Unnecessary Win Update files?

[Windows Questioner]

It seems to me that Windows Updates puts a lot of unnecessary junk on my home PC, like all those huge .NET files and others; I'm just on a stand-alone PC; do I really need all those .NET updates? And if I have them on my PC already, can I safely delete them all? What other space-hungry rubbish programs can I delete to keep a lean mean PC machine? Thanks.

[Rudi]

Hi,

To be very honest, off the cuff.... I wouldn't mess around (or be picky) with the update options. Usually Windows updates separate into critical and optional updates. The critical ones are important and the optional ones you can ignore if desired. I just dutifully install everything and manage my system space and health in other ways by only installing apps I use, emptying the recycle bin regularly and cleaning out temp files and cookies, etc. If you are interested in what these .NET files do, and if they really need to be on your PC, read here...

BTW: You will notice that we tend to promote two specific apps here in the lounge; when it comes to keeping a clean system. One is CCleaner and the other is Malwarebytes Anti-Malware FREE. If you use these two apps and run their default settings on a regular basis, it will do wonders for your PC.

[StuartR]

You do need to keep plenty of free space on your system drive. If it is above 70% full then you could run into performance problems.

Modern disk drives are so huge, that I cannot imagine the size of these Windows Update files making any significant difference. In my experience it's best to leave these things alone unless you have a serious space issue, and in that case you could simply spend a very small amount of money on a new bigger disk drive instead.

[Windows Questioner]

And speaking of unnecessary files that slow a PC down, are there any good (i.e. safe) registry cleaners? Over the 12 or so years that I've had this same PC, I'm sure that with deleting unused programs, my registry is a mess. Cheers.

[HansV]

Except if you're still using Windows 95, 98 or ME, there is no need to use a registry cleaner. Unused registry entries don't take up much space, and they don't slow down your PC.
In fact, aggressive registry cleaning may harm your Windows and installed programs. See for example Why Using a Registry Cleaner Won’t Speed Up Your PC or Fix Crashes and Using Registry Cleaner: Does Is It Really Make a Difference?

[Rudi]

This is not to contradict what Hans says, but just as a addition to the apps I use to keep my system clean, I also use Glary Utilities (which happens to have a small registry cleaner) as part of its 1-Click Maintenance. This app has performed well for me and never done any "harm" to my PC. It has some other great apps as part of its overall package that are nice to use from time to time...