How to clean up a local disk completely. Cleaning up your C drive is a killer method for clearing junk from your computer. Manual cleaning methods

Disk Cleanup is a built-in tool of the Windows operating system (any version except Windows XP), which allows you to delete unnecessary and irrelevant program files, temporary files, as well as some system files, which are no longer required by the system.

Sometimes these files can “eat up” a lot of space on your system drive “C”, which could be occupied by your personal files, for example: documents, photos, videos. Therefore, it is important to know how to clean a disk, especially since it is very simple to do!

Examples of files that tend to take up the most space:

Windows Updates. About 10 GB can accumulate. and more. These are copies of updates that Windows keeps just in case. But after successful installation, the system does not delete them and continues to store them. As a result, these files are unnecessary and simply take up space on your disk.

Old control points Windows recovery . Can take up tens of gigabytes, depending on how much space you have allocated for these restore points.

Checkpoints are saving system states at the current point in time (at the time when the point is created), allowing you to restore the computer to this state in the event of failures and generally incorrect operation.

Learn more about working with the system restore tool from checkpoints.

Basket. I think it's clear here. These are files that you deleted from the system and that are accumulating in the trash. The size of the files in the recycle bin depends on the size of the recycle bin (you can set any size in its properties).

However, you can empty the Recycle Bin or delete individual files from it by directly opening it, without using Disk Cleanup.

Sometimes space and other files may be essential, depending on how you use the system. The Disk Cleanup tool allows you to clean 13-14 Windows partitions, thereby removing, at times, a significant amount unnecessary files.

Let's move on to the process of performing disk cleanup...

How to perform disk cleanup?

In all Windows operating systems (starting from Windows 7), Disk Cleanup works the same and the interface of this tool is also the same.

Let's look at the disk cleanup tool using Windows 10 as an example (it's similar in others!).

In this article, as in others, I do not consider Windows XP, since it has long been outdated and unsupported. By the way, if you are still working on it, I recommend switching to at least Windows 7, if your computer meets the requirements to work in it.

Open Windows search and type "Disk Cleanup", then select the found program:

In the first window when starting the program, select the disk that we will clean. This will be drive "C", since it is the main one - the system one.

The remaining disks (D, E and others), if you have them in the system, generally do not contain any data that requires cleaning through this program. Is it just "Basket". The rest is your personal files that you need to clean up yourself.

A window will open with the ability to select partitions and files to clean. But it’s better to immediately click the “Clean up system files” button so that the program finds more data to clean, including recovery checkpoints.

After clicking this button, you need to reselect the disk and this time the program will take a little longer to launch, since it will look for everything that can be cleaned.

Now you will see the same window, but it will have more sections and options for files to delete, and another “Advanced” tab will appear. Go straight to it if you want to clear recovery checkpoints ().

The program deletes all checkpoints except the very last one.

If several points were created and you have a lot of disk space allocated for them in the settings, then this procedure can free up a significant amount of free space in gigabytes.

Click "Clear" to delete control points.

The remaining unnecessary files are cleaned through the "Disk Cleanup" tab. Check the boxes next to the sections you want to clear:

You can safely empty everything, but be careful with emptying the recycle bin, in case you still have something you need there that you would like to restore... If not, check this box too.

You can see a description for each section/selected files for cleaning by clicking on them. This way you can find out what exactly will be cleared if you check the box next to one or another section.

Click "OK" to clear.

After a few seconds, your selected data will be cleared.

Now, just in case, run the program again and select another local disk, if you have one, to make sure it doesn't have a lot of unnecessary system data to remove. If there are any, remove them in the same way.

Let me remind you that on other systems the Disk Cleanup program looks exactly the same and has the same set of functions! Unless you search to find the Disk Cleanup program in different Windows versions It opens a little differently. You can read about this in detail

Conclusion

Disk Cleanup is an excellent tool for regularly cleaning your computer. It is easy to use and there is no need to download and install it separately, since it is already built into all Windows (after Windows XP). Allows you to clear all the most basic things, so as not to resort to the help of third-party programs, for example, such as the well-known TuneUp Utilities.

