The disk is clogged with something that can be removed. How to remove unnecessary files from drive C. Using the Disk Cleaner utility

During its operation, the Windows 7 operating system accumulates a lot of garbage and unnecessary files. This is usually a consequence of system updates, unpacking archives and browsing the Internet. The system itself has standard utilities for removing junk, but they do not start automatically and periodically you need to clean it manually.

Manually deleting temporary files via the command line

Removing unnecessary files and directories from the hard drive is done using the internal “DELete” command. This can be done both from the operating system and when starting the computer when Windows 7 is not yet loaded.

For removing separate file enter the command “DEL” and the file name. To delete a group of files (for example, all temporary files that have the TMP extension), you can use the wildcard character: “DEL *.TMP”.

To delete temporary files via command line, do the following:

Click on the "Start" button, enter "cmd" in the search and launch the command line.
Launch the command line via Windows search
In the window that appears, navigate to the root system of the disk using the “CD..” command. Two dots indicate a higher-level directory, and one dot indicates the current one.
Navigate to the root system of the disk using the "CD.." command
Enter the command “DEL C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\*.TMP” or “DEL C:\WINDOWS\*.TXT” and then confirm the deletion.
Enter the command “DEL C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\*.TMP”

In the same way, you can delete unnecessary directories, but instead of the “DEL” command, “DELTREE” is entered.

Using DOS wildcards - simple, but powerful and dangerous. This method requires precise knowledge of the location of files and directories - it is not entirely suitable for untrained users.

If you are not using any of the file shells in which directory files are visible, it is recommended that you view their listing with the “DIR” command before deleting files. For example, if you intend to delete all files with the TXT extension, before entering the “DEL *.TXT” command, you should play it safe and view them with the “DIR *.TXT” command.

Manually clearing the Temp folder

In the Windows 7 operating system, there is a separate folder for storing temporary files. It contains files and directories that remain after installing programs, unpacking various archives, and surfing the Internet. To remove them, do the following:

You can also get to this folder as follows:

Removing unnecessary files using the Disk Cleanup utility

Disk Cleanup is a built-in operating system a program that removes unnecessary junk from your computer. With its help, you can find many files that have not been used for a long time. Removing them will increase the efficiency of your computer. All temporary and unused system files will be deleted and the recycle bin will be emptied.

To start cleaning, do the following:

Open the Start menu and click on All Programs.
Expand "All Programs"
Go to the "Accessories" folder, then "System" and run the "Disk Cleanup" utility.
Run the Disk Cleanup utility
Select the disk to clean and click OK.
Select the disk to clean
Mark the items you are interested in and click OK.
Check the items you are interested in and click OK

You can also access this utility in the following way:

Removing unnecessary programs using a standard utility

In addition to system garbage, long-forgotten programs or virus software may be installed on your computer. To remove them, do the following:

Open the Start menu and go to Control Panel.
Open Control Panel
Click "Uninstall a program."
Click "Uninstall a program" when categorized
Right-click on the program you don’t need and select “Uninstall.”
Remove all unnecessary programs
After regular deletion, go to the Program Files park on drive C and erase the belonging remote application folder, if it is there.
Overwrite the remaining folders

How to clean a disk of junk on Windows 7 using third-party programs

Using specialized programs, you can clean your hard drive most effectively, achieving maximum magnification computer performance.

Wise Care 365;
Glary Utilities;
360 Total Security;
Your Uninstaller.

You can easily find all the above software on the Internet.

Wise Care 365

Wise Care 365 is free and paid versions. It cleans the registry, local disk, allows you to edit startup, optimizes the operation of many applications and the operating system itself. If you use it constantly, you can avoid various crashes and freezes on your computer.

Launch the program and click the "Check" button.
Immediately after starting the program, run a system scan
After completing the check, proceed to correct all errors found.
After receiving the scan results, correct any errors found
Go to the “Cleaning” tab and click on the big green button in the “Registry Cleaner” section.
Click on the "Cleanup" button to heal registry errors
Now open the “Deep Cleaning” section and run a scan.
Click "Scan" under "Deep Cleaning"
Then click “Cleanup” to fix any errors found.
Once the deep scan is complete, click "Cleanup"
Go to the “Optimization” tab and run defragmentation of the hard drive.
Run hard drive defragmentation
Now disable autorun programs in the appropriate section.
Disable startup programs

Glary Utilities

Glary Utilities comes in free and paid versions. This program cleans and restores the registry, analyzes disk space, deletes temporary files, defragments the disk, and also has many other functions.

