How to clear drive C of unnecessary files. How to properly clear space on the Windows system drive (C:) and not break anything (detailed instructions from Igor Shastitko) Lack of disk space with Windows 10

Did you just install the April 2018 update? If so, more than 10 GB of data is missing from your hard drive. On a laptop or tablet with limited memory, this can be very annoying.

If you have a computer with a lot of available storage, you may not even notice this useless data. They will remain for about 10 days until Windows automatically clears them. But, if you already have little memory on your hard drive, then you will probably want to delete them yourself.

These files allow you to rollback changes within 10 days

Upgrading between "builds" of Windows 10, such as the Fall Creators Update for Windows 10 or the April Update, is treated the same as upgrading to a completely new Windows operating system.

When upgrading to a new "build", Windows creates a Windows.old folder containing system files from your “old” Windows installations. This allows you to "roll back" to a previous build of Windows 10 if you have a problem with the new build.

However, this folder uses more than 10 GB of space on your hard drive. Windows will automatically remove it after 10 days, but you can remove it sooner to immediately free up space.

You can return to latest version Windows 10, which you installed by going to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery and clicking the Get Started button under Return to Previous Windows versions 10." This button is only present if the files are still available on your computer.

How to delete the Windows.old folder

If everything works fine after a few days, you can delete these files. You don't need to delete the Windows.old folder manually.

Beginning with Windows updates 10 in April 2018, you can erase these files using the new Free Space tool in Settings. To access it, go to Settings > System > Device Storage > Free up space now.

Check the Previous Windows Installations option in the list. You'll see the amount of space you'll save next to it here.

If you don't see this option in the list, then either you have already deleted these files, or Windows 10 has already deleted them for you.

Select the other types of data you want to delete, and then click the "Delete Files" button at the top of the window. Safely delete all types of data here if your computer is working properly.

How to Delete the Windows.old Folder Using Disk Cleanup

You can also use the Disk Cleanup tool, which will clean everything up for you. To run it, open the Start menu, search for Disk Cleanup and press Enter.

Check the Previous Windows Installations option in the list. You can also check other types of files that you want to delete from your hard drive to free up space.

Click "OK" after you have selected what you want to delete. Disk Cleanup will remove previous Windows installation files and free up space on your hard drive.

If you need to go back to a previous version of Windows 10 after deleting these files, you will have to reinstall Windows 10 from the installation media with the old build.

As a result of these manipulations, the properties window for the drive installed in the system will open.

So, we got to the cleaning mechanism. All groups of files that are listed in the list that opens can be safely deleted. As you tick the boxes, the system calculates the amount of freed up space. However, the utility's capabilities do not end there. Since we are going to carry out a total cleaning, we will also clean the system files.

The parameters indicated in the screenshot allow you to:

• Remove programs that have not been used for a long time. Selecting the first item "Clear", we will move to the standard software management menu. As a result, it works as an interactive reminder for especially forgetful users;
• The second point is much more interesting. If you have System Restore enabled on your computer, which creates restore points, you can delete them. In a long-running system, they can take up significant space.

Actions taken when selecting the second item will need to be confirmed additionally.

Go to the main tab and confirm the selection again.

The system is deleting temporary files. The operation time will depend on their volume and type of drive.

New cleaning menu

In addition to the classic method that we just looked at, a new one has appeared in Windows 10. To use it, let's go to the options menu.

We will use the search function as a universal option suitable for any user.

Select the item highlighted in the screenshot to go to the new system settings.

In the quick jump menu located on the left side, select the item "Vault". Click on the stylized image of the system disk, which shows how full it is.

Disk space usage statistics open, showing the size occupied by each file category. We are interested in deleting temporary files, so let's move on to the appropriate item.

We tick the required boxes and confirm our actions. After making sure that the operation is completed, we return back to the section "Vault". In it we still have one more option that has not been considered. Pay attention to the position of the slider in the “Memory Control” section. His position answers the question: why temporary files are not deleted, accumulating in the system over time. By default it is always disabled.

Move the slider to the on position to allow Windows to automatically clean up temporary files. Open the link "Change the way you release" and look at what exactly falls under the automation.

