The capacity of hard drives is becoming larger and larger every year in both computers and laptops, but for some reason they are still always filled with data for most users. Lack of space has been an eternal problem since the existence of the first computer. And if you are using a solid state drive (SSD), which offers much less space, then low disk space messages are almost like home.
Run Disk Cleanup
The Windows operating system includes a built-in tool that allows you to delete temporary files and other system files that are not of much interest. To open the tool Disk Cleanup, right-click on one of your hard drives in the window Computer or Conductor and select Properties.
Click the button Disk Cleanup in the window Properties: Your disk.
After a short analysis, a window will open Disk Cleanup.
Disk Cleanup
Alternatively you can simply type Disk Cleanup on the menu Start.
Among the files to be deleted, you can delete downloaded program files, temporary Internet files, recycle bin files, thumbnail images, and more. Select the types of files you want to delete by checking each box and click OK. I advise you to select all items whose volume exceeds 10 MB.
Clicking the button Clean system files in the same window, you can see additional items that can also be deleted, for example, memory dump files for system errors, Windows Defender files and others. Sometimes this is the only way to delete many more files with the Disk Cleanup tool than by simply deleting temporary files without clicking the Clean up system files button.
Cleaning system files
Removing Capacitive Applications
Removing heavy programs will free up additional space. In the snap Programs and components Control Panels, click on a column Size to arrange all installed applications in descending order of space taken up. Analyze and remove large applications that you do not use.
Uninstalling programs
If you don't see the column Size, press the button Additionally and select view Table.
If you are using Windows 10, you can also open Options using Start > Options > System. Next, open the item Applications and Features. Sort apps by size and analyze the apps you don't need.
Windows 10 Settings
Unlike equipment Programs and components window Options will allow you to remove applications from the Windows Store, including if you are using a Windows 10 tablet.
Disk space analysis
To find out what exactly is taking up space on your hard drive, you need to use a hard drive analysis program. This application scans your hard drive and then displays the result, showing which files and folders take up the most space. There are a lot of such applications, but I will use WinDirStat, which can be downloaded from the official website.
After installing WinDirStat, select which local drives you want to scan. The scanning process can last from one to several hours depending on the number and capacity of disks. The scan result will show which folders and files are taking up the most space.
WinDirStat
Make sure that you do not delete important system files, only delete your personal files. If the Program Files folder takes up a huge amount of space, analyze and remove unused applications. WinDirStat will tell you how much space each installed program takes up, even if the Programs and Features snap-in in the Control Panel showed an empty result for some programs.
Clearing temporary files
The built-in Windows Disk Cleanup tool is very useful, although it does not delete temporary files of third-party applications. For example, it will not clear Firefox or Chrome temporary files, which can use gigabytes of free space on your hard drive. The same third-party browser cache is stored on the hard drive and also needs to be cleared periodically.
The browser cache saves time when re-opening websites by storing a copy of it on your hard drive. It is called cache. Thus, the cache allows you to open the main page of a site from the Internet today and not download it entirely tomorrow, but use its local copy. This allows you to reduce the speed of re-opening websites several times.
For a more aggressive cleaning of temporary and junk files, try CCleaner which can be downloaded. CCleaner cleans junk files of various third-party programs, and also cleans temporary Windows files that Disk Cleanup may not touch.
After installation, perform an analysis and make a decision, checking the boxes that you will delete.
CCleaner
Analysis for duplicate files
Another important way to free up additional free space on your hard drive is to find and delete duplicate files. There are simply a lot of applications for this purpose, paid and free. I will use the trial version Duplicate Cleaner Pro, which you can download.
Duplicate Cleaner Pro
Reducing system recovery space
If System Restore consumes a lot of hard drive space for the restore points it creates, you can reduce the amount of disk space allocated to System Restore.
Try to set the optimal size of disk space for recovery points so that you are not left without them and do not add extra points that are useless. So, if you often experiment with your computer, I advise you to set 5 to 10% of the disk space for recovery points. If the computer is used to view photographs from a home archive or film library, then a value not exceeding 5% will be quite sufficient.
