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Patch reliability is unclear, but widespread attacks make patching prudent. Go ahead and patch, but watch out for potential problems. |
I’m often called to remote into computers for friends, family and especially co-workers to take a look at what ails them. Tonight I had an interesting
[See the full post at: Patch Lady Posts – Windows update temp files]
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
Great post, Susan. Very helpful. I’ve done years of desktop support, but I never knew to check the SoftwareDistribution folder. However, I do always check the temp folders.
This just proves that people need to run the MS “Disk Cleanup” and go to system files, and let it clean up the old OS versions, and MS Updates no longer needed.
Disk Cleanup comes with Windows, and Ccleaner (Periform’s versions, prior to Avast owning them) is a very good program.
To do this on a network you need to run a batch file / PowerShell that performs a free space test every time a user logs on / the machine starts / every other day on a schedule. You then send the reports / only nearly full reports to a shared location. Having only nearly full reports means less work to manage as you only need to look at a machine when a report comes in.
cheers, Paul
Good Ole Woody spoke of this in 2016. Windows 7 log file compression bug can fill up your hard drive
Thx for the nod.
Month after month, it’s one of my most popular Computerworld blasts.
Windows 7 log file compression bug can fill up your hard drive
Microsoft has known about this bug in the Trusted Installer log for years, but done nothing about it
I don’t want to reopen this discussion, but the limitation is due to a 32-bit process which has limitations in handling certain file sizes.
Using older technology has its downsides.
Actually 64-bit Windows is affected as well. I had to clean up the CBS log folder on my Win7 x64 computers since, after the first zipped log file grew to over 2GB in size, the same thing kept recurring. Delete the log files and zip files in the CBS folder, and then reboot. Windows will then recreate new log files which are very small in size.
DrBonzo, You are on the right track. You need to “internet search” those files and see what people say. One item you may do is to copy those files to a USB flash drive to keep them and then delete the files off C:\ or make an image backup first.
If you go to command prompt and type ECHO %TEMP% it will show you the path of your temp folder.
Sometimes it is wise to run a disk cleaning utility in safe mode when most services are off.
EDIT html to text, contents may not appear as intended
You can safely delete everything in the Temp folder, but if you wish so, delete only those cab_4664_4 style of naming files. They are a byproduct of TrustedInstaller.exe not being able to compress log files larger than 2 GB into CAB files.
makecab.exe needs to run to be able to compress the CBS log files into cab files.
I’d love to get rid of these cab files, but is it OK to do so?
“CAB” stands for “Cabinet” — these are the files where Windows components are stored/archived, ready to be reinstalled as needed; to reinstall something, you “open” the appropriate “cabinet” and there it is.
So in answer to your question: yes, you can delete them; but if you do, you won’t have those Windows cabinets on your hard drive with the various Windows components stored inside of them. If you have the Windows install media, or if you have a good backup, chances are you will never need the cabinet files.
I don’t know if Windows ever needs those files; my guess is that they are not needed.
As far as other “temporary” files: If they aren’t from your current Windows session, then you can safely delete them. So if you reboot the computer and log back into Windows, you are now in a new Windows session, and you can safely delete all previous temp files.
The temp folder was filled with cab files left over from the failed cbs process. I had to clean out both. I was lame and only grabbed a screen shot of the cbs folder.
“The C drive was filled to the brim with cab files built up in the c:\temp folder. In addition, there was a ton of older cbs (component based servicing) files stuck in the Windows>logs>cbs folder”
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
Disable CBS.log (for Windows 7 and later)
require changing security permissions on the key to be able to set the value (or use NSudo)
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing]
"EnableLog"=dword:00000000
—-
Control CBS.log behavior (for Windows 8.1 and later)
NTFS compress
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SideBySide\Configuration]
"CBSLogCompress"=dword:00000001
number of persistent (backup) files
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SideBySide\Configuration]
"NumCBSPersistLogs"=dword:00000003
max size (64 hex = 100 dec)
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SideBySide\Configuration]
"CBSLogMaxInMB"=dword:00000064
I wonder why MS doesn’t do that by default – or have a routine that deletes very old files every time the log gets updated…
In Windows 7 only 5 files are maintained, the older ones are deleted by makecab.exe
This is the case if everything works as designed.