If you are not using the basket as storage pantry unnecessary files, you can leave the sliders in the on position. Click on the highlighted button to make sure that there is no “garbage” left in the system. At this point, the cleaning can be considered complete.

Cleaning the system after updating

After the next Microsoft update, called the Fall Creators Update, Windows 10 received additional settings and the first elements of Fluent Design. The main changes concerned the optimization of the executable code and are practically invisible from the outside. That's where the good news ends. After installing it, the user may be faced with the fact that the disk "WITH" crowded.

Let's figure out where the space went after the update. First, let's see how long Windows 10 takes after installation. Open the system drive in Explorer.

Note the highlighted folder Windows.old – We will return to it a little later. Find the directory with the installed OS and right-click the context menu.

We are interested in the item marked in the screenshot. By clicking on it we will open the properties of the selected folder.

Now let's go back and check the size by analogy Windows.old.

Now you understand how it turned out that the disk is full.

At the time of installing the update, Windows makes a complete copy of the previous version so that the user can go back if something does not suit him. Microsoft allows 10 days for testing. After they expire, the copy should be deleted automatically. If there is really not enough space on the system disk, you need to delete the Windows.old folder before the allotted time.

We go to the section in which we configured the settings for automatic cleaning of temporary files.

After installing the Fall Creators Update appearance it has changed somewhat. Auto-cleaning of the downloads folder has been added, and the sliders have been replaced with checkmarks. We go down and see additional options related to the latest OS update. To delete a saved copy, check the corresponding box and press the highlighted button. As a result, we get back almost 20 GB of disk space.

The order of interaction between the OS and RAM

A few more gigabytes can be taken away from the system by changing the way it works with memory. In progress Windows operation creates and uses two hidden files with the "sys" extension:

• Pagefile- the so-called “swap file” or virtual RAM. To take advantage of RAM's processing speed advantages, non-urgent data is cached into it. By default, the size of this file is controlled by the operating system. If the volume random access memory quite large, from 8 GB or more, it is practically not used. The smaller the RAM value, the larger the page file becomes;
• Hiberfile- intended for storing the contents of RAM at the time of transition to “deep sleep” or hibernation mode. Accordingly, in order to successfully save information, it must have a size within 75% of RAM.

The use of the settings listed in this section depends on the tasks for which you are using the computer and its hardware configuration. The fight for free space should not come at the expense of performance.

Changing the size Pagefile

To change the size of the paging file, you will need to open system properties (Win + Pause / Break).

Select the marked item and move to the additional parameters window.

Go to the desired tab and open the performance parameters.

Change the tab again and move on to managing virtual memory.

We follow the sequence shown in the screenshot, first of all unchecking the automatic size selection. After this, the remaining items are activated. To determine how much space to allocate for pagefile, we will use the OS recommended value. In this case, we agree and reduce the size of the paging file by setting it to a fixed value. On click "OK" A warning will appear indicating that a reboot is required.

We confirm our decision. After restarting, the computer will use the limited amount of disk space allocated to it to organize virtual memory.

Disable hibernation

Users who prefer to turn off their PC after each work session can safely get rid of Hiberfile. It is worth warning that this may slightly increase the overall OS loading time. If ten seconds are not critical, then launch PowerShell in administrator mode.

The menu shown in the screenshot is called up by right-clicking on the button "Start". If you did not agree to switch to a new shell at one time, the command line will be located in this place. PowerShell has superior functionality, but using either tool will produce the same results.

Entering the command shown in the screenshot instantly deletes the Hiberfile from your hard drive. Replacement « off" on "on" returns it to its place. No reboot is required.

Compression mode

You already know how and what you can delete from the disk to free up space, without deleting programs. Let's look at another useful feature available in Windows 10. It's worth mentioning right away that it can be used successfully only on computers with a modern configuration. In this case, in accordance with Microsoft recommendations, the presence of an SSD as a storage device is implied. According to the technical documentation, the Compact OS feature is automatically enabled when it does not cause an overall performance hit.

The meaning of its work is to “transparently” compress system files. As a result, the space required to accommodate the OS on the drive is reduced. You can check whether compression is working on your computer using the following command (enter in command line or PowerShell):

compact /compactos:query

You can see the result of its execution in the screenshots below.

