OS Components

Attention! Using the features of this section is not necessary. Rather, it is an exception. These features are designed for very experienced users. Use them only if you know exactly what you are doing. Changes selected in this section cannot be undone using Red Button. To recover deleted Windows components, you will need the image from which the operating system was installed. Be extremely careful with the features in this section!

The features in this group allow you to free up disk space by removing unnecessary (for you) components of Windows. Also, these features help improve overall performance, convenience, security and privacy of your system.

In the Red Button program itself, the features (available for your version of Windows) for removing OS components are displayed without taking into account the presence of these components in your particular system. That is, if some component has already been removed, the option to remove it will still be displayed in Red Button.

All features in this section have a Risk Level of RED.

In this section following features are accessible.

General

Delete 3D Builder
     OS: 10, 11

Delete 3D Viewer
     OS: 10

Delete Accessibility Options

Delete Alarms & Clock
     OS: 8, 10, 11

Delete App Connector
     OS: 10

Delete App Installer
     OS: 10

Delete Backup/Backup Status and Configuration
     OS: XP, Vista

Delete Calculator
     OS: XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11

Delete Camera
     OS: 10, 11

Delete Character Map
     OS: XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11

Delete ClipBook Viewer
     Windows XP had clipbrd.exe referred to as the Clipboard Viewer or the ClipBook Viewer, which could be used to see what was saved on your clipboard.
     OS: XP

Delete Clipchamp
     OS: 11

Delete Connect to a Projector
     OS: 7

Delete Copilot
     OS: 10, 11

Delete Cortana
     OS: 11

Delete Debug
     OS: XP, Vista, 7

Delete Default (My) Music
     OS: XP, Vista, 7

Delete Default (My) Pictures
     OS: XP, Vista, 7

Delete Default Video
     OS: Vista, 7

Delete Defragment and Optimize Drives
     OS: 8, 10, 11

Delete Desktop Wallpapers

Delete DirectX Diagnostic Tool
     DxDiag ("DirectX Diagnostics") is a diagnostics tool used to test DirectX functionality and troubleshoot video- or sound-related hardware problems.
     OS: XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11

Delete Disk Cleanup
     OS: XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11

Delete Disk Defragmenter
     OS: XP, Vista, 7

Delete Dll Cache

Delete Driver Cache

Delete Dr. Watson

Delete Ease of Access

Delete Extras and Upgrades
     OS: Vista

Delete Feedback
     OS: 10, 11

Delete Files and Settings Transfer Wizard
     OS: XP

Delete Finance
     OS: 8

Delete Food & Drink
     OS: 8

Delete Games
     OS: XP, Vista, 7

Delete Get Help
     OS: 10, 11

Delete Get Office
     OS: 10, 11

Delete Get Skype
     OS: 10

Delete Get Started
     OS: 10, 11

Delete Groove Music
     OS: 10, 11

Delete Health & Fitness
     OS: 8

Delete HEIF Image Extension
     OS: 10

Delete Help
     OS: XP, Vista, 7
     Deletes the help information of an operating system.

Delete Help+Tips
     OS: 8

Delete Hotfix Files Copies
     When a security update, critical update, update, update rollup, driver, or feature pack installs GDR (general distribution release) version files, are also copied the hotfix files. This supports migration to the appropriate files if you later install a hotfix or service pack that includes earlier versions of these files. For example, consider the following scenario:
     1. You apply a security update that installs a GDR version of File.dll with a version number of 1.1 and copies a hotfix version of File.dll with a version number of 1.1.
     2. You apply a hotfix that includes a hotfix version of File.dll with a version number of 1.0.
     In this scenario the hotfix installation in step 2 installs the hotfix version of File.dll (version number 1.1) from the copy instead of the hotfix version of File.dll (version number 1.0) from the hotfix package.
     OS: XP

Delete HyperTerminal
     OS: XP

Delete Internet Explorer
     OS: XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11

Delete Mail and Calendar
     OS: 8, 10, 11

Delete Maps
     OS: 8, 10, 11

Delete Messaging and Skype Video
     OS: 10

Delete Microsoft Photos
     OS: 10, 11

Delete Microsoft Solitaire Collection / Solitaire & Casual Games
     OS: 10, 11

Delete Microsoft Store
     OS: 10, 11

Delete Microsoft Teams
     OS: 11

Delete Microsoft To Do
     OS: 11

Delete Microsoft Wi-Fi
     OS: 10

Delete Mixed Reality Portal
     OS: 10, 11

Delete Money
     OS: 10, 11

Delete Movies & TV
     OS: 10, 11

Delete MS-DOS Editor
     MS-DOS Editor is a text editor that comes with MS-DOS and 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows. Editor can be launched by typing it into the Run command dialog on Windows, and by typing edit into the command-line interface (usually cmd.exe). Edit is still included in later versions of Windows such as Windows XP and Windows Vista 32 bit.
     OS: XP, Vista, 7

