 860
    Motherboard
    Asus P7B
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia 580
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer (Primary), Asus (secondary), Sony TV (third)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Kingston 128GB SSD Windows 8 Boot Drive
    WD Black 1 TB (2 ea)
    WD Red 3 TB
    WD Black 500GB
    Keyboard
    MS 1000
    Mouse
    MS Flip
    Internet Speed
    Verizon FIOS 35/35
    Browser
    IE 11, Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari
    Antivirus
    Windows 8 Defender (MS Security Essentials)
Want to increase the speed of windows 8 + 8.1? Check the settings for the windows indexing, and limit it to the windows folder, the programs folders, regular and x86 and your personal folders. Or, do what I did and remove ALL folders from indexing, rebuild the index, which will be empty, pretty much, then turn off indexing and stop the service. I use Agent Ransack 64bit to find files, and it's fast, and you can limit where to look.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1 pro
    Computer type
    Tablet
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Microsoft Surface Pro 1
    CPU
    Intel I5
    Motherboard
    Microsoft
    Memory
    4 gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel
    Mouse
    Cheap Bluetooth 5 button
    Browser
    IE 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1 pro
    Computer type
    Tablet
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Microsoft Surface Pro 1
    CPU
    Intel I5
    Motherboard
    Microsoft
    Memory
    4 gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel
    Mouse
    Cheap Bluetooth 5 button
    Browser
    IE 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
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