System Restore
If the System Restore function is not important to you at all, or your priority is to free up as much disk space as possible, then System Restore can be turned off altogether by selecting Disable system protection and deleting all restore points by clicking Delete.
Disabling sleep and hibernation
The following tricks will certainly save space, but you will have to sacrifice some important Windows features. Therefore, I recommend using these methods if they may be useful to you.
- Disabling sleep mode. When the system uses sleep mode, it stores the contents of RAM on the hard drive. This allows the current state of the system to be stored without significant power consumption. And the next time you access the computer, the system simply loads the contents of the hard drive, returning you to the state of the computer that was at the time of shutdown. Windows saves the contents of RAM to a file in the path C:\Hiberfil.sys, by default. To save hard disk space, sleep mode can be disabled completely by changing the power plan settings
- Disable hibernation mode. Similar to disabling sleep mode, you can also turn off hibernation mode, which, unlike sleep mode, does not require electricity at all to maintain the current state of the system. And sometimes, if the number and location of windows that are currently open matters to you, but you need to take a break, then the computer system can be sent to hibernation mode. Returning to your computer a day or a week later, you will find that when you started the computer, the system loaded exactly the state in which you paused.
Here are a few ways that will allow you to significantly reduce the size of your disk space and free up additional space. If you know other ways to increase free hard drive space in Windows, please leave your comments.
Good day, dear readers, admirers and other individuals. Have you ever noticed that you are running out of space on your computer?
As a rule, this is not a consequence of a virus or your carelessness, but simply the Windows system recovery service, an incorrectly configured swap file, and others. Often the reason for a place selling is also a high browser cache value or an OS cluttered with all sorts of software garbage.
How to find out why a space disappears in Windows
As I said, there are several sources where space can go missing.
Let's look at them in order.
First, the recovery system. The fact is that Microsoft, taking care of its users, made a recovery system in Windows, which greatly influences the fact that your location disappears (although in fact it is simply “hidden”).
What it does (if you haven’t changed the settings) is that at some intervals (especially in the case of installing programs\games\) it makes restore points, which you can always use in case of a system crash/failure. The question is, are you using this recovery system?
For example, I have a hard time remembering the last time I had to do this. Moreover, the benefits of it are very doubtful. In turn, these points take up up to 12% of the space on each hard drive, which, you see, is a lot (especially on large disks). Therefore, here's how to get rid of (or at least reconfigure) the amount of space occupied by recovery points.
How to get back space on your computer disk
Start -> Settings -> Control Panel-> System -> System Restore
For Windows Vista/Windows 7/8/10:
Start -> Settings -> Control Panel-> System -> System protection
Here you can either completely disable system recovery, or distribute the points on which disks and how much space they will take up.
I cannot recommend that you completely disable recovery, because... I don’t know how often you encounter system problems and resort to recovery, but personally, I have it disabled because... I consider it a dubious tool that takes up quite a lot of space, especially since you can always use the " " article to protect and restore data.
For those who want to leave it (system restore), but configure it as competently as possible and make it so that they no longer have to look for where the space disappears:
- It is advisable that they should not be on the disk with the operating system at all or should take up as little space as possible;
- You don't need more than 3 restore points, i.e. You shouldn’t set the maximum percentage even on several disks. 3-6% on one or two disks will be enough, and then, in my opinion, this will be a lot.
By the way, before configuring these parameters, the system had already created a number of restore points, so it would be a good idea to delete them. To do this, open “My Computer”, right-click on the hard drive the place where you need to clear it and select “Properties” from the drop-down list.
In the window that appears, click on the button “Disk Cleanup” – “Advanced” – “ System Restore” – “Clear” – “Yes” – “Ok”.
Or, if you have Windows 7/Vista, you can clear the space occupied by restore points using the " button Configure - Delete", which is located on the "System Protection" tab (see path above):
This is what they call time.
Let's go to point two.
About the paging file and where space disappears
When the operating system does not have enough , it begins to unload programs into the page file, i.e. a file on the hard drive that serves as a kind of RAM, but much slower. Accordingly, the size of the paging file may vary, depending on the amount of RAM you have.
