How to clean up local disk c completely. How to clean a disk from garbage. Windows temporary files

The problem with computer junk causes inconvenience to almost all users year after year. In this article I will tell you how to clean Local Disk C.

If your PC has become noticeably slower, you may find it useful to clean unnecessary files and thereby speed up your computer.

To find out how to do it yourself correctly, read the entire article or watch the video at the end of the article.

Introduction

Many people wonder about the slow operation of their computer and spend hours searching for information on the Internet. One of the main reasons is the clutter of Local Disk C. The PC starts to work slower because it is on this disk that the operating system is located, which is responsible for all the actions performed.

As a result of the operating system files becoming clogged, we begin to notice errors in work processes and slow program responses. Imagine using a real-life example: you run in sneakers or sports shoes to improve your physical fitness. Now take a sack of potatoes over each shoulder and try to run, how’s that? I think the difference will be noticeable, the same is true on the local disk, while the empty one works quickly, a lot of garbage has accumulated and it begins to work slowly.

That is why you should at least sometimes clean up your PC and delete unnecessary files.

Clean desktop and its impact on Local Disk C

Dear friends, first I want to draw your attention to the desktop of your PC, because many do not understand how to use it correctly. And its correct condition lies in its purity.

All files and folders located on the desktop are recorded on the memory of local drive C, so think ten times before throwing music albums and new movies onto it, work correctly now, transfer all data from the desktop to Local drive D or other existing ones, this is significant will facilitate the operation of the operating system and free up the memory of drive C. If you need quick access, to some programs or files, make shortcuts for them so it will be correct.

Manually clearing temporary, unnecessary files from your computer

Before moving on to this stage, you need to understand a little that when running any programs on a computer, the operating system creates temporary files, even when you are just surfing the Internet, some of the data is recorded as temporary files.

This is actually done to speed up the work, how? Let's say you opened the Odnoklassniki website, the system recorded several large pictures from the site in a folder with temporary files, and the next time you go to Odnoklassniki, the computer does not download information from the site server, but takes several large pictures from the temporary files previously recorded in the folder.

Yes, this is useful, the folder with temporary files “swells” to such an extent that it begins to slow down the PC and most of the memory of Local Disk C is clogged, which sometimes also leads to errors.

To delete these temporary files, you just need to go to the desired folder with these same temporary files and delete everything from there. By the way, don’t worry, there are no system files there and you won’t delete anything you need, feel free to go in and clean it.

To do this, go to the directory:

My computer/Local drive C/Windows/Temp

We went into this folder, circled all the files and deleted them, emptied the trash.

Analysis and removal of old, unnecessary programs, games and files

This section can be divided into two stages. The first is quite simple, it involves removing old, no longer needed games and programs. To do this, simply go to the program control panel and delete those applications that you once installed yourself; when you see familiar names, you definitely won’t get confused.

1. Go to the start menu - panel management programs and components and we see the following window in front of us:

We find programs we don’t need in this window, select them and click on the remove/change button at the top, doing this one by one with each one. unnecessary application or a game. This process will also clear the memory of local drive C.

The point of the action is to identify the problematic folder or file, and for us these are objects that occupy a significant amount of memory. Not quite clear? I'll explain everything now.

We go to Local Disk C and see folders in front of us, the number may be different for everyone

Now we begin to analyze each folder in turn, first check the volume of the first folder

Our goal is to find out how much memory it takes up on the computer

We looked and saw that the folder takes up only 8.13 MB, we are not interested in this size, we are only looking for huge files that weigh from several GB.

What should I do if I don’t understand anything about file sizes?

If you have difficulty understanding the size of files or do not know how to distinguish between them, then I recommend using my online textbook: How to master a computer from scratch. In it you will find answers to all your questions.

We were a little distracted, but that’s okay, let’s continue, move on to the next folder and also check its weight until you find folders whose volume scares you. Most likely, there will be two folders: Windows and Program Files.

As soon as we have identified a folder that takes up a lot of space, we go to it and also analyze everything that is in it by determining the weight. Eventually you will find files or folders that take up a huge amount of memory on your Local Drive C, copy their name and look on the Internet what these files are and what program they are from, most likely you will be surprised how much junk you will find.

Attention, if you are a complete novice user, do not use this method, just skip it, because in the process you can remove the necessary components or programs, which will lead to disastrous circumstances.

We use the built-in capabilities of cleaning Local disks

The creators of the operating system did not forget about users and initially added to Windows basic capabilities for simplified cleaning of Local disks. This is not always effective, but knowing this method will also be useful, and it will not take much of your time.

To do this, you need to go to my computer, select the local disk to clean and right-click on it and select the properties line.

Now we will see information about the disk in front of us, we need to click on the clean disk button

You will need to wait a while until the program starts, you will see something like this:

When the program starts, you will see a window in front of you in which you need to check the boxes next to the partitions that you want to clean, here I just check all the boxes and click OK.

Automatically clean the Cache and Registry using Ccleaner

Now we can relax a little, then the automatic cleaning program will work for us. It's called CCleaner, you can read how to download it correctly and from where in the article on how to clean your computer's registry. After you have installed it, launch it. Click on the cleaning section, first select the Windows section and only after that click the analysis button.

