is it safe to delete the files in C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution?

Question

i downloaded some windows updates by accident. managed to click cancel before they installed. i thought they would have been in downloaded program files, but "SoftwareDistribution" and sperately in the "WINDOWS" file are the only places i cna find them.

Safe to Delete???

Answer 1

If you didn't have them in the 1st place and you have only just downloaded them you should be ok if you haven't installed them yet.

Answer 2

windows updates are placed in a folder which is part of the operating system,as the updates are used to protect or modify the operating system
so i would strongly recommend that you dont delete anything from within the windows folder,by doing this you can directly or indirectly affect the running of your operating sytem
certain updates can be removed by just going to add/remove programs and ticking the box at the top marked "show updates"
as long as you know the number of the update in question you can remove these no problem,however there are some updates that cannot be removed such as the windows genuine advantage tool,which is designed to find illegal copies of windows
if this is the update you wish to remove you will be best to do a windows re-installation as that is the only way to get rid of it
if you do a re-install,to avoid unwanted updates being installed again go to automatic updates and tick the second box which will notify you before it downloads updates,and this way you can pick which updates you want and stop the rest from being downloaded
but whatever you do DO NOT delete any files or folders from within the windows folder,take it from a man who has done this and screwed up his system!
good luck

Answer 3

In safe mode... Click Start -> Run Type cmd click "OK" A "DOS" windows will open: Type - copy "C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386\ndis.s... "C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\ndis.sys" Allow it to overwrite the existing file. Reboot, and re-run AVG. If it doesnt let you over write the file, then delete it from the system32/drivers folder first, then do the copy command listed above.

Answer 4

to be on the safe side, I would suggest just deleting files from the folder that you know are actually downloaded unwanted updates. if at the end there are no other files left in the folder then it should be safe to delete the folder altogether.

Answer 5

yes, but see, if any warning comes, saying, by deleting this, some softwares might not work properly, then choose cancel, otherwise, it's completely safe.