As a standard, the size of the paging file is 2-4 times larger than the amount of physical RAM, but this size can be changed, however, often to the detriment of performance (especially if there is little RAM). He also answers the question of where the place disappears, because he occupies this very place with all his strength.
Configure the location and size of the paging file on hard drives here:
- Start -> Settings -> Control Panel-> System -> Advanced > Performance > Options > Advanced > Virtual memory -> Change
I still don’t recommend disabling the entire paging file, but redistributing or reducing it is always welcome. I wrote more about the paging file and its configuration in the article, so read it to set the correct numbers.
Cache, trash and where does the space go?
During operation of the system, programs, browsers and other things, constantly create a so-called cache, i.e. temporary auxiliary files, which (files) they periodically forget to delete. Also, after removing various programs, they usually leave behind garbage traces of files, which also sometimes weigh quite a lot.
Therefore, I recommend that you constantly clean Tempory Internet Files, browser caches, program traces and other all kinds of garbage. I wrote how to do this in the article "". I strongly recommend you read it, because it often frees up a lot of space.
Other manual cleaning
First, turn on the display of hidden files. To do this, we follow the path “ My Computer – Tools – Folder Options – View – Show hidden files and folders – OK”.
Next, open the disk with the system and find the Documents and Settings folder there. It contains your profile files and some system\program settings. The whole point is that most programs, especially if you deleted them incorrectly, i.e. Without use, let's say, they leave behind a bunch of traces and debris, which sometimes cannot be cleaned out even by Ccleaner. You have to dig with your hands. The most cluttered folders in my opinion are:
- C:\Documents and Settings\name\Application Data;
- C:\Documents and Settings\name\Local Settings\Application Data.
where C:\ is the drive where the system is located, and the name is your name in the system.
Carefully rummage through these folders and delete folders with the names of programs that have not been on your computer for a long time.
You can find the remaining thick folders yourself by selecting one\group of folders in Documents and Settings and checking their volume by clicking the right mouse button and selecting “Properties” from the list. As a rule, when traveling like this, you can find a lot of all sorts of junk that was forgotten (or deliberately left behind) by program uninstallers.
In general, to make it clearer what exactly is taking up how much space on which disk and how to delete it, I recommend reading this article of mine: “”, a program in which will clearly allow you to identify what is gnawing off treasured megabytes from the disk.
Afterword
Something like this.
I hope that the article was useful to you and that you cleared and saved heaps of valuable megabytes.
As always, I will be glad to see your additions, reviews, questions, etc., which you can safely write in the comments to this entry.
PS: As a good alternative to the above-mentioned CCleaner, I can suggest you use a wonderful program for cleaning garbage and all sorts of “forgotten” miscellaneous things.
The capacity of any hard drive is limited. Even if it holds a terabyte of data, sooner or later the free space will run out. The question arises: how to free up space on the C drive. Why C? Because this is the system partition on the hard drive. Installed programs and important system files are stored here. Other sections are usually used to store information that can be easily deleted if desired.
If you want your system not to slow down and run smoothly, and to always have at least some free space on your hard drive, then it will be very useful for you to learn how to free up occupied space on drive C.
The main work will be done without the use of additional software. Windows OS developers have come up with a large number of possibilities so that every user can maintain system cleanliness and order.
Check your cart
Working with disk properties
To use one of the built-in tools, you need to go through My Computer to the properties of partition C. On the General tab, next to the pie graph showing the ratio of free and used space, there is a Disk Cleanup button.
After clicking this button, an analysis of files and places on the computer that can be cleaned will begin. Then a special window will appear where all the data that can be deleted will be displayed, indicating the size. You need to check the boxes next to the files that you want to remove from the system.
This tool can also be launched using the Run menu. It enters the cleanmgr command, which opens the Disk Cleanup window. This command works the same in all versions of Windows OS, allowing you to successfully solve the problem of storing unnecessary records, which causes space to be lost on the C drive.
Defragmentation
In the properties of the system partition C, in addition to cleaning, there is another interesting tool - defragmentation. You can find it in the Service tab.
Using the Defragment button, you can optimize the location of files and compress them if they have not been used for a long time. This allows you to solve the problem when there is not enough free disk space to write new data.
