TweakHound - Tweaking Windows Vista, page 1

Windows Vista SP1 & SP2

   I highly recommend that if you are not doing a fresh install of Vista that you use Windows Update to install SP1 and then SP2. SP1 is required to be installed prior to SP2.  If you choose to download the full version the links are below.

SP1

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Five Language Standalone (KB936330) 434.5 MB

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Five Language Standalone for x64-based Systems (KB936330) 726.5 MB

SP2

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 - Five Language Standalone (KB948465)

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 - Five Language Standalone for x64-based systems (KB948465)

Vista Service Pack Cleanup

Once you've installed both Service Packs and everything is running well, AND you are absolutely 100% sure you do not want to uninstall it, AND you have backed up your system... You can run this command compcln.exe .

This will allow you to reclaim significant disk space. To do this press the Windows + R keys and type compcln.exe in the run box, or, if you prefer using the command line: press the Windows + R keys and type cmd then type compcln.exe .

 More info from Microsoft:

Windows Component Clean Tool (COMPCLN) The Windows Component Clean Tool (COMPCLN.exe) can be used to remove the files that are archived after Windows Vista SP2 or Windows Server 2008 SP2 is applied. It also removes the files that were archived after Windows Vista SP1 was applied, if they are found on the system. Running this tool is optional. Installing Windows Vista service packs increases the amount of disk space that is used by the operating system. This space is used to archive files so that the service pack can be uninstalled. Typically, you should run COMPCLN.exe if you want to reclaim this disk space after applying SP2 and if you will not need to uninstall SP2. You cannot uninstall Windows Vista SP2 or Windows Server 2008 SP2 after you run this tool on an image. This tool can be used online or offline.

Please do not whine at me if you run into problems and you haven't backed up your computer! 

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