Now let's see how much space it took to install Windows 10 in both cases.

It can be seen that in the right screenshot the space occupied by the OS on the disk is 2.5 GB less than the actual size of the folder.

The result fully corresponds to the declared one. In the documentation, Microsoft promises savings of 1.5 to 2.5 GB, depending on the bit depth.

If Compact OS does not start automatically, but you decide to check how it will work in your configuration, you can force it. In the above command, after the colon, type not « query", A "always". After some time spent on compactification, you will see the result.

Checking how much space it takes up system folder to ensure the effectiveness of the actions taken.

If you are not satisfied with the result of operating the OS in a compressed state, you can perform the reverse process. Enter the parameter into the command after the colon « never" and return the system to its original state.

Third party cleaning programs

Users who are too lazy to do manual work can use third party programs to clean Windows. When installing such software, be sure to read the license agreement.

It says in black and white that developers are not responsible for the consequences of using the software.

Reg Organizer

The product is produced by domestic developers and is distributed on a paid basis. The cost of a personal license is 650 RUR. However, you can find version 7.52 from September 2016, which is free for non-commercial use.

You cannot update the program for free, but you can use it as much as you like.

The screenshot shows the main window with a list of options expanded on the left side. You can download the program on its official website.

CCleaner

The most popular utility among Windows users. Developed by the British company Piriform Limited and distributed under a shareware license. More than 50 languages ​​are supported, including Russian. At the time of installation, it offers to additionally install the Chrome browser.

As you can see, the program offers quite a lot of possibilities. “Safe” items are checked. How inactive sections look, showing what can be deleted additionally.

In any program designed for automatic cleaning, the main thing is not to overdo it. Do not repeat the mistake of users who, having discovered the OS type parameters, first of all try to delete hidden files. Mark only those items that you are sure of.

Finally

Reasonable use of the above methods will allow you not only to restore order to your computer one-time, but also to maintain its stable operation for a long time.

Video

For those users who like visual material, we have prepared a video on the topic.

In this article we will look at various ways cleaning the disk and freeing up space on it in any operating room Windows system XP, 7, 8.1, 10.

1. Where does disk space go?

During the process of computer operation, system updates, installation of programs, visiting websites and other actions, many unnecessary files accumulate on the disk, which are often called garbage or junk. In addition, we often download some files ourselves, and then, when they are no longer needed, we forget about them.

Extra files not only take up disk space, but also reduce system performance. The disk takes longer to search necessary files, and some of them can take up space in RAM and use processor resources. In addition, viruses often like to live in temporary files.

For stable, fast and reliable operation of your computer, you must keep the disk clean and tidy. Nowadays the problem of lack of space is also relevant. SSD drives, the scope of which is very limited.

In this article we will try to comprehensively solve the problem of lack of disk space. To achieve good results, we recommend that you read the entire article and follow all the tips in the order in which they are presented.

2. Removing unnecessary programs and games

First of all, remove all programs and games that you no longer need. This will not only free up disk space, but will also speed up the system.

Press the “Win+R” key combination, enter “appwiz.cpl” and press “Enter” or use the “Uninstall programs” shortcut from the “ ” section.

In the window that opens, carefully review the list of installed programs and games and remove all that you are unlikely to use in the near future.

To remove a program, right-click on it and select “Delete”.

Do not delete anything whose purpose you do not understand or if you are not sure.

After that, manually find and delete the save folders of the deleted games, as they can take up a lot of space. You can easily find out where the saves of a particular game are by searching on the Internet.

Many online games also retain their distributions (installation packages) during updates, which are no longer needed, but at the same time take up a lot of space. For example, the Mail.Ru game center saves distributions in the “Distrib” folder, and the “World of Tanks” game – in the “Updates” subfolder. Files in such folders can occupy tens of gigabytes and can be safely deleted.

3. Find and delete unnecessary files

It often happens that some old unnecessary files take up a lot of disk space, but we forgot about them and don’t know where they are. In order to find them, I recommend using the “TreeSize Free” utility, which you can download in the “” section.

After launch, the program will scan your disk, determine the sizes of files and folders and sort them by size.

