'windows.old' folder, delete or not?

[Nickkk101]

Hey there,
I did an in place W10 upgrade on my W8.1 machine and all seems well with the update-I haven't run into any major issues at all thankfully so far. However, I'm aware of the new 'windows.old' folder allowing me to roll back for 30 days since the W10 upgrade and in my case its large..very large..at 172gb. My PC, which has a 250gb HD was almost full prior to the upgrade and I chose to 'keep nothing' during the process. As I understand it I can choose to delete this now, or indeed wait until the 30 day expiration.. so would this in effect be my 'clean install' ? I don't remember this being quite the same with the 8/8.1 process where I DID start fresh with that install. If I delete the Windows.old file then that's a clean install really right? How close to 'clean' is it?

 

[H5PAHezry]

Hey there,
I did an in place W10 upgrade on my W8.1 machine and all seems well with the update-I haven't run into any major issues at all thankfully so far. However, I'm aware of the new 'windows.old' folder allowing me to roll back for 30 days since the W10 upgrade and in my case its large..very large..at 172gb. My PC, which has a 250gb HD was almost full prior to the upgrade and I chose to 'keep nothing' during the process. As I understand it I can choose to delete this now, or indeed wait until the 30 day expiration.. so would this in effect be my 'clean install' ? I don't remember this being quite the same with the 8/8.1 process where I DID start fresh with that install. If I delete the Windows.old file then that's a clean install really right? How close to 'clean' is it?

In my experience, deleting the Windows.old folder slightly improves performance. It would save space obviously, but performance wise, there's not much difference.

 

[MKairys]

I wish I could. There are a few dll's which keep saying "in use in another program" although can't find any such.

 

[Guzzler3]

IF you want to delete it, just don't delete it from file explorer. Use the diskcleanup program. Run it, choose "Clean up system files", then select everything, and run it. Sit back and wait for it to finish.

 

[sugarbowl06]

You need to run disk cleanup.

Push the Windows key.
Start typing "disk cleanup"
click the desktop app that it finds.
Click 'Clean up system files'
Check the 'previous windows installation' option
Then click OK.

 

[xandros9]

I would fire up Disk Cleanup and nuke it from there, probably.

 

[Mattman86]

... Disk cleanup...

:grin:

 

[MKairys]

Sorry, should have said, that's what left the files in the first place. I've run it like five times now and it never complains, just leaves them.

Windows explorer says in use but Sysinternals process explorer finds no locks.

 

[Nickkk101]

Thanks but this doesn't really answer my question specifically, although I will certainly do the disc clean up option so cheers for that info. However, as per my original question, how 'clean' is this method compared to the older method of completely clean installing the OS via ISO USB etc..? any likely drawbacks/or noticeable improvements one way or another?