Cleaning up the Windows 10 disk. How to clean up drive C: detailed instructions

Some Windows devices, like tablets, have limited memory. From time to time, users encounter a lack of internal space when installing new programs or system updates. In this manual we will tell you how to free up space on the Windows 10 system drive from unnecessary files .

There are many different cleaning programs available, such as CCleaner, but Microsoft strongly discourages their use. That is why we will consider only systemic mechanisms.

How to delete temporary files in Windows 10

Windows 10 has a fairly easy way to delete unused temporary files.

What files should be deleted

Let's figure out what types of files you can delete without any consequences.

• Center files Windows updates . You can and should get rid of them (since Update Center in Windows 10 often forgets to do this automatically), but we recommend using the utility for this Disk Cleanup or clear the update center folder manually (this will be discussed a little later in our instructions). Application Options sometimes it fails to remove these system files and freezes.
• Files for reporting Windows errors . This temporary data can be safely deleted.
• Windows Defender Antivirus. You can also safely get rid of these files.
• Sketches. You should not delete these files on weak devices or on devices with a slower drive, especially if you view photos in Explorer quite often. The thumbnail cache usually doesn't take up much space, but it greatly speeds up Explorer.
• Files from previous versions of Windows. For the first 10 days after installing a major update, you have the opportunity to roll back to previous version Windows using these files. If you do not intend to do this, or 10 days have already passed, you can delete them. True, as in the case of the Windows Update cache, for this we recommend using the utility Disk Cleanup.
• Temporary files. They can be removed without problems.
• Temporary Internet files. After removing them, you may notice a slight slowdown in performance Microsoft browsers Edge or Internet Explorer, but this will go away very soon - as soon as browsers create new cache files.
• Delivery optimization files. You can easily remove them.
• DirectX Texture Builder Cache. You can also get rid of these files without any problems.

How to enable and configure automatic deletion of temporary files

How to clear app cache from Windows Store

Each application from the Windows Store creates its own temporary files in order to work correctly. Some of these objects are deleted automatically, but some are not. For manual cleaning, there is a separate option for deleting unnecessary temporary files.

Note: Please note that after such an operation you will have to log in to your account in the application again and configure it. All current data will be lost.

How to remove unnecessary applications

Almost everyone has unused applications on their computer. To prevent them from taking up extra space, it makes sense to get rid of them.

1. Go to Settings - Applications - Applications and features.
2. Click on menu Filter by and select the item This computer (C:).
3. Find programs you don't need in the list of applications.
4. Click on such an application and click Delete.

Please note that not all standard applications can be removed using this method. If you want to get rid of standard programs, the "" instruction will help you.

How to use the built-in Disk Cleanup utility

It has existed on Windows for many years special utility to remove most non-critical system files. It works quite well, so you shouldn’t neglect it.

How to clear folders with cache of Win32 programs and Update Center

Above we showed how to delete temporary application files from Windows Store. But regular Win32 programs often create even more cache. In addition, Windows Update often stores files of already installed system updates for a long time. Fortunately, all this is easy to get rid of.

How to move system folders to another drive

Many users unknowingly store their documents, presentations, music and other files on the system drive, often without even knowing it. Recall that folders like Documentation, Music, Downloads, Desktop, are located on the system drive by default. In addition, the OneDrive folder is usually placed on drive C.

How to clean up or move system folders in Windows 10

Some system folders Temporary files cannot be cleared using normal actions. The most voluminous of these directories is WinSxS. You can read about that in the corresponding article.

How to activate Compact mode in Windows 10

Added to Windows 10 special mode system operation - Compact. It is intended for devices with SSD storage, but can be useful on regular computers as well.

The essence of Compact mode is to compress rarely used system files, which allows you to free up up to 2 GB of space on the system disk. You can find detailed instructions on how to activate this mode in the article "".

How to Shrink or Delete the Hibernation File in Windows 10

Windows 7 debuted this feature hibernation, which migrated to Windows 10. Its essence is to save all files from random access memory on the system drive so that even after turning off/on the computer you can continue working from where you left off. Also part of the hibernation function is quick start- a special mode that speeds up system loading.

The advantage of hibernation is convenience. The downside is that for it to work, the system creates a special file on the system disk, the size of which often exceeds several gigabytes. And even if you don't use it, the hibernation file will still take up precious space. But Windows developers have provided the ability to reduce the size or delete the hibernation file.