This way you can easily determine which folder contains the files that take up the most space. Delete any files you no longer need. If you think you might still need some of them, burn them to disk. Selecting the disk to scan (C, D, etc.) is done in the “Scan” menu.

4. Transferring user files and folders

If you have a second disk or partition (for example, disk “D”), then first of all transfer to it all files from the desktop and user folders such as “My Documents”, “My Music”, “My Videos”, etc. ., since they are all physically located on the “C” drive.

You can move files manually by creating folders for them on another drive or partition in advance. But it is more correct to change the location of the user’s folders using the operating system. Then all new files that you or any programs save on the desktop and in user folders will automatically end up on another disk partition without causing overflow system partition.

4.1. Transfer user folders to Windows 7, 8.1, 10

Go to the folder “C:\Users\Name”.

Right-click on the “My Documents” folder and go to the “Location” tab.

Replace the drive letter with the one where you want to move the folder (for example, "D") and click OK.

Agree to move the files, and then repeat all the steps for the Desktop folder and other user folders.

4.2. Transfer user folders to Windows XP

In Windows XP there is no function to automatically move user folders and we will use special utility"XP Tweaker", which you can download in the "" section.

Install the utility and run it. Then in the left pane, select the “Windows XP” section and go to the “System Folders” tab.

Select the "My Documents" folder with the mouse, change the drive letter to the one where you want to move the folder (for example, "D") and click the "Change" button.

Follow the same steps for the “My Pictures”, “My Music”, “Desktop” folders.

After that, go to the folder “C:\Documents and Settings\Name”.

And manually move the “My Documents” and “Desktop” folders to the new location “D:\Documents and Settings\Name”.

5. Disk cleanup using Windows

All versions of Windows have a Disk Cleanup feature. Using it, you can clean up any partition of the disk (C, D, etc.), but it is most effective for cleaning the system partition (drive “C”), since this is where most temporary files are stored.

Right-click on drive “C” and select “Properties”.

Click the Disk Cleanup button.

Click the "Clean up system files" button (Windows 7, 8.1, 10).

Check all the boxes and you will see how much space will be freed up when deleting temporary files.

The volume of temporary files can reach 5-10 GB. Click the "OK" button and all temporary files will be deleted.

6. Deleting the hibernation file

The hibernation file (hiberfil.sys), which can be close in size to the amount of RAM, is located on the “C” drive and is used for sleep mode. If you do not use this mode, but turn your computer on and off in the usual way every time, then this file can be safely deleted, since it takes up a lot of space.

The system will not allow you to manually delete this file, and even if you do this using a special utility for deleting files, the system will create it again. Therefore, to correctly delete the hibernation file, you need to disable sleep mode.

Launch Command Prompt as administrator and run the following command:

Powercfg -h off

After this, the system itself will delete this file and will no longer create it.

If you don’t know how to work with the command line or don’t want to bother, you can download batch file"Deleting a hibernation file" in the "" section.

All you have to do is right-click on it and run it as Administrator (except for Windows XP).

7. Disable or change the page file size

The paging file (pagefile.sys), which can be one and a half times the size of RAM, is located on drive “C” and is used by many programs to compensate for the lack of RAM.

If you have a fairly large amount of RAM and a small “C” drive (for example, an SSD), many enthusiasts advise disabling the page file.

In the window that opens, go to the “Advanced” tab and in the “Performance” section, click the “Options” button.

In Performance Options, go to the Advanced tab and click the Change button.

Uncheck “Automatically select paging file size”, check the “No paging file” checkbox and click “OK”.

After restarting the computer, the paging file will be deleted and a lot of space will be freed up on the C drive.

But keep in mind that the system’s operation is tightly tied to the page file, and some programs may not even have enough 8 GB of RAM. Therefore, out of memory errors may begin to appear.

You can try completely disabling the paging file if you have 16 GB or more of RAM, but I still would not recommend doing this.

Hard drive A-Data Ultimate SU650 120GB

8. Disabling System Restore

The recovery service makes backup copies of system files and stores them in a special hidden folder, which can take up a lot of disk space. At the same time, the built-in recovery tool does not always work correctly, and viruses like to hide in the backup folder.

Press the “Win+R” key combination, enter “sysdm.cpl” and press “Enter” or use the “System Properties” shortcut from the “ ” section.