The fact that errors are not handled correctly and for example the files which cannot be compressed due to size do not get deleted is the real problem.
I wonder why MS doesn’t do that by default – or have a routine that deletes very old files every time the log gets updated…
That’s item #1376 on the list of “MS stuff not entirely understood”…
Although the bug has been improved, especially since 32-bit processes are being deprecated, Windows 10 Microsoft Updates can also generate a lot of unnecessary detritus which does not clean itself. I run Disk Cleanup every month or two, after making sure I won’t need to roll back any of the previous month’s updates. Sometimes this frees up several gigabytes of space.
On my desktop Intel NUC, this amount of space is not noticeable, but on my (soon to be retired) 32-bit, WIMBoot ASUS TransformerBook tablet with only 64GB of onboard storage, the difference is important. This device is so lean on storage that I have never enabled System Restore on it.
Failed or refused Feature Upgrades also may leave a lot of garbage on the drive. Disk Cleanup with all the System Files possibilities checked off can free up a lot of disk space in such cases, even in Windows 10. CCleaner is simply not enough to do this job. And that’s a good thing, as I run CCleaner several times a month. To do this with Disk Cleanup would make rolling back a bad update nearly impossible.
One warning — cleaning up Windows Update with Disk Cleanup can result in Windows Update running again during the next restart sequence, which can take several minutes, as WU updates its Update History and logs.
-- rc primak
Windows 10 should clean automatically updates older than 30 days. It takes a long time though.
I think it is this task: \Microsoft\Windows\Servicing\StartComponentCleanup
Anon #171249 said:
starting in vista the winsxs\temp\pending renames and pending delete folders would grow like weeds. i’m sure winx doesn’t suffer these kinds of advanced engineering problems…
Besides Win Vista/7/8.x, Win 10 users are also often plagued by thousands of files at one or both of the said folders:
C:\Windows\winsxs\Temp\PendingRenames\
C:\Windows\winsxs\Temp\PendingDeletes\
I have come across users who reported double-digit GBs of files in the “PendingRenames” folder.
On a recent Win 7 installation (with no Windows Updates applied), merely carrying out sfc /scannow twice resulted in 3,300 files being permanently left in the “PendingRenames” folder, although sfc /scannow reported zero errors both times.
Neither running Disk Cleanup (the extended version), nor running the TrustedInstaller service (& letting the PC idle for at least 30 mins) have any effect whatsoever.
For Win 8.x & Win 10 users, I understand that the following command in Safe Mode can be successful in clearing out the “PendingRenames” folder:
DISM /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup
Anonymous, I too have seen as you describe. And confirm the same tools have no immediate result. But it is also not actually ‘permanent’ either. I do not know the triggering event, but after a passage of time, and uncounted number of power up cycles, the folder will empty. If this happened because of another maintenance task I perform on a loose schedule, I have not yet made the connection.
If you delete a huge number of files, I suggest rebooting into Safe Mode and doing one or two runs of DEFRAG. (DEFRAG runs faster in Safe Mode than in Normal Mode.) And make sure that Windows is set to automatically defrag the hard drive (say, once a week when the computer won’t be in use for a couple of hours).
The drive is a lot more fragmented after you delete a huge number of files. So it would be better to do a manual run or two of DEFRAG after deleting a huge number of files, then let Windows do it automatically after that.
Assuming that you use a HDD opposed to an SSD.
Never defrag an SSD!
There are some reasons to defragment an SSD. Reason not to defrag include (pretty much only) adding some addition writes to the drive.
But imagine a SSD where the sectors for every file in the partition was randomly located. This would be no big deal for the SSD, but windows would have quite the time trying to use NCQ for efficient read/writes. Obviously this scenario would result in MASSIVE slowness for a conventional hard drive, but only some loss for an SSD.
You will note that even on an SSD random read/write performance is less than sequential.
