I’m running Windows XP. My add and remove programs is filled with lists of
updates. Can these be removed? question
In this excerpt from
Answercast #100 I look at why program updates are important to keep on your
computer.
Become a Patron of Ask Leo! and go ad-free!
Remove updates from Add-Remove Programs
The short answer is no.
The updates are there for a reason. You don’t want to remove updates from
your system as you would be removing critical security fixes to your system.
Removing those updates would render your system probably more unstable and
definitely more vulnerable to malware out on the internet.
So, no, you don’t want to remove updates.
Set updates display
Now, if they are the updates that I’m thinking of… in Windows XP there is
a checkbox that will let you say “Show me the updates in this list”.
In other words, in Add/Remove Programs, you may have the
opportunity to turn off the display of updates. It depends on which
list you’re looking at so I’m not going to get into real specific details here
– but look around for that kind of a setting.
If it’s not there, then no, you want those updates on your system.
The Add/Remove Programs list is going to show them because they were, in fact,
installed on your system.
But like I said, you definitely want them. You don’t remove them. They are
there for very specific reasons.
(Transcript lightly edited for readability.)
Next from Answercast 100- Can I
move this green block of files in disk defragmenter?
There is another way round this, Look at the info on this web page: http://www.ehow.com/how_5890462_delete-year-old-windows-updates.html
If you follow that and delete the uninstall files, then they will disappear from the Add/Remove section of Control Pane
Was the asker really asking how to remove updates? I was thinking he/she might just want to remove them from the list of installed software. They are kind of cluttering up the list ya know!
@Billy Bob
That was my first impression reading the question, but the article also explains how to hide them from being displayed, so it appears that Leo understood what the questioner meant. It shows why it’s so important to phrase a question correctly, as the person answering the question just might interpret it literally. ;-)
CClearer also allows you to remove the items from the list. I do that as part of my monthly running of CCleaner.
I won’t remove the updates but I do remove the uninstaller for them. There’s a check box in the handy-dandy CCleaner just for that. This will free some HD room.
Hi, Leo. Welcome back. Kudos for a job well done for many years. I regularly remove all versions of Java updates except the most recent Java update and advise others to do so also. Previous versions of Java updates can interfere with latest Java update. :)