In the window that opens, go to the “System Protection” tab, select the “C” drive and click the “Configure” button.

Check the “Disable system protection” checkbox and click “OK”.

After this, all backup copies of system files will be deleted and additional disk space will be freed up. This way you can free up 5-10 GB of valuable space on drive “C”.

9. Disabling the Recycle Bin

You can disable the Recycle Bin on drive “C” so that it does not take up space on it. To do this, right-click on the trash can icon and select “Properties”.

Set the “C” drive to “Destroy files immediately after deletion” and click “OK.”

After this, if you delete large files from folders with game distributions or any other, they will not end up in the trash and will not take up space on the “C” drive.

10. Cleaning up your backup storage

To clear storage backup copies system files in Windows 8, 8.1, 10, I recommend running the following command on the command line as Administrator.

Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

For this purpose, you can also download the “Cleaning backup storage” command file in the “” section and execute it as Administrator.

11. Deleting temporary folders

You can painlessly delete temporary folders left after installing some drivers and programs:

C:\AMD C:\ATI C:\CONFIG.MSI C:\Intel C:\MSOCache C:\NVIDIA C:\SWSetup

12. Automatic disk cleaning and acceleration

There are special utilities to automatically clean the disk from temporary files. One of the best that I recommend is .

It can be configured to clear temporary files every time you boot your computer, which will help maintain free space on the C drive and also give you some additional protection, since temporary folders are a favorite place for viruses.

But you need to configure it correctly, otherwise this utility will not clean up what you need, but leave what you need to remove. Since the utility’s settings are quite extensive and it has many additional useful functions, I decided to talk about it separately in the next article.

13. Links

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Hard drive Transcend StoreJet 25M3 1 TB
Hard drive Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EZEX 1 TB

We all remember the moment when we first launched Windows 10 on a newly purchased laptop or completely reinstalled the system on a PC. Everything works very quickly and smoothly, bringing pleasure and joy from the purchase or work done. We want to study the device more and more, enjoy its operation and functionality.

But as time passes, we notice that when opening or transferring a fairly large file, your device does not perform its work as well as before. Sometimes this is alarming, then it starts to irritate and make you angry, it makes you want to scold Microsoft and its operating system, and the manufacturer of the hard HDD or SSD for crooked hands and backwardness in innovation. But they have nothing to do with it. It's your fault. Remember the last time you deleted a long-watched movie or TV series, cleared your browser cache and deleted unnecessary programs?

I am sure that your imagination will be able to imagine such a picture. It is necessary to find right away from the mountain of necessary and unnecessary garbage and rubbish, and maybe useful things, for example, a red clothespin. It will take quite a lot of time and effort to find it. Over time, he does the same thing HDD your device. Try to find the one you need among a billion files and provide it to the program. It’s good if you have an SSD installed in your device, it has a higher data transfer speed and performs an order of magnitude more operations per second. But if it’s an old HDD, then you’ll have to be patient and wait. Of course, you can help him in this difficult matter.

Today I will tell you how to speed up your system using built-in Windows 10 tools and third-party utilities.

Empty Trash

I am sure that most of you, seeing this point, will immediately begin to be indignant: “He takes us for idiots? Who doesn't know how to empty the trash can? I'm not going to teach users how to empty the trash. Almost everyone who has ever worked with a Windows device can do this. Everyone displays the Trash icon on Desktop. But remember the last time you cleaned it? But Microsoft even made the icon active based on its fill level.

Clear Cart very easily by right-clicking on the shortcut. However, first check what you are deleting, otherwise you may accidentally delete the file you need, and then you will have to work a little to get it back later. A simple operation at first glance, but very often users forget about it. I would advise digging into the folders on your PC themselves. I’m sure there are a lot of movies and TV series watched a long time ago, archives of downloaded books and program installation files. I also conduct a similar audit once a month, getting rid of unnecessary screenshots, archives, downloaded movies, etc.

I’m surprised at how much unnecessary stuff I find. All this can be deleted and thereby free up some space on the device’s hard drive.

