NO.
>>So couldn't these be deleted?
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My Surface tablet's hard drive has gradually become full and the device is now essentially useless because there is no empty disk space. (I have the original Surface RT.)
But I have removed all my files, except those on the SD card. So essentially all the space on the drive is taken up by Microsoft software.
Three or so years ago, I went to a Microsoft store and they kept the device for a few days, and returned it with more free disc space. they told me they cleaned out unnecessary old software files. When I went again a few months ago, they declined to do that again and basically told me to buy a new one, which I declined to do.
It seems as if there is a lot of extra stuff cluttering up my drive, and it must be almost all Microsoft's files. So I suspect there are old software versions that can be deleted.
I did some exploring and found a folder called "Packages" in the directory Windows/Users/David/AppData/Local/Packages, with more than 36,000 files in more than 1600 folders and totaling about more than 3.5 GB!!!
I suspect these are the Microsoft monthly updates for several years. So couldn't these be deleted? That would free up at least a little space that might help the device at least load a program now and then so I can use it.
These are the only files I found that look to me as if they might be candidates to delete. there is nothing in the Download folders, for example.
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Answer accepted by question author
NO.
>>So couldn't these be deleted?
Thanks! I appreciate the fast response! Reading through the linked thread, it does look as if there may be some files I could delete but figuring out which ones could be time-consuming and might have unforeseen results.
Phooey, I was hoping I had an opportunity to get some free space.