Windows 7 uninstall M$ bloatware

[trodas]

Guys, I wonder, what you will recommend me to reduction of the Win7 x64 footprint. I just use them on small 30G testing SSD, and set too little size for the OS partition ... and now I need the NET Framework install and the damn things took 11G in size (Windows directory).

There are PLENTY of software that beg for removal. However even that I unchecked the Windows programs in the control pannel, they are STILL HERE, on the drive. For example IExplorer 8. The machine is not even conected to the net...!

Also in Windows directory, there is directory "assembly" and it contain obviously developer tools - and I'm not going to learn assembly (not x86 assembly anyway), so... I want (need) to ger RID OF THIS CRAP.

The catch is, that I cannot delete these unwanted programs as I used to do in Windows XP. In WinXP, I get into the dllfiles directory, deleted all the backup files and then replace the sfc_os.dll and sfcfiles.dll with own DLLs, that disabled the WFP and then I can delete anything. When locked, just rename and on next reboot it can be deleted. Etc. 500MB WinXP is quite possible.

So, how to achieve that in Windows 7 x64...? Are there apps that can help? I already unchecked EVERYTHING in the controll pannel, but nothing get off the drive, so... pls help!

Yes, I tried CCleaner. So... how to slim this fat Win down...???

[sophisticles]

Slimming Win 7 down is very easy...don't use it. The consumer version of MS OSes do not give you the functionality you are looking for, you need to use a Windows Embedded version or just try a Linux or BSD flavor.

[jagabo]

If your system is stable delete all the old restore points. Disk Cleanup -> More Options...

[_Al_]

Disabling Restore Point function in Windows might get you some little extra room. Always doing this before backing up system image, besides cleaning all rubbish with CCleaner. But you might have clean, just installed system, so it would not help much at all.

[El Heggunte]

RT Se7en Lite

30GB No way.

Also: do a clean install; create only one partition before installing; if possible, use 2048 bytes for cluster size while formatting, and do not use anything above 4096 bytes anyway.

And yes, disable the stupid and useless System Restore, it's good only for restoring malware

P.S.: disable the hibernation feature as well, your computer is not a bear.

[jagabo]

If you have lots of DRAM run without a swap file. Disable hibernation.

[KarMa]

My computer has a 5-10GB hibernation file, basically a file set aside for Win7 to dump the RAM into. You could get rid of that.

[Cornucopia]

If you have lots of DRAM run without a swap file. Disable hibernation.

Or if you don't have lots of RAM, just make your swap file a lot smaller.

Also,
Trim the fonts.
Lose the extra drivers.
Lose all the files relating to (other) languages (there are LOTS of those in both the core OS and in many apps).
Use only Administrator account (no other accounts beside defaults).
Reduce the size of the recycle bin.

Many more things...

Scott

[Cornucopia]

RT Se7en Lite

30GB No way.

Also: do a clean install; create only one partition before installing; if possible, use 2048 bytes for cluster size while formatting, and do not use anything above 4096 bytes anyway.

And yes, disable the stupid and useless System Restore, it's good only for restoring malware

P.S.: disable the hibernation feature as well, your computer is not a bear.

Really?! Are you sure about that? (the 30GB No way part)
From this site http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/tiny-ssd-slim-windows-7-minimal-installs/:

...is there enough space on a 30 GB drive to successfully run Windows 7? More than enough, as it turns out. Indeed, it is possible to install and run Windows 7 on a drive as small as 8 GB!

Scott

[El Heggunte]

Really?! Are you sure about that? (the 30GB No way part)
From this site http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/tiny-ssd-slim-windows-7-minimal-installs/:

...is there enough space on a 30 GB drive to successfully run Windows 7? More than enough, as it turns out. Indeed, it is possible to install and run Windows 7 on a drive as small as 8 GB!

Just to be on the safe side. Disks with 20, 30 and 40 gigabytes smell like the Windows M.E. era

[jagabo]

Here's an example. I just finished installing Win7 on a 74 GB (formatted capacity) drive on a Beebox with 8 GB of DRAM (it will be used as a cablecard cable box replacement). After installing all drivers, SP1, a few other Windows updates, but no real applications, 33 GB of the drive is in use. After Disk Cleanup, deleting all but the most recent System Restore files, it was down to 31 GB. Of that 31 GB, 6 GB is hiberfil.sys (the hibernation file) and 8 GB is pagefile.sys (the virtual memory swap file).

[Nelson37]

Unfortunately, the real answer is to get a bigger drive.

You can trim the system in many ways, but restore points are valuable tools to have, hibernation is a feature many find useful, and the pagefile is a valuable performance boost. For simple, single-use systems, these can be a solution, like Linux, but sooner rather than later some new software you want or the next service pack is going to run into this brick wall. Building that wall is, IMO, a waste of time.

Why build a limited system? If that is the goal, fine, but, been there, done that, almost always ends with getting a bigger drive, because you will need it, and then all the work and effort is wasted. Sometimes you can get too invested in making it work with what you have and fail to realize that what you have just isn't going to cut it.