Launch the program, go to the “1-Click” tab and click “Find problems”.
Go to the 1-Click tab and click Find Issues
Wait until the scan is completed, go to the “Modules” tab and click “Erase traces”.
Click on "Erase traces"
Wait until the analysis is completed and click “Erase traces.”
Click "Erase Traces"
Check the required items in the left panel and close the window. Then restart your computer.
Mark the items that interest you and close the window

360 Total Security

360 Total Security is free antivirus program, based on the Avira and Defender engines. This program does not conflict with other antiviruses and has a number of additional advantages. It allows you to clean the system of unnecessary files, optimize startup applications, search for vulnerabilities, compress the disk, and can generally speed up your computer.

Immediately after starting the program, run a system scan.
Run a system check
Once errors are found, click "Fix".

Ten years ago, when the Windows XP operating system appeared and instantly became popular (official support for which is ending very soon), 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 computer disks in order to increase 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 you better avoid the Windows folder on the tenth route.

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 further, cut out the necessary ones and paste them on a non-system drive using the 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;
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 call context menu on the system disk. 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 from 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.

Temp folders are hidden, and the easiest way to get to one of them is using standard Windows Explorer, or the popular Total Commander file manager, since most builds of this program have a pre-installed “Hidden Items” button in 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 along the same path in the 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 to file manager or Windows Explorer, but it will be 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.

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, getting rid of it can free up gigabytes of free space on your hard drive by clearing 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 the Temp folder. Learn more about it:

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 start, it will 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, where you can remove 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 it has 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.

Probably, no one needs to explain that while working with a computer, the system partition is constantly filled with garbage. Eventually the system issues a warning that the system drive C is full. Not all novice users know what can be removed from this section, and thoughtless intervention can lead to such enormous problems that not only programs, but also the operating system will stop working. Next up for consideration is a detailed analysis of the components that you can get rid of in the system partition completely painlessly for Windows and user application programs or other type of data.

What is stored on drive C?

Let's start with what kind of objects are present in the system partition. The main directory here is Windows. It contains the files of the installed operating system. It goes without saying that you cannot delete it (in fact, the system itself will not allow you to do this under any circumstances, even if you are an administrator at least three times).

Two folders, ProgramData and Program Files, contain information about installed programs. You can remove components included in them only if some applications have not been completely uninstalled. If you get rid of folders completely, almost all user applications will stop working.

The Boot directory (hidden) contains information about booting the system. As is already clear, you can’t touch him either.

Finally, the Users folder is responsible for setting up and storing data for all users registered in the system. Partial cleaning of this directory can be done. Let's dwell on this separately.

And we haven't talked about files yet backup copies. So what can you delete from the C drive? Everywhere you look, there are complete prohibitions. It seems so only at first glance. In fact, there is a lot of things that can be deleted on the system partition without any fear of consequences.

Cleaning drive C: what to get rid of first?

So, let's start with the simplest thing. If suddenly the system reports that there is no free space on drive C, first check the status of the Recycle Bin.

If anyone doesn’t know, when you place deleted objects in it, they do not disappear from the hard drive, but are stored in a specially designated area. Emptying the Recycle Bin, if it is full, will just free up additional space in the system partition (if there is a virtual partition, and on it too, provided that files and folders were deleted from it, since there are as many such storages in the system as there are sections).

System cleaning

In the operating rooms themselves Windows systems There is a fairly powerful tool for removing unnecessary components. Disk C can be cleaned by clicking the corresponding button on the general tab in the properties section of the selected partition.

This tool will first check and then give you a list of all those items that you can get rid of. Mark everything that is there and set the process to start with the clear button system files. There is nothing wrong with this, since critical components of the operating system itself will not be deleted.

Updates

If downloaded update files are present in the list, disk C should be cleaned with instructions to delete them, since downloaded updates usually do not disappear after they are integrated into the system. Getting rid of them manually is quite a troublesome task.

Temporary system files

Now there is one more point related to Windows settings. We assume that we still need to free up space on drive C. What should we delete? It's time to get rid of the so-called temporary files that are stored in the Temp folders, since the system's built-in tool does not delete them.

To avoid searching for these directories for a long time, in regular Explorer, set the search using the %Temp% criterion. Percent symbols are used only because folders may be hidden and not normally viewable. Once they are found, completely clear their contents.