Enable Memory Sense

Microsoft decided to take care of forgetful users. After installing Windows 10 Creators Update, a curious and very useful feature - Memory control. Smartphone users are very familiar with it. But the developers went further and transferred this great feature to the desktop system. Let's take a closer look at it.

Find this function easy if you go through Start-Settings-System-Storage-Storage Control. The enable slider for this feature can be adjusted in the correct mode. If not, then you don't need much skill to turn it on. You will see the most interesting thing if you click on the link “Change how temporary files are released.” Here you need to enable two more sliders to allow the system to independently clear the disk of temporary files if you have not deleted them yourself within 30 days, and you can also see how many files have already been deleted.

You have the option to delete temporary files right now if you wish. Believe me, often the user does not even suspect how many of these temporary files accumulate on the system.

Deleting temporary and downloaded files

Windows 10 has another rather interesting feature - deleting temporary and downloaded files on each individual disk. To do this, we again need to go to Storage, as last time, and click on the hard drive or drive that interests us. Here you will see how much space the system takes up, how much disk space is occupied by various folders. We are interested in the point Temporary files, where we will get a complete picture of what can be cleaned. Just check the selected items and delete the files. There is one observation from me personally. The system will never delete those temporary or downloaded files that can harm it. Therefore, do not be surprised if everything is not completely deleted.

Disk Cleanup

Now let's move on to heavy artillery. Windows 10 has a built-in Disk Cleanup utility (the exact name of which is Disk Cleanup). It allows you to effectively clean disk space in the system, combining all of the above capabilities.

It is worth noting that the utility is not a panacea and does not solve all problems with freeing up space on your hard drive, but it is very convenient and easy to use. What I like most about it is that the user decides what to delete by checking the box next to the desired item.

Finding and opening the utility is quite easy. Register in Search: Disk Cleanup and open the utility. True, it will open only for the system drive. If you want to clean another disk, just open Conductor, press This computer(some users may even have a shortcut to this command on desktop), choose required disk. Next, right-click to call up the context menu, where we go to the option Properties.

All you have to do is click on “Disk Cleanup”.

The system itself will analyze and find files that can be deleted from the disk. But you still have the right to choose the files to be deleted; moreover, you have the opportunity to read about the files being deleted and find out whether cleaning them will damage the settings and your personal files.

But the most interesting thing is in the “Clean up system files” section. Very often, users complain that after installing a major Windows 10 update, the amount of memory on the device’s hard drive has sharply decreased. Because of this, some sometimes do not want to update the system. Previously more experienced users solved this problem with the help of third-party utilities, but sometimes such an action could, due to inexperience, harm the integrity of the system Windows files. Naturally, it did not work correctly, often froze and caused irritation. In Windows 10, this problem can now be easily resolved. Click on the "Clean up system files" option, find the update log files and temporary installation files, as well as the most interesting - previous versions Windows (sometimes there can be up to 20 GB of them) and quietly deletes them.

uninstalling previous OS versions

You will see that there is even more free space on the disk than there was before installing the major update. Of course, you can't delete previous versions of Windows every month, but update and installation files, as well as previous versions of drivers, will also free up disk space. Just don't overdo it when cleaning system files.

Removing unnecessary programs and applications

Sometimes we install programs and applications that we rarely use or that duplicate each other. Microsoft also makes installation mistakes unnecessary applications, which one way or another take up space on the device’s hard drive.

In Windows 10, applications downloaded from the Store or installed by the system itself are very easy to remove. To do this, go to Start-Settings-Applications-Applications and Features. Click on the application from the list that you want to remove. All you have to do is click on the “Delete” option and the application will be permanently removed from the device. If you need it again, you can download it again from the Store.

deleting applications

If you want to delete a classic application or a program downloaded from the Internet, then when you tried to delete them, you were previously automatically transferred to Control Panel to section Uninstalling programs. This does not happen now and you can easily uninstall any program from the interface above. Although, if it’s more convenient and familiar to you to use to remove programs Control Panel, then you can do it as before. By going to the section Uninstalling programs, find the program you want to remove, left-click on it and click "Uninstall". After some time the program will be deleted. Naturally, this will free up a certain amount of disk space on your device.

uninstalling programs

You must understand that some pre-installed applications You can't just delete it. I would not recommend that you delete them, as sometimes this leads to problems with the system.