After starting the defragmentation process, you will have to wait a little. It is difficult to name a specific time, since it depends on the size of the system partition, but it is better to step away from the computer and not perform any further actions. It is recommended to defragment 3-4 times a year to prevent the system from becoming too cluttered.
If there is nothing left to delete, there is still no space, and free disk space is vital in the near future, you can use another option - compressing partition C. This procedure allows you to quite successfully solve the question of how to free up space on the system drive C, but it does not recommended for regular use, which will be discussed in detail below.
To do this procedure you need:
- Open Disk C Properties
- On the General tab, check the box next to Shrink disk to save space
- Confirm your intentions
- Apply this operation to C:\ and all sub-files and folders
The compression procedure will take from 10 minutes to half an hour. The result will be a noticeable increase in the amount of free space in the system.
Why extreme cleaning is not the best solution
The fact is that during compression all files are archived. Therefore, before opening a file, the system first unpacks it, and only then performs any actions. Unnecessary movements lead to the fact that the computer’s performance decreases, and the system begins to slow down mercilessly.
Therefore, if you still had to resort to compression, disable this function as soon as possible. This is done according to the same principle as turning it on, only the checkbox must be unchecked.
Cleaning up folders and other ways to increase disk space
We looked at the tools that you can use directly in the properties of the system partition. Let's move on to exploring other methods. If there is very little space on drive C, it is recommended to use as many cleaning options as possible.
Organize your Temp folder
While surfing the web, as well as when installing programs, temporary files accumulate. They are often the reason why space on the C drive disappears. To delete them, you need to go to the Windows folder. Here you need to find the Temp folder, in which temporary files are stored. However, it cannot be deleted - it is an important element for the correct operation of the system.
But you can successfully clean the contents with it. To do this you need:
- Select the contents of a folder by pressing the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+A
- Call up menu by right-clicking
- Select Delete and then confirm the action
Empty your Downloads folder
After performing the steps listed above, almost nothing has changed and still you are losing free space on the C drive? Then we’ll explore further the folders that can be cleaned.
Installers of various programs downloaded from the Internet, torrent files, saved documents - all this remains in the Downloads folder and takes up space. Go through My Computer to the Downloads folder and see what files have accumulated there. Transfer everything you need to drive D, and delete what you don’t need.
Compressed attribute
You can compress each folder separately. This is done through Folder Options, where you need to find Attributes on the General tab and click the Other button. The Additional attributes window will appear, in which you need to check the box next to the Compress contents function.
After clicking OK, the system will offer to apply the compression function to all files attached to the folder. Indicate your consent by clicking Yes and wait - the process may take a little longer.
Compressed folders will automatically be marked in blue. Every 50 GB of compressed data yields approximately 2 GB of free space - the final result depends on the type of files, as well as the ability to compress them.
Hibernation mode allows you to put your computer into sleep mode. At the same time, all applications remain open. Immediately after resuming work, all open files will be ready for use. The function is quite convenient, but not so indispensable, especially if there is little space on the C drive.
Hibernation takes up a certain amount of free space just for its needs - not that much, but if the count is in megabytes, then quite noticeable. Therefore, disabling it will be a very good step towards increasing the amount of unallocated disk space.
You can disable hibernation using the Windows Command Prompt. Open it through the Start menu and enter the command powercfg.exe -h off. Press Enter and restart the system.
The computer can no longer be put into sleep mode, but there will be a little more free space.
Reducing the amount allocated for system recovery
Another way to solve the problem is how to free up occupied space on drive C. System restore checkpoints take up little space, but if there are a lot of them, the volume can be impressive.
But you can’t completely disable the system restore system - checkpoints can come in handy if any problems suddenly arise with drivers or installed programs. However, you can optimize your disk space a little.
Press the combination Win+Pause - the System window will open. Go to the Advanced Settings page, then go to the System Protection tab. Select system partition C, click the Configure button.
In the window that appears at the bottom, you will see a slider that allows you to set the maximum volume that will be used by the system protection function. Set it to the minimum value.
You can also delete specific recovery checkpoints. Directly below the slider there is a Delete button, after clicking which another window will open. All available system restore points will be listed here. Don't delete everything - leave at least one, the most recent one.
