# Hazards of Deleting "Hotfix Uninstallers" From PC Using CrapCleaner Program

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hazards-of-deleting-hotfix-uninstallers-from-pc-using-crapcleaner-program/363375>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 6, 2006, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hazards-of-deleting-hotfix-uninstallers-from-pc-using-crapcleaner-program/363375 "2006-07-06T15:37:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hazards-of-deleting-hotfix-uninstallers-from-pc-using-crapcleaner-program/363375/1 "2006-07-06T15:37:55Z")

</div>

I’ve been pleased with the performance of CrapCleaner (current version 1.30.310), as it consistently removes mebabytes of junk from my PC and helps things run faster.

One setting I didn’t have activated is the option to delete “Hotfix Uninstallers.” I today activated this option, clicked the general “clean” button and CC began logging more than 150 megs of stuff it wanted to delete from the Hotfix Uninstallers. Concerned, I stopped the program.

What are hotfix uninstallers?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hazards-of-deleting-hotfix-uninstallers-from-pc-using-crapcleaner-program/363375/2 "2006-07-06T16:03:22Z")

</div>

Hotfixes are Windows updates. The uninstallers let you remove them if you find that they’re causing you problems.

They’re safe to delete.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hazards-of-deleting-hotfix-uninstallers-from-pc-using-crapcleaner-program/363375/3 "2006-07-06T16:07:14Z")

</div>

They’re uninstall apps to remove Microsoft’s updates. Most of them will be named along the lines of KB12345678 - you can plug that KB number into Microsoft’s Knowledge Base to see what the particular patch addressed.

Or, just delete them. They’re useful in the couple of days after installing a patch, in case the patch does more harm than good, and are safe to delete once you’re fairly sure the patch went OK.

Only 150 meg of them on your PC? 😃