So the question comes down to: “Does the small performance boost from defragging an SSD outweigh the wear that an occasional defrag?”. I’ve found the answer to be “sometimes”.
TRIM has zero effect on the fragmentation of an SSD. TRIM moves doesn’t move anything around at all. It just tells the SSD which sectors are not is use so they can (optionally) be internally erased by the SSD for efficient reuse.
If (occasionally) defragmenting your (modern) SSD (which has TRIM) wears it out chances are just USING it will also wear it out.
Now if on the other hand you’ve decided to run a write benchmark on your SSD 24/7 you are asking it to wear out.
I would suggest keeping track of the SMART data about your SSD’s condition and running a SMART long self test on a regular basis. Since SSD’s tend to have their SMART stats actually trend it might be wise to save the old output. (unfortunately properly interpreting SMART stats isn’t exactly super easy for the average user)
You should NEVER defragment an SSD
Actually you should, but not manually. Windows doesn’t like fragmented File Allocation Tables, so every now and then it tidies them up.
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheRealAndCompleteStoryDoesWindowsDefragmentYourSSD.aspx
cheers, Paul
I look after about 150 Win7 client computers. My advice is firm. Do not allow your disk to fill up past the 75% mark. When that becomes an issue, either move a lot of really big files off, replace the main drive, or add a 2nd drive. I regularly monitor my clients’ disks checking for this and also do manufacturers testing. I counsel clients with laptops that when they exceed 5 years, the drive should be replaced. Desktops seldom need replacement and last much longer.
CT
I counsel clients with laptops that when they exceed 5 years, the drive should be replaced.
Is this so that they won’t ever have a hard drive failure?
Desktops seldom need replacement and last much longer.
So what you are doing is, replacing the one part that is likely to fail, thereby getting a lot more life out of their computer.
An additional benefit of replacing the hard drive is that the old drive becomes a full backup of the computer. Put it in a static bag, put a label on the bag telling the date you removed it and which computer you removed it from, and store it in a safe place. It could come in handy — it did for me once.
Correct Jim. I don’t expect laptop drives to last much longer than 5 years. I am doing maintenance in expectation of a failure. It also allows my client to plan the task. Big addon benefit is that the performance of an newly installed OS, causes a huge performance improvement. If the drive is a 5400rpm one, it really makes a big difference if your replace with a 7200rpm one.
I do not use SSD drives because they are difficult for the average person to manage and although they show a dramatic improvement in startup, very little difference in normal running. They are also much more expensive. The drive I usually use is a WD500 Black. Cost is $70 Cdn including tax.
CT
Yes, Jim. A clean install of Win7 will always result in a dramatic performance improvement. In fact, I am going to be doing a HD replacement and clean Win7 install on a client laptop this very afternoon
I always use the Windows Easy Transfer program. Works 99% of the time and very well. You should not use WET for systems which are hopelessly corrupted because it transfers the settings which may well have been the problem.
I always provide my clients with a set of DVDs that have an image of the drive BEFORE data or apps are installed, but after all updates and drivers are installed. It saves a lot of time when replacing a drive, such as will be the case this afternoon.
CT
Excellent plan. Costs a lot less for your customers to do it this way than to recover from a hard drive crash. And everything is refreshed and renewed every five years.
Thanks for the info about Windows Easy Transfer. Question about WET: Do you first restore to the new drive from the set of DVDs that you made, and then use WET to transfer all files and settings from the old hard drive to the new Windows install?
Actually, if you need to do a full recovery, you could just reinstall the old drive (assuming it is still in good working order), do a backup of it, install a new drive, then restore the backup to the new drive.
That is one benefit of storing the old drive. The other benefit is that if the person needs to recover a lost file, you just might find the needed file on that old drive.
There is no need to wipe the old drive or dispose of it. Save the drive, and it may end up saving you one day if any sort of recovery is ever needed.
anonymous, if you hold a 3.5″ hard drive for a desktop in one hand and a 2.5″ hard drive for a laptop in the other hand, it will be obvious why they have a shorter life. One is at least 20 times the mass of the other.
CT
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