User Documents

Now, regarding the question of what can be deleted from drive C, let’s consider one of the most important points. The “My Documents” folder is also located in the system partition, and many users completely forget about what was saved there. Some programs by default can save, say, pictures, music or videos in the corresponding directories of the user directory.

Check the contents of each subfolder and, if necessary, get rid of unnecessary files (images, music and videos can take up a lot of space). Don't forget about the Downloads directory. By default, the system and the same torrent clients save downloaded content there. This way, you will free up space on the system partition, especially considering that after installing programs, many installation distributions turn out to be clearly unnecessary. If you still need them for the future, move them to a logical partition or to removable media.

Rarely used programs

What else can you delete from drive C? Programs that you rarely use or do not use in your daily work at all. In addition, some applications tend to be installed on the system without the user’s knowledge and clutter up disk space.

First, go to the programs and components section and look at what is on the list. Don't rush to delete unnecessary applications, since built-in uninstallers of the operating system itself or installed programs can leave a bunch of garbage after performing the standard procedure. These are registry keys, files, and directories. All this will have to be cleaned by hand.

To avoid this, it is better to immediately use programs like iObit Uninstaller, which not only uninstall unnecessary applications, but also save you from the need to clean up “tails” manually. To do this, they use a special powerful (in-depth) scanning mode. But when deleting leftovers, do not forget to use the file destruction option.

Garbage in browsers

A disk with Windows 7 or any other system can also be cleaned by removing unnecessary garbage that accumulates in web browsers, since they are installed by default in the system partition. Accordingly, their cache and temporary files are stored there.

In the settings of any browser you can find a special item for clearing your browsing history, after calling which a menu will appear asking you to delete several types of elements. Check all that are needed and set the cleaning. By the way, after this procedure, the browsers themselves will start working much faster.

Swap file

Finally we come to the most significant procedures. The paging file, which is responsible for using virtual memory when there is not enough RAM to run programs, takes up a fair amount of space in the system partition. It should be disabled if possible.

You can access such settings through the performance section. Usually the parameter is set so that the system itself determines its size. Disable this option, and then at least look at what is offered in terms of size. And don’t delude yourself that a size like 1-2 GB will be indicated at the bottom of the window. In fact, when activated virtual memory the allocated disk space can be tens of times larger. So, for example, when installing automatic settings on a computer with 8 GB random access memory the allocated space for the system partition will be 3-4 times larger. Do you understand what we're talking about? Use the “No paging file” option, save the settings and reboot. After the restart, the space will be freed automatically.

Hibernate file

Finally, in the question of what can be deleted from drive C, special attention should be paid to the hibernation file, which is responsible for the corresponding mode that saves the settings and parameters of all currently active programs in the system partition. Its size can also be quite large. You cannot delete it manually, but you can disable the mode itself, after which the file will be deleted from the system.

To do this, use a command prompt running as an administrator and enter the command powercfg.exe -h off. Once completed, restart your computer and see how much space is freed up.

Additional utilities

As additional tools you can use utilities like CCleaner specially designed for system optimization (there are a lot of them now).

In addition to disk cleaning, they have special modules that allow you to optimize even system registry. As for cleaning the system partition specifically, you can set either one-time optimization, or leave applications at startup so that their clients clean them in the background. If you do not want utilities to start with the system, disable their autoload either directly in the program or through the appropriate section of Windows settings. You can also use highly targeted programs that are designed solely to remove debris from the system, but comprehensive care is preferable.

Conclusion

Above we discussed the main methods that allow you to get rid of everything that can clutter up the system partition to a fairly high degree. Many people may have questions about disabling the page file and virtual memory. Nothing wrong with that. As practice shows, if you do not run heavyweight programs like AutoCAD or professional applications for working with multimedia on your computer, but work only with office documents, the system works without it not only normally, but even faster, since when programs are launched, a direct access to the RAM is made, and not to the hard drive. This is even confirmed by reviews from owners of inexpensive laptops with weak 2-core processors and two gigabytes of RAM.

Detailed instructions on how to clean the C drive from garbage, which means freeing up space on it

In this article we will look at the question of how to clean up the C drive yourself. No matter how large it is local disk C, it will eventually run out of space anyway.

Why, then, is the space on drive C running out?

