All Narfed Up photography and words by Bryan Villarin

Reduce Windows XP size

Where’s the article that simply explains how to reduce the size of Windows XP? I found a huge guide from Bold Fortune, but that’s not the article I saw. (Although it looks very comprehensive, and worth a read!) If you know what I’m talking about, I’d love to get the link. Thanks!

Update 2006-05-26: After more than seven months, Henry J. Fry comes in with the clutch link! (Here’s the guide: “Making your windows folder smaller“) You’re the man!

 

29 Comments

Hi Brian.
Not sure if this is what you are looking for. Nlite
Any good ?

Posted by joss on 5 October 2005 @ 9am

No, it was just an article, explaining quite a few folders and/or files you could delete. You could supposedly free 700 MB or something, and (stupid me), I didn’t check before and after. :lol:

Posted by Bryan on 5 October 2005 @ 11am

No worries Bryan, Notice correct spelling this time :) Soon as I posted I popped over to the link and seen the article on bold forums. Should have read it first…Good luck with the search.

Posted by joss on 5 October 2005 @ 11am

Thanks joss!

Posted by Bryan on 5 October 2005 @ 12pm

Bryan,

You could delete approximately 500MB from the DLLCACHE folder.

What this folder does, is if any of your System Files get replaced by unknown ones, Windows replaces it with the original, which is located in DLLCACHE. If you delete these files, it’ll just ask for the CD.

To delete it properly, goto a Command Prompt, and type SFC /PURGECACHE

Hope that helps.

(another) Bryan

Posted by Bryan on 7 October 2005 @ 6am

Thanks Bryan.

Disclaimer: We’re not responsible for any damage you cause on your own computer. Use this at your own risk.

Posted by Bryan on 7 October 2005 @ 7am

Was it my guide you were looking for?

Slimming Down Windows XP: The Complete Guide

Posted by Bold_Fortune on 27 October 2005 @ 1pm

Nope, that’s the one I saw but wasn’t looking for. That’s a very extensive guide, whereas the quick guide I saw was much easier to digest.

By the way, good job on it. :-P

Posted by Bryan on 27 October 2005 @ 1pm

Maybe this is it? And if you forget remember the word fat.

Posted by xerxes on 30 December 2005 @ 10pm

@xerxes: Thanks, that might be it!

Posted by Bryan on 31 December 2005 @ 1am

So……. I’m curious was that it?

Posted by xerxes on 3 January 2006 @ 1pm

That wasn’t it. It’s cool though, I think it hit most of the stuff I saw anyways. It’s been such awhile back, it doesn’t matter too much. Thanks for checking up again, that’s awesome. :)

Posted by Bryan on 3 January 2006 @ 2pm

Did it say what size it reduced it to? Mb? or any thing like that.

Posted by xerxes on 4 January 2006 @ 11am

No, I didn’t see it. I’ll probably try this out sometime on a fresh Windows XP install to display the difference.

Posted by Bryan on 4 January 2006 @ 12pm

If you find it please let us know ’cause I have never seen it, Thanx

Posted by Xerxes on 9 January 2006 @ 10am

Absolutely. Did you look at the guide from Bold Fortune? It looks really comprehensive!

Posted by Bryan on 9 January 2006 @ 12pm

Theres software out there called nLite. It creates a new XP install CD from your original including any patches. You can also deselect a lot more of XP than you can with the standard microsoft setup and these changes are also reflected on the new CD so you dont need to go through as much of the setup options. Just stick the disk in and install.

Hope this helps

Posted by Gray on 12 March 2006 @ 10am

Sorry. See youve already had that suggestion

Posted by Gray on 12 March 2006 @ 11am

No worries, thanks for the input anyway, Gray. :)

Posted by Bryan on 12 March 2006 @ 12pm

http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=80511

I think that might be what you were looking for (certaintly what i was looking for when i found this)

Posted by henry.j.fry on 26 May 2006 @ 10am

Wow, more than seven months later, the right answer! Thanks a bunch, Henry!!!

Posted by Bryan on 26 May 2006 @ 10pm

You know, I too was recently trying to relocate an article about slimming down Windows XP. It was very comprehensive, a little sarcastic, and seemed to be just what I needed.

I thought I bookmarked it at work and I used Foxmarks to upload my bookmarks for use at home. I went home for the weekend. When i got home I couldn’t find it. So i began to search the internet. I have spent hours, for days, looking and can no longer find it. It’s not in my history or cache, as my system cleans those over the weekend. I am frustrated.

It was written by someone that is a long time windows user. The guide covered everything from clearing your “Start up” folder, and moving your ‘My Downloads” folder, as well as regulating partitioning and paging files. I must have looked at hundreds of pages since then, to no avail. All the above mentioned ones are fine, but not the one i want.

All I can tell you is that I had started by searching for guides on improving frame rates, graphic settings, and network setup. But I stumbled onto that guide and can’t seem to stumble back. =(

Any help would be appreciated.

Posted by ShawnJ on 31 July 2007 @ 11am

@ShawnJ: Sorry man, I’m not sure I’d go further than the two mentioned in the main blog post. In my opinion, it’s probably be overkill.

Any takers?

Posted by Bryan on 31 July 2007 @ 12pm

@Bryan: Yeah, I found those links on my own during the search. Those guides are good. I just liked his presentation. He used nice graphics and screens, dabbled with veteran windows sarcasm, and made it simple enough even for novice users. He had some really nice tips and methods. Granted I wasn’t going to follow it to a ‘T’, but I was hoping to try some of those tips. I remember thinking, “oh, that sounds like what I want to do”. Guess not any more. *grumble*
Thanks anyway.

Posted by ShawnJ on 31 July 2007 @ 12pm

ShawnJ , it mighr be the guide at http://www.blackviper.com , if not let me know as I have been collecting lots of links regarding losing the windows bloat , am trying to see how low I can go before total system failure.

Posted by W130SN on 27 October 2007 @ 4pm

@W130SN: thanks, but I don’t think that’s it. I’m well aware of blackviper’s site and have used his help guides regularly. He covers many of the things I am looking to do, although that’s still not looking like the site I want.
I remember there being a lot of blue text headers, and no black background. There were many pages and guides. He is an older fellow, and touted himself as a longtime windows user, a veteran of sorts.
With my luck they’ve either updated the style, or have closed up shop. I should probably start my own thread, and spread it all around and see if anyone can find it. A mission impossible?
I just really liked his was of presenting things; like he was talking to you in a normal conversation.

Posted by ShawnJ on 3 July 2008 @ 10am

ShawnJ , I probably have the site bookmarked , when I go through them I will try to find it for you.
You might like to try these sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Most_Valuable_Professional
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/communities/mvp.aspx
http://www.mvps.org/
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/
If you still can’t find, it try STUMBLEUPON download the toolbar and sign up for the computing subjects and you should be able to stumble it.

Posted by W130SN on 3 July 2008 @ 11am

Hi Bryan,

You mentioned the article you were searching for was easy to understand for us new to system tweaking. I also believe you said something about blue headings.

I know Black Viper was mentioned; but, his site’s Left Sidebar menu let me change the background colour from black to white. When I did the headings all changed to blue letters on a white background.

Having just ten numbered suggestions it has been the easiest article to understand I’ve found.

Regards,
ken

Posted by Ken on 17 September 2008 @ 12pm

@Ken - Thanks for the comment. See my original post for the update and the link to the article I was looking for.

Posted by Bryan Villarin on 17 September 2008 @ 1pm

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