Cleaning out the system32 folder on XP

[Curley_Boy 0]

Where on earth do I begin? It's the single largest folder in the Windows dir (385Mb here) and since most system componants seem to rely on the majority of .exe's and .dll's in here I'm a bit reluctant to start a massive cleaning operation.

 

I can't find any websites that deal specifically with the contents of this folder either. Has anyone else successfuly managed to slim this folder down a bit or have any ideas which files I'm unlikely to need?

[Newumbrella 0]

I can't find any reason to delete the stuff inside this folder as most of the windows component is inside this dir. I'll suggest that u start by removing unused apps, games, mp3, movies first....

 

Oh and majority of .exe and .dll u've mention are in this dir as well.

[Curley_Boy 0]

I already have cleaned out the majority of my system. I just want to complete the finishing touches.

 

The system32 folder contains *alot* of windows componants that I will never make any use of (unused shell extensions, drivers for hardware that I have no intention of adding to the system, networking componants, example scripts, language files, and .dll's for disabled services that are of no use etc) the list goes on and on...

 

The Windows folder as it stands now is 530mb and most of that is the system32 dir, so I want to ditch componants that are of no use. The problem here is to backup 'junk' files so they are easy to restore if I break something, then ontop of that are all the registry dependanies... ones for dlls and exe's relating to services are buried deep and scattered all over the place.

[rtgjeg 0]

My folder is 3.05 GB, Is there any way to trim that safely?

[Wicked101 0]

To be honest, I would not delete anything in that folder unless I absolutely have to, and that would only be if I had like a 4Gig hard drive