Clearing cache and browser history
Each browser has a cache - a kind of report on the web pages viewed, allowing quick access to them.
In most browsers, to clear, just press the key combination Ctrl+Shift+Del. A special window opens where you can select a specific period (from the last hour to the entire history), as well as the elements that need to be deleted.
You can also get to the cleaning menu through settings. It is located in History or Journal (depending on what browser you use).
But if you use multiple browsers or just don't feel like messing around with settings, try using CCleaner. This is the most popular application for cleaning the browser cache of the system registry.
Working with the program is extremely simple - you download its free version, which is distributed without restrictions, install and run. As noted above, CCleaner has two main functions - clearing the cache and fixing errors in the registry.
There is no point in describing in detail the principle of operation. Just click the Analyze button to have the program scan all available browsers, looking for files that can be deleted without damaging the system. When the first stage of work is completed, click the Clear button - all entries from the browser history will be deleted.
Don't forget to use the system registry error correction features. It allows you to maintain your computer's performance at a high level.
Good afternoon
It would seem that with the current volumes of hard drives (500 GB or more on average), errors like “not enough space on drive C” should, in principle, not happen. But that's not true! Many users, when installing the OS, set the system disk size too small, and then install all applications and games on it...
So, let's begin.
Usually, when free disk space decreases to some critical value, the user begins to see a warning on the taskbar (next to the clock in the lower right corner). See screenshot below.
Windows 7 system warning - "not enough disk space."
For those who do not have such a warning, if you go to “my computer/this computer”, the picture will be similar: the disk strip will be red, signaling that there is practically no space left on the disk.
My computer: the system disk free space bar has turned red...
How to clean drive “C” from garbage
Although Windows will recommend using the built-in Disk Cleanup utility, I do not recommend using it. Just because it cleans the disk is not important. For example, in my case, she suggested clearing 20 MB against special. utilities that cleared more than 1 GB. Do you feel the difference?
In my opinion, a fairly good utility for cleaning a disk from garbage is Glary Utilities 5 (works also on Windows 8.1, Windows 7, etc.).
Glary Utilities 5
Here I will show the results of her work. After installing and launching the program: you need to click the “clean up disk” button.
Next, it will automatically analyze the disk and offer to clean it of unnecessary files. By the way, the utility analyzes the disk very quickly, for comparison: several times faster than the built-in utility in Windows.
On my laptop, in the screenshot below, the utility found junk files (temporary OS files, browser cache, error reports, system log, etc.) by 1.39 GB!
After pressing the “Start cleaning” button, the program literally takes 30-40 seconds. cleared the disk of unnecessary files. The speed of work is quite good.
Removing unnecessary programs/games
The second thing I recommend doing is removing unnecessary programs and games. From experience I can say that most users simply forget about many applications that were once installed and have become uninteresting and unnecessary for several months now. But they take up space! This means they need to be systematically removed.
A good “uninstaller” is also available in the same Glary Utilites package. (see section "Modules").
By the way, the search is implemented quite well, useful for those who have a lot of applications installed. You can select, for example, rarely used applications and select from them those that are no longer needed...
Transfer virtual memory (hidden Pagefile.sys)
If you enable the display of hidden files, you can find a file on the system disk (usually about the size of your RAM).
To speed up your PC, as well as to free up free space, it is recommended to transfer this file to local drive D. How to do this?
1. Go to the control panel, enter “performance” in the search bar and go to the “Configuring system presentation and performance” section.
2. In the “advanced” tab, click the “change” button. See picture below.
3. In the “virtual memory” tab, you can change the size of the allocated space for this file + change its location.
In my case, I managed to save more on the system disk 2 GB places!
Delete restore points + settings
Quite a lot of space on drive C can be taken up by recovery checkpoints that Windows creates when installing various applications, as well as during critical system updates. They are necessary in case of failures - so that normal operation of the system can be restored.
Therefore, deleting checkpoints and disabling their creation is not recommended for everyone. But nevertheless, if your system is working normally, and disk space needs to be cleared, then you can delete recovery points.
