WinSXS under Windows 7

[AndrewMozley]

I apologise if this has been answered before. On my Windows 7 machine there is a folder Windows\Winsxs. This has 7 GB of files and folders within it.

I understand that this is to do with Windows Updates. Do I need all these files, and if not, how should I set about removing them?

On searching for a solution, I see the recommendation to run Disk Cleanup (Windows Start key | Disk Cleanup ) I have run this, and after I click on "Cleanup System files", it certainly displays a window "Scanning service pack Backup Files" However this option, although it has removed a few files, still leaves the 7GB.

If anyone has successfully dealt with this problem (or even established that these are all necessary files) I would be most grateful for guidance.

 

[xwb]

The WinSxS folder contains files for fixing side-by-side (SxS) configuration issues. If you are not short of space, I'd leave these alone as you don't know which executables use which DLLs.