Freeing up Space in Windows PC [Beginner Guide]

Greetings everyone!
Hope you all are doing well. Today i am going to write about freeing up space on your Windows PC using in-built tools. You can do this on any Windows version. In this tutorial, i am using Windows 10 Pro. So let’s get started.

Freeing up Space using Disk Cleanup utility:

>>What is Windows Disk Cleanup Utility?

Disk Cleanup is a software utility first introduced with Windows 98 and included in all subsequent releases of Windows. It allows users to remove files that are no longer needed or that can be safely deleted.

Go to Windows search bar located at the bottom left panel and type disk cleanup and press enter. You will be greeted with a dialog box where your local disk C will be selected by default, press OK.

Note that you can also select other drives located in your Windows PC by using drop down menu where you select C drive.

After selecting the drive of your choice, you will see another dialog box on your screen as shown in the picture below.

After completion of process you will see a box asking for what all things to delete. Select them all by clicking on the box located at the left side.

Now press OK and wait for the process to complete.

Freeing up Space using Disk Defragmentation Utility:

>> What is Windows Disk Defragmenter?

Disk Defragmenter is a tool of Windows operating system that analyzes the hard drive and merges fragmented files into one contiguous block or space. This will allow your system to access files and folders and save new ones more efficiently.

Go to Windows search bar and type disk defragmenter and press enter.

Now select all the drives shown on the screen and click on Analyze button. After the analysis process is complete, you will see the amount of fragmentation of your drives on your screen.

Note: Your disks can be more fragmented as compared to mine because i have recently performed disk defragmentation on my PC. Now select all the drives shown on your screen and click on Optimize button.

Tip: Perform disk defragmentation at night as it may take hours depending upon your drive fragmentation amount. After completion of process, you will see all your drives are optimized to 0 percent. That’s what we want :)

Freeing up Space by Deleting Temp Files:

>> What are temp (temporary) files?

Temporary files in Windows are those junk files whose use is only temporary and become redundant once the task in hand is completed. Such temporary file are created to hold data temporarily while a file is being created or processed or used.

Go to windows search bar and type %temp% and press enter.

Note: You may have lot of temporary files stored on your disk as compared to mine. I recently performed this task so results may vary.

Now select them all by pressing Shift+Down arrow key together and press Del button on your keyboard. You will be asked for permission, grant it and let it delete files which are not in use. You may face file deletion error then press Skip button. Don’t forget to click on Do this for all current items. Now all your useless files will be deleted.

To see What’s Taking How Much Space [Off-topic]:

Go to windows search bar and type storage and press enter on Storage settings.

Now, click on Temporary files and delete files that are not required. Be cautious while deleting files as there are downloaded files stored in the same place. Also, this temporary files option is different than the previous option discussed as it deletes more files from your Windows OS.

Click on Remove files option and wait for the process to complete.

Tip: Click on Show more categories and delete files according to your needs.

You can also enable Storage Sense to let Windows automatically optimise your PC.

I hope this guide has been useful for you and you learnt something new. Stay tuned for updates. You can also connect with me on Twitter. Stay happy and safe.