1. To do this, go to control panel\system and security\system. Next, click the “System Protection” button in the right sidebar. See screenshot below.
3. In this tab you can do three things: disable system protection and checkpoints altogether; limit hard drive space; and simply delete existing points. Which is exactly what I did...
As a result of such a simple operation, it was possible to free approximately more 1 GB places. Not a lot, but I think in totality - this will be enough so that the warning about a small amount of free space will no longer appear...
Conclusions:
Literally in 5-10 minutes. After carrying out a series of simple steps, we managed to clear about 1.39+2+1= on the system drive “C” of the laptop 4,39 GB of space! I think this is a pretty good result, especially since the Windows OS was installed not so long ago and it simply “physically” did not have time to accumulate a large amount of “garbage”.
Install games and programs not on the system drive “C”, but on the local drive “D”;
Clean your disk regularly using one utility ();
Transfer the folders “my documents”, “my music”, “my pictures”, etc. to the local drive “D” (see how to do this in Windows 7, in Windows 8 it’s the same - just go to the folder properties and define a new one for it location);
When installing Windows OS: in the step when partitioning and formatting disks, allocate at least 50 GB to the system drive “C”.
That's all for today, more disk space for everyone!
During its operation, the operating system creates a lot of temporary data that is stored on disk (usually drive C) in the form of files and registry entries. These can be files from update packages, archivers, shadow copies, content downloaded from the Internet, etc. Third-party programs behave in a similar way, for example, browsers that store website data in a cache. Some temporary files are deleted automatically after a certain time, others remain on the disk until they are forcibly deleted.
If the user does not regularly maintain and clean up the C drive, the free space on it becomes less and less, to the point that the disk eventually ends up filled to capacity with temporary files, which precludes further writing of any data to it. reduces its performance. There are two ways out of this situation - either increase the size of the system partition at the expense of the user volume, or perform a comprehensive cleanup of it, which is more preferable. Let's see how to free up space on your local C drive in Windows 7/10.
What can you delete if the disk is full?
The system volume contains many important files that ensure the normal operation of Windows, so deep cleaning it should be approached with the utmost care. What can you delete from the C drive to free up space and not disrupt the system? All its contents can be divided into three groups. The first includes files that can be deleted without any fear. The second consists of files, the deletion of which, although it will not harm the system, can still cause certain problems under some circumstances. The third group includes files that cannot be deleted, as this can make programs and the system inoperable. You can clean up drive C without negative consequences by deleting:
- Cart Contents.
- Library catalogues.
- Folders and Downloaded Program Files in the Windows directory.
- Cache of browsers and some third-party programs.
- Icon sketches.
- Logs and memory dumps for system errors.
- Old Chkdsk utility files.
- Bug reports.
- Files created by the Windows debugger.
With some caution, you can delete shadow copies () created during the installation of updates and stored in backup copies, files from previous system installations (Windows.old folder), unnecessary components and applications, folders of uninstalled programs in the ProgramData, Program Files and Roaming directories, MSOCache Microsoft Office folder. If you do not use Quick Start, you can delete the file hiberfil.sys in the root of drive C, having previously disabled these functions in the settings. It is acceptable, but not recommended, to delete the swap file pagefile.sys. Other files and folders on drive C cannot be deleted so as not to disrupt the operation of the system.
Cleaning junk and temporary files using Windows
First, let's look at how to clear drive C of unnecessary files in Windows 7/10 using the operating system itself. Windows has a built-in utility for these purposes. cleanmgr.exe, which can be launched either through the properties of the partition being cleaned or through the “Run” dialog box. After the utility scans the disk for outdated files, check the boxes on the “Disk Cleanup” tab and click “OK.”
If you click the “Clean up system files” button, reports, device driver packages, error dumps and, additionally, restore points, with the exception of the most recent one, will become available for deletion.
For a deeper and more thorough cleaning of drive C from garbage, you can use the built-in console utilities Dism And vssadmin. The first allows you to delete temporary data from the WinSxS folder, including backups created before installing Windows updates. To do this, use the following commands executed in the CMD console running as administrator:
- DISM.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup
- DISM.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /SPSuperseded
- vssadmin delete shadows /all /quiet
The first command does the same thing as the cleanmgr.exe utility, only more thoroughly.
