I understand the purpose of WinSXS and it's intended solution for DLL. And
finding multiple instances of a given DLL there does not surprise me. What
did surprise me however, was finding seven different versions of the
iexplore.exe Why would there EVER be a need for 7 different versions of this
particular EXE or for that matter ANY EXE file?

Anyone have any insight as to what Vista is now using WinSXS for, in
addition to the DLL hell solution. I've seen references to System32 files
actually being stored in WinSXS and linked from System32. Again that makes
sense.

But 7 versions of Internet Explorer makes absolutely NO sense whatsoever.
I know that there is some process whereby Vista is supposed to periodically
cleanup WinSXS and doe some housekeeping. Can anyone point me to some
documentation regarding that and/or the mystery of the 7 IE instances?

Thanks,
Gary

WinSxs Stands for "Side by Side" most dlls or system exes are located
here for your operating system, older ones for compatibility or the
programs you use as well as previous versions from system updates, you
should not delete or modify the contents of the SxS folder cause windows
preforms its own cleanup and management of this folder itself any
modifications can cause severe problems with your windows installation.

Google has some extensive docs available about this folder and its
operation.


--
dmex

[sarcasm mode on]

Gee, really? I never would have guess.

[sarcasm mode off]

I already knew that and said so in my message. The question in my message
still remains, why seven versions of Internet Explorer? I can see the
possible need for one or two to support update roll back. But seven? That's
a bit over the top.

I am still curious as to when and how Vista does this alleged clean up cycle.

Gary

"dmex" wrote:


WinSxs Stands for "Side by Side" most dlls or system exes are located
here for your operating system, older ones for compatibility or the
programs you use as well as previous versions from system updates, you
should not delete or modify the contents of the SxS folder cause windows
preforms its own cleanup and management of this folder itself any
modifications can cause severe problems with your windows installation.

Google has some extensive docs available about this folder and its
operation.


--
dmex

'WinSxS (David's Blog)'
(http://www.davidlenihan.com/2007/07/winsxs.html)
Windows Update log (%windir%\WindowsUpdate.log)
Component-Based Servicing log (%windir%\logs\cbs\cbs.log)
Windows Side-by-Side Pending log (%windir%\winsxs\pending.xml)
Windows Side-by-Side Pending Bad log (%windir%\winsxs\pending.xml.bad)
Pending Operations Queue Exec log (%windir%\winsxs\poqexec.log)
DPX Setup Act log (%windir%\logs\DPX\setupact.log)
SxSConfig Setup 'Publisher Configuration (Windows)'
(http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa375680.aspx)
Extended DiskCleaner: cleanmgr /sageset:1

Best way to check if you can delete old unused files is check the last
access time after running all programs.


--
dmex

Hi, Gary.

I'm no expert on WinSXS, but I just read a recent thread about in this same
newsgroup, including a post by Darrell Gorter of MSFT. Check out the thread
started 12/13/2007 11:17:PM (CST) by Pbb321:
Subject: Winsxs Folder 10GB and increasing!

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64)

"Gshell" wrote in message
...
I understand the purpose of WinSXS and it's intended solution for DLL.
And
finding multiple instances of a given DLL there does not surprise me.
What
did surprise me however, was finding seven different versions of the
iexplore.exe Why would there EVER be a need for 7 different versions of
this
particular EXE or for that matter ANY EXE file?

Anyone have any insight as to what Vista is now using WinSXS for, in
addition to the DLL hell solution. I've seen references to System32 files
actually being stored in WinSXS and linked from System32. Again that
makes
sense.

But 7 versions of Internet Explorer makes absolutely NO sense whatsoever.
I know that there is some process whereby Vista is supposed to
periodically
cleanup WinSXS and doe some housekeeping. Can anyone point me to some
documentation regarding that and/or the mystery of the 7 IE instances?

Thanks,
Gary

Found this interesting article utilizing the previous versions of IE
included with WindowsXP...

'Install multiple versions of IE on your PC | TredoSoft'
(http://tredosoft.com/Multiple_IE)


--
dmex