Can the Below Listed Folders Be Safely Deleted?

I have a Dell Dimension 8200 computer with windows XP Pro (SP3) installed.
So far, I have not had any serious difficulties with SP3. Is it safe to
delete the below listed folders? And if it is safe to delete these two
folders, do I just right click each folder and select delete? If these two
folders are deleted, do I need to go to the control panel/add-remove and
delete any applicable entries there? Thanks for any help, Sam.


C:\WINDOWS\$NtServicePackUninstall$ (Has 596mb)



C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download (Has 566mb)

See inline -
--

--------------------------------
TaurArian [MVP] 2005-2008
Update Services
http://taurarian.mvps.org


"Sam" wrote:

> I have a Dell Dimension 8200 computer with windows XP Pro (SP3) installed.
> So far, I have not had any serious difficulties with SP3. Is it safe to
> delete the below listed folders? And if it is safe to delete these two
> folders, do I just right click each folder and select delete? If these two
> folders are deleted, do I need to go to the control panel/add-remove and
> delete any applicable entries there? Thanks for any help, Sam.
>
>
> C:\WINDOWS\$NtServicePackUninstall$ (Has 596mb)

This is the uninstall files for SP3, you can delete them but you will not be
able to uninstall SP3 if you do..

>
>
>
> C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download (Has 566mb)
>

This folder ususally clears in about 10 days anyway. You can safely remove
the contents of the Download folder. Leave the folder.

Finally after removing the uninstall information, you can then attempt to
remove SP3 from Add/Remove and you should receive an error which in turn
allows you to delete the entry.

Please note that if you installed SP3 over IE7, this may cause complications
later in that you can not remove IE7. To remove IE7 you have to first remove
SP3 and then IE7 etc.


IMHO - why not leave it for a few weeks especially if you're not running low
on disk space.

>

TaurArian, many thanks for your reply, excellent information, and
suggestion! Sam


"TaurArian" <taurarianREMOVECAPS@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:5D68D563-897D-4FF5-AF7D-245447896ACC@microsoft.com...
> See inline -
> --
>
> --------------------------------
> TaurArian [MVP] 2005-2008
> Update Services
> http://taurarian.mvps.org
>
>
> "Sam" wrote:
>
>> I have a Dell Dimension 8200 computer with windows XP Pro (SP3)
>> installed.
>> So far, I have not had any serious difficulties with SP3. Is it safe to
>> delete the below listed folders? And if it is safe to delete these two
>> folders, do I just right click each folder and select delete? If these
>> two
>> folders are deleted, do I need to go to the control panel/add-remove and
>> delete any applicable entries there? Thanks for any help, Sam.
>>
>>
>> C:\WINDOWS\$NtServicePackUninstall$ (Has 596mb)
>
> This is the uninstall files for SP3, you can delete them but you will not
> be
> able to uninstall SP3 if you do..
>
>>
>>
>>
>> C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download (Has 566mb)
>>
>
> This folder ususally clears in about 10 days anyway. You can safely remove
> the contents of the Download folder. Leave the folder.
>
> Finally after removing the uninstall information, you can then attempt to
> remove SP3 from Add/Remove and you should receive an error which in turn
> allows you to delete the entry.
>
> Please note that if you installed SP3 over IE7, this may cause
> complications
> later in that you can not remove IE7. To remove IE7 you have to first
> remove
> SP3 and then IE7 etc.
>
>
> IMHO - why not leave it for a few weeks especially if you're not running
> low
> on disk space.
>
>>