Windows & tweaks to reduce the size

[rivethead]

Can anyone recommend a good place to find tweaks for Windows 7 that will reduce it's size after installation?

I've done a search and found tweaks to increase performance, unlock hidden features, etc. and reduce the installation size pre installation (using a USB flash drive for installation).

But I want to find some ways to reduce the size after I've installed it.

Yes, I'm yet another user who is trying to save space on a small SSD. Please don't tell me I should have bought a larger size. The 40GB I have is all I could afford.

Trying to minize W7 and find some feature I won't use to save space....so I can fill it with other apps I do use.

Thanks!

 

[hclarkjr]

have a look at these which are for making the install smaller before you install. check them out - http://www.msfn.org/board/forum/153-vlite/ it is for vista bit can be used on 7 and here are some other options http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/139077-7customizer-a-replacement-for-vlite-for-windows-7/ http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/139748-stefanrtrs-win-integrator/
hope this helps

 

[JackMDS]

Unless you have many very big games that must be installed on drive C there is no reason that Windows 7 can run on 40GB and still have a spaces fro many applications.

The OS itself takes about 13-15GB so trimming few GB off it does not going to make a significance difference.

.

 

[rivethead]

Unless you have many very big games that must be installed on drive C there is no reason that Windows 7 can run on 40GB and still have a spaces fro many applications.

The OS itself takes about 13-15GB so trimming few GB off it does not going to make a significance difference.

.

That's true. I'm just trying to be efficient. I know there are likely to be many features I'll never use in Windows 7. As such, I'd love to be able to remove them rather than have them sit on the limited space on my SSD for eternity, never being used!

hclarkjr - thanks for the links...I'll check them out!

 

[JackMDS]

I remember years ago the horrors created by the "Black Viper".

He published a guide about Windows Services and how to switch a lot of them Off to be efficient. (Though there were few good Bench Marks that actually showed that it does not make any thing really efficient).

When he made the suggestions Broadband Internet was not as prevalent and he probably had DialUp.

So his suggestions included turning Off most of the Networking Services. We spent years thereafter helping (here in this Forums) desperate members "Fixing" their system that did not work when they got Broadband Internet.

People forgot, were Not aware, or simply did not know enough to be able to make the Networking aspect of Windows XP to work correctly.

The same might happen to you you would save few GB and in the future you will go "crazy" when you would try something New and it would not work because some sys/dll/process/file that is needed for the new stuff would be missing.

 

[rivethead]

That's a good point and I'll be cognizant of that.

For example, I've already decided that all the W7 tweaks for SSDs are probably more harmful than helpful (disabling Superfetch, etc.). Or at least the evidence to support those tweaks is questionable at this point. I'll let W7 handle everything as far as controlling/running my SSD.

 

[kalrith]

Here's something you might try, althought it might have negative impacts by making the changes on anything other than a fresh install of Windows. In this post I mention how to move all of your user files to another partition. This doesn't just move My Documents and folders like that, but it also moves your UserData folders for each user and for All Users. That can make a several GB difference in space depending on how much is in there. I mainly did it so that I could have a 40GB C: partition on my PC while not having to worry about how much stuff I placed in my user folders. I'll do the same thing on my HTPC once I install Win7 on there, and I did the same thing on my wife's laptop.

The only problem I ran into was on my wife's laptop. I had to uninstall and reinstall Firefox, because it was looking in the wrong place for the UserData folder. That's why I said you might only want to do this on a clean install. I did both installs over a month ago and haven't had any problems whatsoever.

Since it creates junctions instead of trying to edit a bunch of settings to move the folders, Windows actually sees the folders where they're supposed to be by default. It then junctions to the folders that are on the other partition. i.e. I can go to C:\users\kalrith\downloads\ and see all my downloaded files even though they actually reside on the D: partition.

 

[ShawnD1]

I remember years ago the horrors created by the "Black Viper"..

The problem with Black Viper was that his configs were to disable services instead of just turning them off by setting them to manual.

