Uninstall unnecessary Windows components

[Tobius]

Hi friends
i have windows Xp installed on my pc and windows Vista on my laptop, i want to free my hard disk space by uninstalling the unnecessary components of windows XP and vista. can anybody tell me how to do that?

[Raiz]

• Select Add/Remove Windows Components in the Add/Remove programs window.
• Select the accessories and utilities you don't need. These include all of the games (total of 12.1 MB) and other tools such as the Calculator and Paint (total of 3.2 MB). Also remove the Fax Services (3.8MB) and MSN Explorer (20.7MB).

(for XP)

[darshit]

Get Rid of Windows XP Frills

All Windows users know that Microsoft has always shipped Windows with several toppings. To many of us they are unnecessary if not annoying. The latest of these add-ons is the Windows Messenger which many users have been trying to disable. Well, how about completely uninstalling Windows XP frills such as Windows Messenger, WordPad, the boring games (Minesweeper, Hearts…), Accessibility Wizard, and MSN Explorer? Unless you actually use these apps, I suppose you’d love to get rid of them. The problem is they don’t appear on the Add/Remove Programs list and the reason is that Windows is told to hide them. To make these Windows components appear on the Add/Remove Programs list, all you have to do is follow my instructions carefully.



First of all, you need to open the file sysoc.inf, which is located in the folder “C:\WINDOWS\inf”, with Notepad. You should notice the word “HIDE” in several locations throughout the file. Each “HIDE” is responsible for hiding a certain Windows component from the Add/Remove list. Because the file’s a bit ambiguous, I recommend deleting every “HIDE” in the file. This way all the components will be visible in the Add/Remove list and, from there, you can choose what you want to uninstall and what you want to keep. Be careful not to delete anything else. Not even the commas before and after the “HIDE” should be deleted. After saving the file, click Start, Control Panel and Add or Remove Programs. Then click Add/Remove Windows Components. You can uninstall Windows components by removing the check marks and clicking Next. Now you can shout in glory after having recovered a few precious megabytes of your terabyte hard disk!

[Mac rumor]

Discard unnecessary Windows components

You are perhaps not all components and tools installed by default with Windows. This is the place to win.

With Windows XP

Step 1 - Click on Start and click Control Panel. Click Add / Remove Programs and then click Add / Remove Windows Components in the left column.

Step 2 - Uncheck the box of tools to remove in the Components list. If the folder contains several tools (eg accessories and utilities), you can make the choice after clicking the Details button ...

Step 3 - Your selection, click Next. Windows then removes unnecessary elements. Validate the last dialog box by the Finish button.


With Vista

Step 1 - Click Start, then click Control Panel. Click Uninstall a program in Programs. Then click on enable or disable Windows features, and validate the window control the Continue button.

Step 2 - A drop-down list in the window Easier summarizes the components and tools for Vista, installed or not. To remove one, uncheck the box in front of his name.

The files containing several elements have a + left their names. Click to select items in this folder. Click OK.

Step 3 - A dialog box asking you to wait. Then restart for the changes to take effect: click Restart now

[Driscoll]

Refer this :
Uninstall hidden components of Windows XP
Add/Remove Windows Components