How to reduce hibernation file size

Reducing the file size will disable the ability to directly hibernate, but will retain the Fast Launch feature.

How to delete the hibernation file

Deleting the hibernation file completely will free up more space, but will remove both the hibernation feature and the Quick Startup feature.

How to reduce or delete the page file in Windows 10

(or virtual memory) is used by the system as a replacement for RAM. It has a beneficial effect on multitasking and Windows performance 10, but it takes up several gigabytes on your system disk. The system contains tools that allow you to change the file size or delete it.

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 your C drive regularly, as how busy it is will determine how quickly your computer can find necessary files and provide 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.

Over time, many Windows users are faced with drive C being almost completely full, which is not recommended. Below we will look at several methods that can help free up space on the C drive even for inexperienced users.

Despite the fact that over time on new devices the volume hard drive continues to grow, users manage to fill it almost to capacity.

Method 1: Cleaning the disk of temporary files

Open Windows Explorer, right-click on drive C and open "Properties" .

In the window that appears, click on the item "Disk Cleanup" . Windows will begin counting the information you can remove to clean up the disk. This process may take several minutes.

A window will appear on the screen in which you can check the boxes next to those items allowed for deletion on drive C. Select the items that you consider necessary to delete, and then select the button "OK" to begin cleaning.

Method 2: Using Compact OS on Windows 10

The latest Windows 10 has an interesting feature that allows you to free up an additional 1-2 GB of space on drive C. The feature is called Compact OS, and it allows you to perform a data compression procedure.

Windows, based on information about your system, independently decides whether to activate Compact OS. To check if this feature is active, type the keyboard shortcut Win+R and in the window that appears, type without quotes "cmd" . In the window below:

compact /compactos:query

As a result, one of two messages will be displayed on the screen. The first will indicate that the system is in compression mode, and the second will indicate that, according to your system, the use of compression mode is not recommended.

If you receive a message of the second type, you can activate the compression mode yourself if you wish.

To do this, you will need to open a command prompt as an administrator. Click on the start button and right-click, go to "Command Prompt (Administrator)" .

In the command line window that opens, enter the following command and click the Enter key:

compact /compactos:always

The data compression process will begin, which may take quite a long time, because... Windows will need to process all the files stored on the C drive.

If you decide to disable the data compression feature, then in the same command line You will need to run the following command as an administrator:

compact /compactos:never

Method 3: removing unnecessary programs

During installation, all software is installed on drive C by default. If there are a lot of programs installed on the PC, then this is where the lack of space occurs.

Open “Control Panel” – “Programs and Features” , and then uninstall unnecessary programs that are taking up valuable space on your PC.

Method 4: Remove unused firmware

Default in new Windows 10 has built-in programs such as OneNote, Weather, News, etc. If you do not use these and other standard programs, then there is no point in them taking up space on your PC.

The easiest way to remove standard applications is to use third party program CCleaner, which can be downloaded from the link at the end of the article.

Once the program is downloaded and installed, go to the program section “Service” – “Uninstall programs” , where you will see a list of all programs installed on your computer, both standard and third-party.

For example, to remove the standard OneNote application, find it in the list of programs alphabetically, and then left-click on it once and select the item in the right pane "Uninstallation" .

Method 5: Deleting Temporary Files

Using the same CCleaner, you can clean up temporary files. The program will delete files that were created by other programs.

For example, you have several web browsers installed on your PC, the temporary files of which can grow to several gigabytes.

Open CCleaner and go to "Cleaning" . Here, by switching between two tabs, you will be able to delete both Windows files, and third-party programs.

Method 6: Transfer or delete media files

You should not store your music and video collection on drive C. If this type of file exists on your PC, it is strongly recommended that you move it to another drive or completely delete it from your computer. After all, there are fewer and fewer reasons to store a multi-gigabyte library on your computer.

Method 7: Disable Hibernation

Hibernation is one of the PC shutdown modes in which Windows writes data to a system file, which can take up quite a significant amount of space on the computer.

If you do not need active hibernation mode on your computer, you can deactivate it.

To do this, launch a command prompt on your computer with administrator rights and enter the following command:

powercfg -h off

By executing this command, hibernation will be disabled, which means additional space will be freed up on drive C.

These are the main and most accessible methods to clean up the C drive. By following at least a few methods, you will notice a significant freeing up of already infinite space.

How to clean Windows 10 system and all other existing drives from accumulated junk using new feature located in the Settings app.

