Microsoft has released the first service pack SP1 for Windows 7 this month. After you have installed the SP1 update on your Windows 7 machine, you are left with around 530MB of backup files on the 32-bit edition of Windows 7 and around 960MB of backup files on the 64-bit edition of Windows 7. If you have no future plan for uninstalling the SP1 update (like most of Windows 7 users), then you can safely get rid of these backup files and reclaim this hard disk space. Here is how :
Note : After cleaning up the SP1 backup files, the option to uninstall SP1 will be removed and you will not be able to remove SP1 — the SP1 installation would become permanent.
- Click on the Start Menu (blue orb) on the left-bottom corner of your screen and type cleanmgr.exe. Right-click on the cleanmgr.exe when it appears and select Run as administrator.
- The Disk Cleanup tool window will popup. When asked, choose the partition on which your Windows 7 is installed (system partition). The system partition is shown with a windows logo icon. On my computer, Windows 7 is installed on the D: partition. For most users, it would be the C: partition.
- After analyzing your system the Disk Cleanup tool would show you options to select. Choose Service Pack Backup Files from the list by placing a checkmark in the checkbox as shown.
- Finally, click on the OK button to start cleaning the files. You will be asked for confirmation – if you really want to delete the files permanently. Choose Delete Files as shown. In a few seconds, you will get rid of all the SP1 backup files.