The place ends for the following reasons:

Many programs, and sometimes games, are installed on drive C, which are then forgotten about
When programs or games are deleted, they leave behind some undeleted files that accumulate over time and, thus, take up a lot of space on drive C
If you have installed programs for processing photos or videos, such as Photoshop, AutoCAD, then they record the work you have done in them on drive C, and they take up a lot of space
Also, very often, personal computer users simply forget to empty the recycle bin, which can accumulate several gigabytes of unnecessary files, which take up precious space on the C drive.
Now the message “Not enough space on drive C” appears. What do we do? And everything is very simple, you just need to take it and free up space yourself by deleting unnecessary programs and temporary hidden files. Here we go

So, we will free up free space on drive C in this order:

Empty trash
Let's run the built-in utility in Windows to clean up the disk
Let's clear the temporary folder Temp files
Let's install the Revo Uninstaller program, for complete removal almost no programs left
We also highly recommend installing CCleaner program, to clean the operating system of unnecessary files, thereby freeing up space on drive C, as described in the article how to speed up your computer

To begin with, the easiest thing you can do is empty the trash can. Yes, right-click on the trash can and select “Empty trash”:

The next one is simple and does not require any third party programs A way to free up some space on drive C is to run the built-in Windows Disk Cleanup utility.

You can launch it like this - click “Start” in the “Find” field, enter “Disk Cleanup” and press “Enter”, at the top you will see the utility we need:

Now run it, a window will appear in which if drive C is not selected, then you need to select it and click “Ok”:

It will begin searching for unnecessary files that can be deleted. When the search for unnecessary files is complete, a window will appear with the total size of unnecessary files that can be deleted:

Now just click “Ok”, thereby deleting these files. I would also like to note that this program is very superficial in searching for unnecessary files that can be deleted.

There are third-party utilities that are much better at finding unnecessary files, thereby freeing up space very well, both on the C drive and on the entire hard drive. See one of them below.

Let's continue to free up space on drive C

Now we will also perform one interesting operation that does not require any programs or special knowledge. We will cleanse windows folder, which is specifically designed for temporary files and is not always automatically cleaned up by the operating system.

This folder is called Temp. We just go into it, select everything and delete it (if not everything is deleted, then it’s okay). In Windows 7, only 5 of these folders are located either directly on drive C or along this path:

C:\Windows\Temp
C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Temp (I suppose it says administrator there, you may have the name you gave to your account)
C:\Users\All Users\TEMP
C:\Users\All Users\TEMP
C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Temp

Let's answer the question of how to clear a disk of files with a specialized program. To do this, proceed to installing the Revo Uninstaller program

The program has free version and copes very well with its function, namely, removing programs and games completely without residual files that remain during normal removal, for example, through the standard installation/removal of programs in Windows.

In order to download it, follow this link http://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html (copy, paste into the address bar of the browser and press enter) to the official website, scroll down the page (the position may change) and click there “Download”, always above the word “freeware” (that is, free version):

The program download window appears, click “Save file” and indicate where the program will download to your hard drive, you can simply specify the desktop:

So, we downloaded the program, now install it:

In the next window, check the box and click “next”:

You don’t have to change anything in this window, thereby leaving the standard installation location for the programs, click “install”:

The installation of the program will begin, when finished, click “finish”:

The main program window appeared in front of us, which shows a list of drivers, programs and games installed on your computer:

To begin with, to make it more convenient and clear to view installed programs Let's change the display type a little. To do this, select “View” - “details”.

This way we will see not just icons, but full information about the program, such as size and where it is installed:

In order to delete a program, you need to click on it 2 times, a request to delete will appear, click “yes”:

Then, first the deletion occurs, we confirm this by clicking on “yes”:

And after the program is uninstalled, our Revo Uninstaller will clean up the remaining files behind it. Thus, the program will be removed with all the rubbish in it, which, during normal removal, accumulates over time in the Windows OS (setting it up on a laptop) and as a result of this, the space on the C drive runs out.

We see that after uninstalling the program we are left with two residual files (sometimes there can be several dozen of them), which we first select and then delete with the “delete” button, then click “next”:

Well, at the end we press the “done” button. I would like to clarify that it was a small program and after it there were only 2 residual files. But when there is some larger program or it is a game, there will be much more residual files.

This is how we discussed with you the question of how to clean up the local drive C, and with it the operating system of the computer itself, so it will work much faster and more stable.