Over the course of months, and perhaps even years, of the computer’s operation, the disk on which the system is installed begins to slowly become clogged with outdated cache files, the tails of applications that were deleted long ago and other rubbish, which directly affects the speed of the PC itself.

This whole thing needs to be cleaned from time to time, even if you have an ultra-modern computer with the most sophisticated hardware, not to mention outdated models.

For this purpose, there is one cool feature in Windows 10 that has appeared in Settings. Individual users They believe that this is another innovation that Microsoft came up with, but this is not entirely true.

In fact, everything is much simpler - this is a well-known tool, previously called Disk Cleanup, which has existed since Windows 98. Now it just has a fresh design, possibly an improved operating algorithm and a new location. But the meaning remains the same: computer speed.

The article has already described how to clean up the disk, but in my opinion, using Settings will be more convenient, and most importantly, everything is clear there.

How to clean Windows 10 from unnecessary files

Well, let's check the tool in practice, clear our system disk of “garbage”, for this we open ⇒ System ⇒ Storage.

As we see, the Storage shows all available disks on our computer, which can be optimized one by one. We select the system one, usually it is designated by the letter C.

A window will open with all the partitions on the disk. For example, let's open Temporary files.

Check all the items and click the Delete files button.

Please note that the cleaning was not carried out at the very best! Temporary files remain, which means that you still need them and the system did not destroy them.

Now let's go to the Applications and Games section

To delete an unnecessary element, click on it with LMB, then the Delete button will appear, click it, in my case this is the Microsoft Solitaire Collection game which will be destroyed as unnecessary!

We also do the same with each section by deleting an unnecessary element in it in the form of a file.

Before deleting something, make sure that you definitely don’t need it, especially be careful with system files.

What is convenient about this tool is that it shows all categories of files installed on a specific drive.

Such as photos, videos, music, shopping cart and others, which you may have already forgotten about due to their uselessness. Here you can see them and delete them if necessary.

That’s all for today, don’t forget to clean Windows 10 of unnecessary files, and other OSes too.

Watch video secrets and life hacks in Windows 10.

For stable and fast operation operating system Windows 10 must have enough space on the disk where it is located. Recently, users are increasingly using low-volume ones, installing on them exclusively the system and programs whose fast operation is necessary. However, over time, there will be less and less space on the system hard drive, and visible files to delete will not appear. There are two effective ways to free up disk space with Windows 10 quickly and without third party applications– remove “garbage” and “compress” the operating system. In total, this can help free up up to 20-30 GB.

How to clear a Windows disk of temporary files

The Windows operating system “remembers” a lot of data during operation, saving it in the form of temporary files on the disk where it is installed. This could be data about thumbnails of files in folders, temporary files for restoring a previous version of the operating system, “garbage” left after Windows installations, and much more. The user can delete all this information from the hard drive, which sometimes takes up tens of gigabytes, using the pre-installed Disk Cleanup utility.

Important: Before deleting any data, it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with why it was saved by the system. Most often, when cleaning disks, you can gain space by deleting “Previous Installations” and “Temporary Files” of the operating system. But it is important to understand that without them it will not be possible to return the previous version of Windows if problems arise with the current one. Accordingly, you should delete these files only if you are sure that the operating system is stable on the current version.

To clear your Windows 10 disk of temporary files, you need to do the following:

It will take a few seconds to clear the hard drive of unnecessary information, after which space will be freed up on the drive.

How to free up disk space with Windows using Compact OS

In the operating room Windows system 10 Microsoft added new tool, the purpose of which is to optimize space on the system disk. It is called Compact OS and is intended to be used from the command line. With Compact OS the user can free:

• About 2 GB on a hard drive with a x64-bit operating system;
• About 1.5 GB on a drive with an x32-bit operating system.

When using the Compact OS utility, hard disk space is freed up by compressing system files and pre-installed Windows universal applications. Microsoft warns Windows 10 users that compressing operating system files using Compact OS may slow down the device. In practice, such a problem is not observed.

On some Windows versions 10 file compression using Compact OS can be enabled by default. To determine whether operating system data size optimization is enabled or not, you need to run and enter the following command in it:

Compact /compactos:query

After entering the command, press Enter. Depending on whether compression is enabled or not, different messages will appear on the command line.

If file compression using Compact OS is not used by the system, you can enable it with administrator rights. To do this, you need to write on the command line:

Compact /compactos:always

After pressing Enter, the command line will display how many files were compressed, how much they weighed before optimization, and how much they weigh after it.