We previously covered a tip that brings more disk space back by removing service pack leftover. But this new Windows Update Cleanup plugin to the Disk Cleanup wizard, which released recently on Oct. 7, 2013, works even better. You will definitely love it if you are running off your main system on a fast SSD drive.
What does Windows Update Cleanup do?
After you have this update installed on your system, you will be able to use the Windows Update Cleanup option to delete Windows updates that you no longer need.
The update only works on Windows 7 with service pack 1 and above, meaning that in order to take great advantage of this new update, you will need to install service pack 1 on Windows 7 systems, if you haven’t done so. One thing you need to be aware of is that once you run Disk Cleanup wizard to have all windows update cleaned up, you won’t be able to roll back to a superseded update.
On Windows 7 comptuers
Go to All Programs → Accessories → System Tools → Disk Cleanup to start off the cleanup process. Then select Windows 7 system drive, and hid OK.
However, if you don’t see the option Windows Update Cleanup showing up on the list, you may not have the update installed on your computer yet. Go to this Microsoft KB2852386 download page to download and manually install it.
On Windows 8 computers
Things are a little different on Windows 8 machines. Press Win+R, type cleanmgr, and hit Enter to start the process. Then select the system drive, and hit OK.
If you don’t see the option “Windows Update Cleanup” on the list, like the following screenshot shows, click Clean up system files button on the bottom left.
It will run the disk scan again and you will see the option showing up once it’s done, like below.
Now, it’s time to hit OK to clean up the mess to have the big space returning back.
What’s even better
You can actually automate the process by running Disk Cleanup wizard as a command line and schedule it as a task in Task Scheduler. And you can find more details from Microsoft KB315246 page.