The second deletes all backup update packages from the WinSxS folder.
The third command can delete all restore points, including the last one.
However, you should use these tools with caution, since after executing the indicated commands, you will no longer be able to roll back the system to a working state or a previous version.
Note: Before cleaning the WinSxS folder, it is recommended to set its true size, thereby making sure that it really needs cleaning. To do this, you need to run the command on the command line Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /AnalyzeComponentStore and compare the actual size of the component store with the size indicator in the Explorer properties.
After updating Windows to a newer version, a folder appears in the root of drive C Windows.old, which can take up significant disk space.
The contents of this directory are copies of the system installation files of the previous version of Windows. If you are determined not to return to the old version of the system, the Windows.old folder can be deleted. This is done again either using cleanmgr.exe or using the command line. In the first case, you need to find and select the “Previous Windows installations” item on the “Advanced” tab; in the second case, run the command in the CMD console running as administrator rd /s /q c:/windows.old.
You can get a little extra space on the C drive by removing unused components, the same ones that are accessible through the classic Add/Remove Programs applet.
The standard Dism utility is also used here. To select and uninstall an unused Windows component, run the following two commands in the CMD console running with elevated rights:
- DISM.exe /Online /English /Get-Features /Format:Table
- DISM.exe /Online /Disable-Feature /featurename:NAME /Remove
The first command displays a list of all components in the system, the second deletes the selected element. In this example, its name must be substituted for the NAME line element.
Manual removal of programs and files
With the exception of Windows 8.1 and 10 universal apps, almost all desktop programs are installed in the folder Program Files. If a program is no longer needed, it should be deleted so that it does not take up disk space, but this must be done either using a standard uninstaller or using special third-party programs. However, after uninstalling applications, folders with configuration files may remain on the disk, the weight of which can reach several hundred megabytes. Such data must be deleted manually.
Let's say you have removed Microsoft Office or Skype from your computer and you also want to get rid of all their remaining “tails” on the C drive. To do this, carefully check the Program Files and ProgramData directories in the root of drive C, as well as the folders C:/Users/Username/AppData. If the folder name matches the name of the deleted application, it can be deleted.
The AppData folder is a little more complicated. This hidden directory contains three subfolders: Local, LocalLow and Roaming. The first stores files created during the operation of various programs. You cannot clear it entirely, as this will most likely lead to the loss of saved application settings, however, half-empty folders of uninstalled programs can be completely safely deleted. You can also safely clear the contents of the folder located in it Temp.
The same applies to the LocalLow and Roaming folders; it is permissible to delete from them only those directories that belonged to previously uninstalled applications.
Note: By clearing the contents of the Local, LocalLow and Roaming folders, you lose user settings and data saved in their cache. For example, after deleting its folders in your user profile, you will lose your current messenger settings and part of your message history.
As for removing universal applications, they are uninstalled using the standard tools of the system itself or the CCleaner program, which will be discussed below. You can also move some universal applications from drive C to drive D, if they support this feature.
Transferring desktop programs to another volume is also possible; there is a special utility for this purpose SteamMover, which you can download from the developer’s website www.traynier.com/software/steammover.
Using CCleaner
Many novice users are interested in how to delete unnecessary files from drive C using third-party programs, as well as which of these programs are more effective and safe in this regard. These can be recommended CCleaner– a simple, fast, convenient, and most importantly safe Windows disk and registry cleaner. This program allows you to delete temporary data from the Internet and Windows itself, the contents of the thumbnail cache and DNS, Index.dat files, memory dumps, fragments of chkdsk files, various system logs, outdated prefetch files and a lot of other unimportant data.
Using CCleaner, you can clear the system registry of incorrect entries, optimize, enable, disable or remove browser extensions, analyze the contents of hard drives, search for duplicates and, of course, uninstall unnecessary applications, including universal ones.
CCleaner's interface is very simple, so understanding its simple functionality will not be difficult even for a novice user.