Right now I have Vista trimmed down on this slow computer as much as possible. Very few services need to be Automatic. These are the only automatic services I have on my laptop:
Computer Browser (enables LAN file sharing)
DCOM (cannot be turned off)
DHCP (needed for internet)
Function Discovery Publication (optional, allows others to see my shared files)
Group Policy (cannot be turned off)
Plug and Play (cannot be turned off)
Readyboost (use the SD card for caching)
RPC (cannot be turned off)
Security Accounts Manager (cannot be turned off)
Task Scheduler (cannot be turned off)
User Profile (do not turn this off)
Windows Audio (required if you want sound)
Windows Driver Foundation (notices when devices are connected)
Windows Firewall (optional)
WLAN (needed for wireless connections)

That's it. Every other service is set to manual and they start when they are requested. This means the really important services like Workstation are started by request and still function. It also means services never requested, like Themes or Desktop Windows Manager, are never on. That being said, nobody should ever screw with Windows unless it's absolutely necessary.
edit: You'll need Print Spooler running if you use a printer. There are also several services with "license" in the title that should be kept running. Things like AutoCAD don't work if the license service stops.


The easiest way to save space would be to NTFS compress folders that contain easily compressed files or small files. As an example of how effective this is, my Windows Vista folder is 19.9GB big, but it's only 17.3GB on disk due to compression. Program Files contains a lot of small files, so it works great there as well. Program Files size is 4.47GB, size on disk is 3.31GB. Music, video, and picture files barely compress at all, so don't bother compressing your music folder.
NTFS compression has almost no effect on read speed, but it will greatly reduce write speed. Give it a try, and if it doesn't work, you can always uncompress it.

 

[coolVariable]

the best recommendation is probably to turn off shadow copy and system restore points (KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Both take up a lot of space on your HDD/SSD.
Otherwise, you should probably leave it as is.

 

[JackMDS]

the best recommendation is probably to turn off shadow copy and system restore points (KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Both take up a lot of space on your HDD/SSD.
Otherwise, you should probably leave it as is.

+1

Provided that an image backups are stored on another Computer/External Drive. :thumbsup:


.

 

[rivethead]

kalrith:

Thanks a ton! You must have been reading my mind because that was going to be my next question (if you can move the default my documents folder to another drive).

The problem I will run into is my wife will dump all the photos off her digital camera into the 'my photos' folder because that's where the Canon software wants to put them by default. Even if I ask here to save them somewhere else, she won't remember.

Your tweak solves that problem!

Thanks!

 

[The Boston Dangler]

does anyone have an opinion on win integrator before i commit to a fresh installation? my goals are to free up as much room as possible on my 80GB SSD C: and to exterminate window media center. i also want to slipstream in drivers, but i'll ignore sp1 and updates since windows update does then so quickly now. i understand the initial installation size is the same, and my selected files will be deleted after installation is completed. i don't use system restore and windows.old is the first thing to go. i'm using win7 x64 home.

 

[hclarkjr]

i would use this http://www.msfn.org/board/seven-lite-beta-build-t142382.html a new beta build will be coming out anytime now that i have tested for him that gets rid of the majority of bugs.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

rt seven lite looks pretty sweet, thanks

 

[Modelworks]

Very few services need to be Automatic.

Yeah I trimmed mine down quite a bit. For example I use ip addresses on the network for shares, not computer names or home groups. So I was able to get rid of about 10 services by not using that method to share files.

One tip:
If you use netflix streaming, do not disable tablet input service or netflix will stop working. MS in their wisdom has made it so silverlight errors out without the service , doesn't matter if you have a tablet or not.
I racked my brain for days trying to figure out why netflix wouldn't work.

 

[Nothinman]

Or use an OS that doesn't take 20G out of the box for no good reason...

 

[kalrith]

Or use an OS that doesn't take 20G out of the box for no good reason...

Point me to the minimalist OS on which I can play all the current games.

 

[Nothinman]

Point me to the minimalist OS on which I can play all the current games.

I can't point you to any OS that will play all current games because no such thing exists.

 

[kalrith]

I can't point you to any OS that will play all current games because no such thing exists.

What mainstream games released in 2009 or 2010 will Windows 7 not play? Ask the same question about the OS you're talking about and compare the numbers.