Saving files to another drive

Surely at least once you wanted to be able to transfer some programs or applications to another drive. Previously, experienced users used third-party utilities for this. Now there is no need for them. Windows 10, starting with version 1703, has a built-in ability to move applications to another drive.

In the same section Applications and features Click on the application and see the “Move” option. Click on it, select which drive you want to move the application to, and in a minute it’s already there. Moreover, you can move the program not only to the second drive D, but also to any USB drives.

moving applications to another drive

The main thing is that these media are always in the device, otherwise the system will not be able to launch the application.

Users can also choose where they will install programs and applications, download various photos, audio, video materials or documents. To do this, you need to go to the Storage and click on the link “Change where new content is saved”. You will see a page where you can configure the storage location for the new content. The process of moving programs and files to another drive can free up more hard drive space. But I don’t recommend getting too carried away with this process.

Disable sleep mode

Instead of shutting down your computer completely, you can put it into sleep mode, a quasi-shutdown state that allows you to start the system faster. When your computer goes to sleep, it saves a snapshot of your files and drivers before shutting down, and this takes up some hard drive space. If fast startup is not your priority, you can reclaim some valuable disk space by disabling hibernation altogether, because hibernation files sometimes take up 75 percent of your PC's installed RAM. This means that if you have 8GB of RAM, you can immediately clear 6GB by disabling sleep mode.

Now in Windows 10 you can disable sleep mode in the section System-Power And sleep mode. Go into it and simply switch each of the four options to “Never” mode.

Some users who are used to using Control Panel, you'll have to go the distance Control Panel-Hardware And Sound-Power-Transition Settings V sleep mode and also set the “Never” parameter.

Of course, experienced users will begin to argue in the comments that sleep mode is necessary and convenient to use. Everyone makes their own choice and decides only for themselves.

Store files in the cloud - and only in the cloud

Cloud services are increasingly becoming part of our lives. Many users have already been able to verify their usefulness. Windows 10 already has a built-in cloud service from Microsoft - OneDrive. Every user can use it if they open it account from Microsoft. Get 5 GB of free storage right away, and if you use Office 365 on your device, get 1 TB free for a year.

You can easily sync your device folders with OneDrive cloud and store your files and documents there.

For example, I very often use cloud service from Microsoft. Agree that it is very convenient to have access to your documents, photos and files anywhere. In doing so, I free up space on my device.

Nowadays, many third-party cloud services can also synchronize with Windows 10 devices. So you decide which cloud service to use. But I assure you, it is very convenient and economical.

Third-party utilities for cleaning up disk space

My review would be incomplete if I didn't mention third-party utilities. Just two years ago they were almost the main tool for freeing up disk space. There are a large number of such utilities. I don't want to offend anyone, so I won't give a list free programs to clean the disk. Each of us has formed our own opinion about such applications, each of us will foam at the mouth to prove that his utility is the best.

I tried many utilities and decided on CCleaner Free. I even tried to buy the commercial version of the application once, but realized that I simply didn’t need all the advanced features. I like the simplicity and convenience of this program. If you have already decided to clean the disk using the built-in utilities, then be sure to “clean up” everything later when CCleaner help. It is worth noting that she copes with her task perfectly.

Using CCleaner is very easy. You should download only from the official website. I do not recommend using third-party sites with any software to download. I'm not always sure of their cleanliness. Once I downloaded a program I needed from such a site and unauthorizedly introduced a virus into my laptop, which I struggled with for quite some time. Since then I have only used official sites to download programs and utilities.

After downloading and installing the utility, it is ready to work. Click on Analysis and you will see a list of what will be permanently deleted from your device. Now press Cleaning and after some time the files will be deleted.

This procedure sometimes significantly frees up space on your hard drive.

I do not advise inexperienced users to get too carried away with tools for editing in the Registry and other sections of the system. The maximum you can do with the utility is to fix Registry errors. To do this, go to the Registry section and click Search for problems. You will see a list of various errors that you or the system itself have made. Select the ones you want to fix, I always select all, and click Fix Selected. In this way, you will help the system and naturally save it from writing these errors to disk. It is advisable not to go anywhere else or, if desired, to study all the possibilities in more detail.

