The disk cleanup utility in the latest version of Windows (Windows 8) comes with a feature to clean the installed Windows updates. This feature can clean hundreds of megabytes of the Windows updates downloaded over many months or years. If you are a Windows 7 user and are feeling left out, then you can install this feature as an add-on in the disk cleanup utility for Windows 7. Here is how:
- This feature is available as a Windows Update for Windows 7 SP1. You can download this update from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2852386. The downloads are available for Windows 7 32-bit and Windows 64-bit.
- After installation of the KB2852386 update, you can run the Disk Cleanup Utility from the Start Menu. You can also press the Win + R hotkey, type cleanmgr.exe in the Run dialog and press Enter.
- When the Disk Cleanup Utility starts, select a drive to scan. When the options window shows up, click on the Clean up system files button to relaunch the utility with administrative privileges.
- This time Disk Cleanup Utility would scan your system for files related to installed Windows Updates and Service Packs. You can select the options Windows Update Cleanup and Service Pack Backup Files and click on the OK button to clean the installed update or service pack files.
The new feature in Disk Cleanup utility to clean installed updates and service packs related files is very useful for Windows 7 users. This is very useful when you are running low on the disk space and want to recover some space quickly. On my system, it detected and cleaned around 2.2 GB of the updates related files.