Run the Disk Cleanup tool when you see that there is little space left on the system disk (C) or when you feel a drop in the speed of your computer, and one of the reasons for this may be that it is clogged Windows unnecessary and irrelevant files.

But remember about your personal files, which can also take up a lot of space on the system drive. Monitor this so that drive “C” is not clogged to capacity, otherwise this will lead to slowdowns or even worse - various system failures.

You can familiarize yourself with the set of measures for complete PC maintenance

Do you use Disk Cleanup in Windows or do you prefer other programs? If others, please write why? :) It’s interesting to know your opinion and discuss this topic;)

The article provides seven ways to solve the problem of insufficient free space on the system Windows disk, both using built-in system tools and third-party utilities.

Thirteen years ago, when the operating room appeared and instantly gained popularity Windows system XP, no one was particularly worried about the size of the system disk. 20-30 GB on disk "C" was enough to install both the system itself and for software. WITH the advent of Windows 7 PC owners for the first time were massively faced with the problem of lack of space on the system disk - this operating system itself occupied about 10 GB, and the same amount was absorbed by programs, being registered and constantly updated. The 20-25 GB system disk filled up very quickly. And many even had to resort to repartitioning their computer disks in order to increase the system disk at the expense of another disk.

To ensure that there is always enough free space on the system partition, it must be kept clean and tidy and periodically monitored to see if it is cluttered. If Windows reports that there is not enough free space on the system disk - usually on drive C - it's time to clean it up. Let's look at 7 ways to clean your system disk below: installed Windows 8.

Before you start cleaning up your disk, you need to remember how much free space you have on your disk. this moment. In the future, this will allow you to evaluate the effectiveness of the work done by comparing the initial and final figures.

1. Removing unnecessary files from the system disk

First, you need to check whether files are stored on the system disk that, in principle, may not be stored there - these are media files, folders with documents, disk images, program installation files, etc. All this can be transferred to a non-system drive; moreover, it is even recommended that all important files be stored on a non-system drive (D, E, etc.), so that if an unexpected system failure occurs and it has to be reinstalled, this data were not destroyed during formatting of the system disk.

As a rule, all files downloaded from the Internet are stored in download folders assigned by default by browsers on the system drive. To prevent the system drive from becoming cluttered with downloaded files in the future, you need to assign a different folder for downloads in the browser settings, but on a non-system drive.

Under no circumstances should you transfer system files to another drive, which means that Windows folder you'd better take the tenth road.

To search for media files and documents, you can use Windows Search and set search criteria for the desired file types within the system drive.

Check the found files additionally, cut out the ones you need and paste them on a non-system drive using context menu, and simply delete the unnecessary ones.

Remove all those programs and games that you do not use. As a rule, after removing large resource-intensive games, quite a lot of space is freed up. To correctly remove software and clean the system from remaining traces, use special software– uninstallers.

Here are some popular uninstallers:

• Your Uninstaller;
• Soft Organizer;
• Revo Uninstaller.

3. Windows Disk Cleanup service

The Windows operating system is equipped with a standard service that analyzes the space on the system disk and identifies files that can be deleted to free up space without causing harm to the system.

In Windows 8 Explorer, open “My Computer” and open the context menu on the system drive. At the end of the list, click “Properties”, and in the window that appears, click the “Disk Cleanup” command. In the “Disk Cleanup” window, check the boxes next to the files that you want to delete - Recycle Bin files, temporary files in Temp folders, temporary Internet files, etc.

Then click “Clean up system files.”

4. Manually cleaning Temp folders

If the system disk is not periodically cleaned, up to 5-6 GB can accumulate in the Temp folders over a long period of time. And the Windows Disk Cleanup service, as a rule, deletes only some of the files from these folders. Temp folders can be cleaned manually by completely deleting their contents.

