Vista service pack 2

[jchrisc]

Chris my download (64 bit) was only 6.5Meg but then I do have auto update notifications and regularly install updates

Me too - are you sure that wasn't just the downloader . . . .

Here are the data that show on the Microsoft website

Quick Details
File Name: Windows6.0-KB948465-X64.exe
Version: 948465
Knowledge Base (KB) Articles: KB948465
Date Published: 5/25/2009
Language: English
Download Size: 577.4 MB
Estimated Download Time: 23 hr 28 min 56K
23 hr 28 min
Change Language:

[GeoffR]

A few thoughts:
I am very glad I no longer have a Vista compter.


is it really acceptable to you who have Vista that Microsoft wants another 500MB of your hard disk?


Has anyone checked how much more hard disk space Vista uses now than it did on day !?

[Norman]

With 1tb disks costing £50 or £60 pound it's not a consideration.

[BigWill]

A few thoughts:
I am very glad I no longer have a Vista computer.


is it really acceptable to you who have Vista that Microsoft wants another 500MB of your hard disk?


Has anyone checked how much more hard disk space Vista uses now than it did on day !?

On the one hand I do find it slightly irksome that constant updating is a fact of life with Vista but on the other hand I can understand the necessity to protect and update the OS to maintain it's functionality for the vast and enormously varied requirements of it's many users out there. In that sense therefore, I find the updating reassuring in that at least you know Microsoft are "on the case" and are doing their best to meet customer requirements. I think that if you "buy into" a mainstream product like Microsoft then you have to accept that there will inevitably be compromises in that their OS may not be targeted at your requirements specifically but will fit a greater number of requirements generally. In short, it's an "all things to all men" OS and of course that can never be perfect and you have to accept that while some aspects of the OS will be totally irrelevant to you personally, they may be of vital importance to someone else.

As to the specific issue of hard disk space, I think perhaps in the "old days" when hard disks were generally much smaller then this might have been more of an issue but when the average size of a typical consumer disk on a vista system is around the 120/160 gig mark, then half a gig here or there is of very little relevance I suspect. I think using Microsoft and Vista requires a different mindset in that you must accept that it's inevitably going to be bigger in order to cater for the bigger audience out there. "Smaller" might be "nicer" but when you're trying to cater for the masses I don't think it's a realistic or attainable objective?

BigWill

[GeoffR]

With 1tb disks costing £50 or £60 pound it's not a consideration.

Non sequiter.

The cost of an upgrade hard disk is not the question. Try getting an internal 1TB hard disk for a notebook. The vast majority of users don't even know that you can open the case.

[jchrisc]

I agree with Will. The Windows folder on my machine occupies less than 26Gb on a disc with 684Gb available of which 635Gb is free.

It irks me that things seem to take longer than they used to, but disc space is not an issue.

P.S. I run the 32bit version on my laptop and there the equivalent figures are 17GB; 78Gb and 38Gb

[BigWill]

I agree with Will. The Windows folder on my machine occupies less than 26Gb on a disc with 684Gb available of which 635Gb is free.

It irks me that things seem to take longer than they used to, but disc space is not an issue.

Indeed, the 120/160 gb average Vista disk size I referred to in my previous post related to laptop PC's and not desktops which generally seem to come equipped with even larger disks nowadays with 300 gig being about "average" for a typical Vista consumer desktop and 500gig and over not being uncommon either. So in conclusion I'd say that disk space is generally not an issue for the average Vista user who has a recent computer which came with vista on it and subsequently came already supplied a suitably capacious hard disk?

BigWill

[Benchista]

A few thoughts:
I am very glad I no longer have a Vista compter.


is it really acceptable to you who have Vista that Microsoft wants another 500MB of your hard disk?


Has anyone checked how much more hard disk space Vista uses now than it did on day !?