Let's sum it up

As you can see, freeing up disk space on Windows 10 devices requires a little knowledge and a little time. I recommend that you carry out a similar procedure at least once a month. Take a few minutes for your hard drive and then your laptop, desktop PC or tablet will thank you with fast work, which will undoubtedly save you time and nerves, which, as we know, cannot be restored.

Over time, a large number of unnecessary files accumulate on the main partition of the hard drive, which is called the letter C by default, taking up a lot of space. Since the disk allocated for the system and system elements most often has a small volume, the presence of temporary files and files left over from deleted programs can lead to free space the disk space will become catastrophically low. Manually deleting files from this drive is very difficult because they may be located very deep in the folder system, and it is also dangerous because you can accidentally erase items that are necessary for the computer to function correctly. To safely clean up your system disk in Windows 10, your best bet is to use the built-in Disk Cleanup program.

Windows 10 Disk Cleanup: Built-in Tools

There are several ways to open the Disk Cleanup program in Windows 10. Remember that you should only use it if drive C is full and there is no way to clean it by removing third-party programs.

Through command execution

Via control panel

How to use the program

1. In the “Disk Cleanup” block, you need to check all the departments that you want to clean.
2. Having selected a department, you can read all the information about what it contains, as well as view the files that belong to this section by clicking the “View files” button.
3. To proceed to removing system files, click the “Clean up system files” button. You will need administrator rights to access this feature. But it is better not to remove any elements of the system, as this may lead to system breakdown or incorrect operation.
4. In the “Advanced” tab, you can proceed to deleting unnecessary programs by clicking the “Clean” button in the “Programs and Features” block.
5. In the “System Restore and Shadow Copies” block, you can click the “Clean” button to proceed to deleting unnecessary recovery points that also take up space on drive C. It is not recommended to delete all points, and it is also better to save one or two of the last ones in order to always have the ability to roll back the system if some error occurs that cannot be corrected by other methods.
6. Once you have selected which partitions you want to clean and have ticked them, click the OK button to begin the process. Do not interrupt the cleaning process or turn off the computer so that no errors occur and all files are deleted correctly.

Advanced Cleaning

Each user with administrator rights has the opportunity to launch the Disk Cleanup program with more options than there are during normal startup.

What to do if the application does not start

The program may not open using any of the above methods only because the file responsible for launching the application is not in the default path. Try to find this file manually, it may be located in the following path: C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386. If it is not there either, or the folder itself does not exist, then there is only one thing left to do - use third-party programs to clean up the disk.

How to clean up drive C on Windows 10 using third-party programs and applications

There are many programs that allow you to clean your hard drive from unnecessary and temporary files. Many of them are distributed on the Internet for free and are in no way inferior to the built-in Disk Cleanup program. Next, we will consider the most popular, convenient and easy-to-use applications.

CCleaner

The positive aspects of this program include the following qualities:

Kaspersky Cleaner

A program from a well-known campaign that previously specialized only in antiviruses, but has now started producing applications with other tasks. You can download Cleaner from Kaspersky from the official website by finding it in the general list of all programs -

The main advantage of the application is its simple design, which allows you to complete all the necessary tasks by pressing one “Start scanning” button.

Also, if you don’t like the changes made by the program after the last session, you can cancel them by clicking the “Cancel Changes” button in the main menu.

What can cause your hard drive to fill up?

If you have cleaned up your disk using one of the above methods, but have not freed up enough space, try the following:

• Manually go through all the files stored on the drive and see which ones can be moved to another drive or deleted. Do not touch system files and programs; you can only move and edit elements that you personally added.
• Remove unnecessary third-party programs that are definitely not useful to you.
• Check your computer for viruses. Perhaps the virus itself takes up some of the free space or regularly downloads advertising files and applications that clog up the disk.

It is recommended that you clean out the C drive regularly, as how busy it is will determine how quickly the computer can find the files you need and present them to the user. That is, if drive C is overloaded, the system runs slower. And also, all browsers and other programs send temporary files and cache to the main disk by default, and if there is no space on it, then there will be nowhere to store the necessary elements. Based on all the problems described, we can conclude that cleaning the disk using special programs costs at least once a month.