What is the "Temp" folder for? Temporary files are stored there, which Windows and various programs, which are installed on the computer, create for their work. Most of these files become unnecessary over time because they are not used in work.

The "Temp" folders are hidden and the easiest way to get to one of them is using the standard Windows Explorer, or popular file manager Total Commander, since most assemblies of this program have a pre-installed “Hidden Items” button on the toolbar. It displays all hidden files and folders on the system. Click this button and open the root folder of the system in Total Commander and find the “Temp” folder there:

You can open the “Temp” folder in the same path in standard Windows Explorer, but before that you also need to configure the display of hidden folders.

In Windows 7, click the Start button, then Control Panel, then Appearance and Personalization, then Folder Options. In Windows 8, you can get to the “Folder Options” section directly from the “Control Panel”.

In the “Folder Options” window that opens, immediately go to the “View” tab and check additional parameters option “Show hidden folders, files and disks."

Then click "Apply" and "OK".

In the “Temp” folder, select all existing files and press “Shift + Delete” so that the files are completely deleted from the computer, bypassing the “Trash”.

But there is more than one “Temp” folder on the computer: in addition to the one located in the Windows root folder, another “Temp” folder can also be found in user files on the system drive:

C:\Users\Name account Windows\AppData\Local\Temp.

You can follow this path in a file manager or Windows Explorer, but it is much easier to enter the command %TEMP% in the address bar of Explorer and press the Enter key.

Select all the files that are there and delete them.

Not all files from this “Temp” folder will be deleted, some of them may be currently used for the operation of the system and programs, so just skip them.

To increase the loading time of Internet pages, browsers, when accessing a server on the Internet, first check the cache - a place on the system disk specially allocated for storing previously visited web pages, pictures and other elements of Internet resources. And if there is a copy of this data in the cache, then the browser downloads it from the cache, and not again from the server.

To periodically receive updated data from servers, ideally the browser cache should automatically clear itself from time to time, but this is not always the case. Sometimes, after active Internet surfing, a fairly impressive amount of unnecessary data remains in the cache, and it must be periodically cleared manually. To do this, browser developers provide a special function to clear the cache manually.

In most browsers, this function can be accessed by entering the key combination “Ctrl + Shift + Delete”. However, you can separately clarify how to clear the cache of your particular browser, or use special programs for cleaning the system, which will be discussed below.

Clearing your browser cache will free up a certain amount of space on your system drive.

The software market today offers a huge number of programs designed for comprehensive cleaning of Windows OS. This includes cleaning the Recycle Bin, temporary system files, installed programs, and browser cache.

The most popular program of this kind is CCleaner. It is free, minimalistic, however, it offers the necessary functions to clean the operating system of unnecessary files and optimize its registry.

Among CCleaner's analogues there are also more functional solutions - for example, System Cleaner, Neo Utilities, System Optimize Expert, TuneUp Utilities and other programs.

You shouldn’t place too much hope on such a program plan. Like the Windows Disk Cleanup service, they can also remove only a portion of unnecessary files. Therefore, if the need to increase space on the system disk is urgent, it is better to additionally clean the “Temp” folders manually.

Hibernation mode is a mode of reduced power consumption in which the system goes into a sleep-like mode, but at the same time everything open files and running programs are saved on the system hard drive in separate file. Hibernation mode is designed for laptops to extend the life battery life without recharging the battery. But Windows automatically creates a file to store data in hibernation mode no matter what computer device you are using, and the size of this file is several gigabytes.

To see the hibernation file when display is on hidden file ovs and folders, open the system drive in a file manager or Windows Explorer window. Find the “hiberfil” file with the “.sys” extension among the hidden ones.

If you are using a desktop PC and not a laptop, you generally do not need hibernation mode. And you can delete it to free up space on your system drive. And when working with a laptop and periodically using hibernation mode, you can transfer the “hiberfil” file to another non-system drive.