I have to say that there's an overpowering whiff of buyer's remorse coming through in all your posts on OS topics, Geoff, as if you're desparately trying to convince yourself that you've not spent your money unwisely, and not quite succeeding. It's hard to imagine any other motivation for such a rash of misinformed comments. Just enjoy what you've got, it's a fine choice, and let the rest of us make our own minds up.

[GeoffR]

A few thoughts:
I am very glad I no longer have a Vista compter.


is it really acceptable to you who have Vista that Microsoft wants another 500MB of your hard disk?


Has anyone checked how much more hard disk space Vista uses now than it did on day !?

I have to say that there's an overpowering whiff of buyer's remorse coming through in all your posts on OS topics, Geoff, as if you're desparately trying to convince yourself that you've not spent your money unwisely, and not quite succeeding. It's hard to imagine any other motivation for such a rash of misinformed comments. Just enjoy what you've got, it's a fine choice, and let the rest of us make our own minds up.

I would get your nose checked Nick, my reason for asking is that I still run two XP machines.

[Scphoto]

Has anyone checked how much more hard disk space Vista uses now than it did on day !?

Remember the service pack replaces a lot of existing files, some may be smaller and better compiled than the original file. Though Windows does keep a copy of the pre-service pack state to enable roll back.

Talking of updates, my new Mac Mini was powered up today - asked for about a gig of updates to be loaded

Mind you I've got space back though using the tool Monolingual - it removes unwanted language files (3gb on my Mac) - also it can remove unwanted binarys for old PPC architectures (726mb not needed as it's an Intel chip). Right time to rip it apart and stick 4gb in it

[Gordon_McGeachie]

Thats a handy prog, pity its not out for the pc though

[BigWill]

Thats a handy prog, pity its not out for the pc though

Err, maybe that's because you don't actually need it for a Windows PC because you have to install regional language packs for Windows to have support for additional language files. Mac OS by default includes language files of all languages.

Wow, there's a first...........Microsoft actually saving space for once!

BigWill

[Norman]

Has anyone checked how much more hard disk space Vista uses now than it did on day !?

Remember the service pack replaces a lot of existing files, some may be smaller and better compiled than the original file. Though Windows does keep a copy of the pre-service pack state to enable roll back.

Although I answered that the amount of disk space that updates consumed were not a consideration to me, I thought it would be interesting to check disk space before and after my install of SP2.

Before the install I had 862gb free on the C: drive with the Windows (Vista Ultimate) directory taking up 7.39gb of disk space.
After the install I'm down to 855gb free with Windows taking up 18.4gb of disk space.

The Windows directory has more than doubled in size. Still not a concern to me but I could see how it might be if someone was running short of space. It looks like Windows has not 'cleared up after itself' after the install. I'll have to have a delve around looking for the 'uninstaller' directories as the uninstaller for all the previous patches can now be deleted.

[Wheelman]

Just a thought Norman-not sure if it's the same with Vista but did you empty the re-cycle bin after the install?

[Norman]

The recycle bin is empty although Windows doesn't use it when it delete temporary files.

I couldn't find any $uninstall directorys in Vista like were created when XP did an update. Instead Vista uses the C:\Windows\winsxs directory. The problem is that it's not easy to identify individual uninstaller elements within there and it's 11gb in size. Don't think I'll bother.

[Ian_A]

A few thoughts:
I am very glad I no longer have a Vista compter.


is it really acceptable to you who have Vista that Microsoft wants another 500MB of your hard disk?


Has anyone checked how much more hard disk space Vista uses now than it did on day !?

I have to say that there's an overpowering whiff of buyer's remorse coming through in all your posts on OS topics, Geoff, as if you're desparately trying to convince yourself that you've not spent your money unwisely, and not quite succeeding. It's hard to imagine any other motivation for such a rash of misinformed comments. Just enjoy what you've got, it's a fine choice, and let the rest of us make our own minds up.

Amen to that! - some of us are quite comfortable with Vista, XP and Windows 7.

Quite frankly, if I ever felt the need to give up on Windows I'd simply move over to Linux on the same hardware, it's a 'no-brainer' as far as I'm concerned.