Delete MSN Explorer
     OS: XP

Delete Music
     OS: 8

Delete NetworkProjection
     OS: Vista, 7

Delete News
     OS: 8, 10, 11

Delete Notepad
     OS: XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11

Delete OneNote
     OS: 10, 11

Delete Outlook Express
     OS: XP

Delete Paid Wi-Fi & Cellular
     OS: 10

Delete Paint
     OS: XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11

Delete Paint 3D
     OS: 10

Delete People
     OS: 10, 11

Delete Phone
     OS: 10

Delete Phone Companion
     OS: 10

Delete Power Automate
     OS: 11

Delete Print 3D
     OS: 10

Delete Private Character Editor
     OS: 7, 8, 10, 11

Delete Program Manager
     Program Manager is the shell of Windows 3.x and Windows NT 3.x operating systems. This shell exposed a task-oriented graphical user interface (GUI), consisting of icons (shortcuts for programs) arranged into program groups.
     In later versions of Microsoft Windows, starting with Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0, Program Manager was replaced by Windows Explorer as the shell, though Windows 95 gave the user an opportunity to choose which shell they preferred during setup. For backward compatibility with old applications, Program Manager was still included in later versions of Windows. It can be accessed by executing PROGMAN.EXE from the command line or Run dialog.
     OS: XP

Delete Quick Assist
     OS: 10, 11

Delete Reader
     OS: 8

Delete Reading List
     OS: 8

Delete (Windows) Remote Assistance
     OS: XP, Vista, 7

Delete Remote Desktop Connection
     OS: XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11

Delete Scan
     OS: 8

Delete Screen Savers
     OS: XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11

Delete Service Pack Files Copy

Delete Skype
     OS: 8

Delete Snipping Tool
     OS: Vista, 7

Delete Snip & Sketch and Snipping Tool
     OS: 11

Delete Sounds
     Deletes the default Windows theme event sound files.
     OS: XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11

Delete Sound Recorder
     OS: XP, Vista, 7, 8

Delete Sports
     OS: 8, 10, 11

Delete Spotify
     OS: 10, 11

Delete Steps Recorder
     OS: 10

Delete Sticky Notes
     OS: 7, 10, 11

Delete Sway
     OS: 10, 11

Delete Synchronize/Sync Center
     OS: XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11

Delete System Configuration Editor
     This is an old special plain text editor from way back in the Windows 3.x days (as I recall), that can be used to look over and edit all of your text type configuration files at one time.
     OS: XP, Vista, 7

Delete System Information
     OS: XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11

Delete System Restore
     System Restore monitors changes to your system allowing you to roll-back to previous configurations.
     OS: XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11

Delete Tablet PC
     OS: Vista, 7, 8, 10

Delete Task Scheduler
     OS: XP

Delete Terminal
     OS: 11

Delete Travel
     OS: 8

Delete Video
     OS: 8

Delete View 3D
     OS: 10

Delete Voice Recorder
     OS: 10, 11

Delete Volume Control
     : XP

Delete Weather
     OS: 8, 10, 11

Delete Web Media Extensions
     OS: 10, 11

Delete Webp Image Extensions
     OS: 10, 11

Delete Windows Calendar
     OS: Vista

Delete Windows Chat
     Windows Chat is a simple LAN-based text chatting program included in the Windows NT-line of operating systems.
     OS: XP

Delete Windows Defender
     OS: Vista, 7

Delete Windows DVD Maker
     OS: 7

Delete Windows Easy Transfer
     OS: Vista, 7, 8, 10

Delete Windows Fax and Scan
     OS: Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11

Delete Windows File Protection
     Windows File Protection (WFP) is a technology included in Windows to prevent programs from replacing critical Windows system files. Protecting core system files prevents problems such as DLL hell with programs and the operating system.
     When Windows File Protection is active, replacing or deleting a system file that has no file lock to prevent it from being overwritten causes Windows to immediately and silently restore the original copy of the file. The original version of the file is restored from a cached folder which contains backup copies of these files.
     OS: XP

Delete Windows Live Messenger Download
     OS: Vista

Delete Windows Mail
     OS: Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11

Delete Windows Meeting Space
     OS: Vista

Delete Windows Media Center
     OS: Vista, 7

Delete Windows Media Player

Delete Windows Messenger
     OS: XP

Delete Windows Movie Maker
     OS: XP, Vista

Delete Windows Photo Gallery
     OS: Vista

Delete Windows Photo Viewer
     OS: 7, 8, 10, 11

Delete Windows PowerShell
     OS: 7, 8, 10, 11
     Warning: Removing Windows PowerShell makes it impossible to completely remove many other OS components using Red Button, since the Red Button program itself uses, among other things, Windows PowerShell functions for these purposes.

Delete Windows Sidebar
     OS: Vista, 7

Delete Windows Updates

Delete WordPad
     OS: XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11

Delete Xbox
     OS: 10, 11

Delete XPS Viewer
     OS: 7, 8, 10, 11

Delete Your Phone Companion
     OS: 10, 11

Services

Windows XP

In Windows XP, the following messages may appear after removing OS components.

On the first message answer "Cancel", on the second - "Yes".

Currently, in Windows XP, the full functionality of some features is available only for the English and Russian versions of this OS. On other language versions of Windows XP the features will work, but not all in full force - not all planned files can be deleted. Note that this applies only to the features in this section and only to Windows XP.