The usual context menu command “Delete” will not get rid of the “hiberfil” file so easily, since it protected by the system. But it can be removed using the command line.

Many people are faced with the problem of not enough free space on the system local drive C:\, despite the fact that the amount of memory in modern disks is quite large. This leads to the question, why does it fill to a critical state if I install and record almost nothing. Let's try to understand this issue right now.

To begin with, I would like to highlight a couple of points about the correct use of the local drive C:\.

1. To begin with, it must be separated from the rest of the volume hard memory disk, that is, you need to create a separate partition for it to store the operating system and software, but everything else should be stored on another local disk, so as not to clog its memory with files that may be located in other places. The Acronis Disk program will help you divide your disk into partitions. You can also partition the disk when installing (reinstalling) windows, this will be the best option.
2. It would be nice to move" Desktop"to another local drive, especially for happy owners of SSD drives. Thus, all existing files on the desktop will not clutter up the memory of the local drive C. Read how to do this in the article How to transfer the desktop to another drive. You can transfer it in the same way folders" downloads" And " My documents".

If you see a red stripe on the local disk on your computer, then it’s time to clean it of accumulated garbage. Of course, it’s better not to let things get to this point, as problems with system performance may arise. The red bar of the critical memory state of the local drive C:\ looks annoying, so let's figure out how to get rid of unnecessary and unnecessary files and clean up the C:\ drive from them.

How to clean drive C from unnecessary files in Windows 10

The Windows 10 operating system was released relatively recently and of course it has its own unique tools for dealing with system disk blockages. Of course there are standard methods, which are suitable for all systems, but we will learn about them in the article below. In the meantime, let’s look at the issue of cleaning drive C from unnecessary files using Windows 10 tools; to do this, go to the settings tab, through the start menu.

In the parameters window that opens, go to the " tab WITHsystem".

In the left column select " storage", after which a list of all local drives on our computer will appear, click on C:\.

In the window we can observe sorted information about the memory usage of our disk. Here I have highlighted three points that I can analyze and decide which unnecessary files can be cleaned.

1. Other- at this point you can see which files located in the explorer of the local drive C:\ occupy a significant amount of memory.
2. Applications and games- here you can see what installed programs and games occupy a large amount of memory and delete them accordingly.
3. Temporary files- files created by applications that are temporarily stored on our computer.

When you go to " Other"We see how much memory the folders on the disk occupy. After analyzing them, you can decide which ones you should delete and which ones you shouldn’t. To go to a specific folder, just click on it.

In the Apps and Games section, first sort the list by size to see which files are taking up a lot of space on your disk. And if you find unnecessary ones, then get rid of them by clicking on the delete button.

In the temporary files section, there are three items: temporary files, download folder and emptying the trash. Well, here I think we can really get rid of unnecessary garbage by checking the boxes next to the items that need to be cleared and clicking the delete button. Before deleting files in download folder, I advise you to check it for the necessary information.

Now let's try to clear the disk of unnecessary files through its property. To do this, go to the properties of the C:\ drive, where in the " are common"Press the button disk cleanup. (This method also works on other operating systems).

In the window that opens, we see a list of files that can be cleaned; in fact, you can delete all of them, but perhaps some of these are what you need. Therefore, look at the description for each and decide whether you need to leave something or not. Then select the unnecessary ones and press the button " clean system files."

After clicking the button, the program will begin to estimate the amount of space that you can free up on your disk.

Afterwards, look again to see if everything is selected for cleaning and click OK.

You can also go to the tab that appears " additionally", where it became possible to clear created recovery checkpoints and select unused programs and components for removal.

After clicking OK, in the window that appears, click delete files. The C:\ drive will begin cleaning up unnecessary files.

If you clicked the Clean button in the Programs and Features item, then in the window that opens you can select programs you are not using and clear the C:\ drive of them.