Considering, however, that the main purpose of CCleaner is still cleaning, all its additional tools have limited functionality. If your C drive is full of unknown things, and you want to find out what exactly it is, then for these purposes it is better to use specific utilities, for example, Scanner, JdiskReport or their analogues, showing more accurate information about the file structure of the media with the ability to navigate through subdirectories.
Other ways to free up space on drive C
Clearing the Driver Store
The steps described above are usually enough to free up enough space on the system volume, but what if drive C is still full? What else can you do to get additional space? One option is to clear the contents of the folder FileRepository located at C:/Windows/System32/DriverStore.
This directory contains copies of device drivers that were ever connected to the computer, and may also contain outdated versions of drivers. Before deleting driver packages from the FileRepository folder, it is highly advisable to create a complete list of them and find only outdated versions in it, leaving the rest untouched. It also wouldn't hurt to create a complete copy of all drivers installed on the system. To list the DriverStore drivers in a file, run the following command in an elevated command prompt:
pnputil.exe /e > C:/drivers.log
Compare the driver versions in the list and remove only the outdated ones.
To remove the selected driver, immediately run the command in the console pnputil.exe /d oem№.inf, where № is the name of the driver in the list.
If an error appears in the console when uninstalling a driver, it means the driver is being used by the system. There is no need to touch such a component.
As an alternative to the command line, you can use the free utility Driver Store Explorer, just designed to remove old unused device drivers.
Disabling hibernation
Thanks to the hibernation mode, the user can quickly return to work in running applications; on the other hand, its use requires the allocation of significant space on the system disk, slightly less than or equal to the amount of RAM. If having free space on your hard drive is a priority for you, you can disable hibernation mode by deleting the hiberfil.sys container file.
Launch the CMD console as an administrator and run the command in it powercfg -h off. Hibernation will be disabled and the bulky hiberfil.sys file will be removed.
Note: The hibernation file can be compressed by a maximum of two times with the command powercfg hibernate size 50.
Disabling the page file
In addition to other hidden system objects, there is also a file in the root of drive C that can be deleted under certain conditions. This is the swap file pagefile.sys. This file plays the role of a RAM buffer, and if an application does not have enough RAM to operate, its data is temporarily written to . Accordingly, if there is no swap file, a heavy application will slow down greatly or simply freeze while waiting for faster RAM to become available. Therefore, disabling and deleting the paging file is not recommended unless the computer has a very large amount of RAM.
If your PC has more than 10 GB of memory or you do not intend to run resource-intensive applications, you can try carefully disabling swap. To do this, open Advanced system settings and on the “Advanced” tab in the “Performance” block, click the “Options” button.
This will open another window. Switch to the “Advanced” tab, and then click the Change button in the “Virtual Memory” block.
Uncheck the “Automatically select paging file size” checkbox, turn on the “No paging file” radio button, save the settings and reboot. The pagefile.sys file will be deleted.
Removing the MSOcache folder
Users who have installed Microsoft Office have a hidden folder in the root of the system volume MSOcache, the weight of which can reach several gigabytes.
This folder is an office suite cache and contains files that may be needed to restore Microsoft Office if it becomes corrupted. The MSOcache folder is not involved in launching Microsoft Office or working with documents, so it can be deleted in the standard way. Just keep in mind that if Microsoft Office is damaged for some reason, you will have to restore the package from the installation disk with its distribution.
Compressing the contents of a system volume
You can free up some free space on drive C without deleting anything from it at all. Instead, all system files can be compressed. To do this, just open the properties of drive C, on the “General” tab, check the box “Shrink this drive to save space” and click “OK”.
To compress system files in Windows 10, you can use the function Compact OS by running one of two commands in the CMD console running as administrator:
- compact /CompactOs:query
- compact /CompactOs:always
The second command performs the same actions as the first, but in forced mode. It is used if you really want to shrink the system volume, and the first command rejects the operation, considering it inappropriate. Compression is completely reversible and to return the file system to its normal state, just execute the reverse command compact /CompactOs:never.
In addition to NTFS compression, LZX compression is available in Windows 10, but it has a number of disadvantages, which is why it is not widely used. LZX compression is applicable to read-only files and directories, but an entire system volume cannot be compressed with its help due to the risk of creating an unbootable system.