Clear drive C of temporary files and cache CCleaner program

CCleaner is one of the most popular programs for getting rid of unnecessary files. With its help, you can easily clean drive C from accumulated cache in installed browsers, temporary system files, cookies and so on. To download, go to ccleaner4you.ru.

After the standard installation, run the program and in the tab cleaning We see which programs will be affected. You can also decide for yourself what should be deleted by simply checking the box. Well, I usually leave everything as it is and press the " Aanalysis".

The program analyzes files that can be cleaned and displays full list with a demonstration of the occupied disk space. Now press the button " ABOUTcleaning".

In the warning message window, click OK. The deletion process will begin, thereby freeing up a decent amount of memory from accumulated garbage.

Another program that I would like to introduce you to is called WinDirStat it determines how much memory a particular file on your computer occupies. With it you can easily and quickly determine the size of any file located on your disk. You can download the program from the official website at windirstat.net. After installation and launch, check the box individual disks, where do we choose required disk and click OK.

An analysis will begin to determine the occupied space for each file.

Then you can see which files are too heavy and if you don’t need them, delete them through Explorer. This displays a general list of volume extensions.

That's probably all, I hope the answer to the question how to clean drive C from unnecessary files was quite developed.

ABOUTGive your opinion about this article, and of course, ask your questions if something suddenly goes wrong for you.

Thank you for your attention!

Hello all friends!

If you care about fast work computer, then at least every three months you need to carry out a global cleaning of the system from various types of garbage. If you don't do this, your computer will simply slow down.

After using your computer for a long time, a lot of garbage accumulates. By getting rid of it, you can free up gigabytes of free space on your hard drive. Let’s clear the disk of garbage in three steps. This article is for beginners. Use it and you will really notice the difference BEFORE and AFTER cleaning hard drive. The most interesting thing is that we will get rid of Temp folders more about her:

Step 1) cleaning your computer from junk - manually

Cleaning the system drive “C” in Windows 7 is a fairly simple procedure, but before using the programs, let’s prepare our computer. For this we will use standard means systems. Let's go to " Start» —>» Computer"and we see our disks. Point the mouse at drive C and press the right mouse button. Go to properties and run disk cleanup.

The cleaning program will launch, evaluate the volume, and prepare the files for deletion.

Attention! If you are cleaning the disk for the first time, this may take a long time, up to several hours. Therefore, for especially “Neglected Patients” it is necessary to perform cleaning at night.

We check all the boxes before cleaning. Look in the trash, maybe you still have the files you need there.

Don't forget to go to the advanced tab, there you can delete unnecessary programs and restore points. Click " OK"—> « Delete files» unnecessary garbage has been removed. The preparation of the system is completed, let’s move on to the “heavy artillery” - let’s use powerful program to remove remaining debris.

Step 2. CCleaner - continue disk cleaning

We continue cleaning. And a cool program called CCleaner will help us with this. This is the most popular utility among garbage cleaners. Download the portable (portable version does not require installation) program. The download will start automatically. Launch the program, click " Analyze" (Analysis), after scanning " Run Cleaner“(Cleaning). The program language changes like this: Options» —> « Settings» —> « Language» —> « Russian«.

You can also clean the registry, I think you’ll figure it out - the interface couldn’t be simpler. Let's move on to the next step.

Step 3. FreeSpacer - completely clean your computer disk of debris

The program is called FreeSpacer and install it on your computer. I'll say a few words about this wonderful program.

I have been using FreeSpacer for a very long time, what I like about it is that there are no complicated settings, it all comes down to two actions: search and delete, it is distributed free of charge and does not delete anything unnecessary. I also want to say about its effectiveness; it removed my friend’s 20 gigs of garbage and that's not the limit.

Launch the program and click " Search.» There should be no other programs or background applications running on the system.

Hello dear friends! Now I will talk about a problem that probably everyone has encountered. It is when drive C is full, and I will tell you what needs to be done in such cases, and what can be removed without damaging Windows operation. I've been asked more than once What can you delete from drive C?, otherwise it is filled to the limit, and the system shows a window with warnings.

Let's go in order. Why drive C? Because, in 99% of cases, the Windows operating system is installed on this disk, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s Windows 7 or Windows XP. During the Windows installation process, we break HDD into partitions, I wrote about how to do this in the article “Be sure to partition the hard drive, do not make one partition for the system and for storing files.

We create a partition and set its size. The point here is the culmination, depending on how much memory you allocate to the local drive C, the time it will take for it to be completely full depends. Previously, I always allocated about 30 GB for the C drive, but almost all computers now come with hard drives ranging in size from 500 GB to 1 TB. And giving the system 30 GB for the C drive in such cases seems stupid to me. I’m currently giving away 100 – 150 GB for the system disk.

But as practice shows, even these 150 GB fill up very quickly and drive C turns red, which means that it is completely full, and then the questions begin: what can be done, what can be deleted from the local drive C? Although I always say, don’t save any videos, photos and other heavy files to the system partition. Yes, and it is advisable to install games on other partitions; now there are such games that they take up several tens of GB.

What is the danger of a full C drive?

Nothing bad should happen. The computer will run slower, and Windows will warn you that there is no memory on the system disk. In short, there will be many unpleasant moments in the operation of the computer. Do we need it? We'll decide :).

What can you delete from your local C drive?

This is probably the most important question in this situation. Many people want to delete information, but are afraid to delete something they need. After all, the operating system is installed on this disk, and many are afraid of harming it.

You know, I have seen many computers in which the disk on which Windows is installed is filled to capacity. Well, there’s a lot there, it’s on almost all the computers I’ve encountered. And you look to remove this unnecessary thing, and it seems like everything is needed :), sound familiar?

1. First of all, it is worth remembering that all the information that is stored on the desktop, in the “Documents”, “Pictures” and “Music” folders, is stored on the local drive C. Be sure to check these folders first. If there are heavy files there, such as movies, music, photos, etc. Then move them to local drive D, or E. In most cases, these folders contain files that fill partition C. And I have also seen a bunch of movies on the desktop more than once, is it so difficult to copy them to another partition?

Go to "My computer" and click on top “Remove or change a program”. A window will open with a list of installed programs and games. Click on “Size” to sort the list by the size of installed programs and games. Remove everything you don't need, I'm sure you'll find something like that. If there are very heavy games, then remove them and install them again, only selecting a different partition for installation.

3. We remove garbage from the system. If Windows has not been reinstalled for a long time, then several GB of garbage and temporary files have probably accumulated there. In order to remove them, you can use a good program CCleaner. I always clean my computer with this program from time to time. You can download it on the Internet, just type in Google “Download CCleaner”. Install the program and start cleaning the system. I will not dwell on this in detail now; I will write about this program later.

4. Empty the trash, as an option to free up a couple of MB :).

These are the main (in my opinion) methods, by doing which you can free up quite a bit of memory on the local drive C. You can also disable it, or move system recovery to another drive, or, but it seems to me that these are not very effective options and you need to use them as a last resort.

To summarize everything written above, I want to say that it is possible to prevent the local drive C from becoming completely full. And this is very easy to do.

Are you copying or downloading a movie from the Internet? Don’t be lazy to select drive D, E, or whatever you have for saving. No need to save it to your desktop. When installing the game, change the installation location from drive C to another partition, this is a matter of a few seconds, and in the end it will help protect the system disk from redness and ensure stable operation of the computer.

Also, when saving files to partition C, it is worth remembering that in case of problems with operating system and you can lose all your files. Because when Windows installation, partition C is usually formatted. I think you will also be interested in reading ““, it should come in handy.

And finally, do one more thing, it’s unlikely to add memory, but it will put things in order, and the computer will work faster. Good luck!