Now we will see in front of us all the files that the program can clean without causing harm to your PC, at the top where it will say analysis completed you can see approximately how much space the program will free up for you. Click the clear button

Reviving or speeding up your computer after cleaning up the mess

After you have done such a huge job, you just need to bring your computer back to life, to do this you need to put all the files on their shelves. This will speed up your computer and save you from some errors. This process is called defragmentation. I recently devoted an entire article to this, which I recommend you read.

Now it’s time to consolidate the knowledge, watch the video in which I myself go through all the stages of cleaning Local Disk C in order. Good luck friends and don’t forget to subscribe to my site’s news, the subscription is a little lower, be literate in everything!

If free space on drive "C" is quickly ending, then it's time to release it different ways which we will look at in this article. After all, a small amount of space on the system disk leads to all sorts of consequences, for example the situation when the computer starts to slow down or work in some programs becomes impossible.

Whatever one may say, there should be at least several gigabytes of free space on the system drive “C”.

In fact, you can free up space on the C drive different ways. Additionally, you can add disk space using other disks. But first things first. After reading this article you will know where can Lost space on drive "C", and what to do to get it back. You can take any of the steps described right now and use it, or you can comprehensively apply all the tips and clean up space on the system drive.

Installed programs

Of course, most of the space on the system disk is occupied by installed programs, so first of all pay your attention to this point. Uninstall unused programs using a standard Windows utility.

By opening “Start – Control Panel – Uninstall a program” you can sort installed applications by date, size or title. Uninstall what you don't need.

In this way, you can free up, if not several gigabytes, then at least several hundred megabytes, which will allow drive “C” to “breathe” freely. I described the process of uninstalling programs in Windows 7 in more detail in the corresponding lesson on this site.

Basket

Remember that everything deleted files most often end up in the Trash first. A folder called “Trash” acts as a temporary storage for everything deleted. But in fact, it takes up space on our computers.

In order to permanently erase data from the recycle bin, just right-click on it and select the appropriate “Empty Recycle Bin” item.

Downloads folder

Most often, downloaded files from the Internet are saved by default to the “Downloads” folder on the “C” drive. It’s not difficult to guess that if you constantly download something, but don’t move the files anywhere, then they will begin to take up hundreds of megabytes, or even several gigabytes, and the free disk space will become less and less.

Therefore, you need to open “Computer” and go to the “Downloads” folder.

And make sure that there are no large files there, and if there are, then delete them or move them to another drive.

This is another step that is more common for novice users and will help them free up disk space in Windows 7 or another system. Let's move on.

Temp folders

In Windows there are two Temp folders in which various temporary files are saved. For example, files that are needed when installing programs, drivers, Windows update or antivirus and so on. But after they become useless, you can simply delete them to free up some more space on the C drive.

Open “Computer – drive C – Windows folder" Find the Temp folder there and delete all contents.

If some files are not deleted, it’s okay, just click the “Skip” button. The main thing is that most of the unnecessary “garbage” will be removed.

The second Temp folder can be opened by searching in Start by entering the query %TEMP% and opening the found folder. We clear its contents.

P.S. Don't forget to empty the Recycle Bin if data from the Temp folders goes into it.

Disk Cleanup

Clean up drive "C" from other unnecessary files you can use the standard Windows utility. To do this, just right-click on the disk and select “Properties” from the drop-down list.

Immediately on the “General” tab we need to click the “Disk Cleanup” button.

And wait a while while the program analyzes the data and finds possible unnecessary files. Then she will offer us to delete them by checking the boxes next to them.

Swap file

Windows has a swap file, this is a thing that is needed for those cases when the main random access memory not enough to perform tasks in programs. Typically, the paging file takes a couple of gigabytes from the system drive “C” for its needs. We need to make sure that these gigabytes are taken from some other disk.

You need to go to the “Properties” of the Computer. Open “Advanced system parameters”, here click the first “Options” button and on the “Advanced” tab, through the “Change” button, specify the size of the paging file on some other drive. This way we can free up space on drive “C” by a couple more gigabytes. But that's not all.

Hibernation Mode

If you want to save even more space on your system disk, I recommend disabling hibernation mode, but only as a last resort. This is a very convenient feature that allows you to put your computer into Sleep mode, leaving open folders, programs, etc., and turn it off even from the network. One way or another, by turning on the computer again, all opened folders, programs and data in them will be restored thanks to the Hibernation mode.

You can disable Hibernation mode by opening the command line through a search in Start.

And by writing the command: “powercfg.exe -h off” - to disable hibernation mode. Click " Enter ».

Now, after restarting the computer, we will see that there is a little more free disk space. And to enable this mode again, we need to write a similar command: “ powercfg.exe -h on" Naturally, all this is done without quotes.

System Restore

Another way free up space on drive "C"- delete recovery checkpoints, since they also take up a certain amount of megabytes. To see them you need to go to “Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - System Restore”.

A window will open where we can observe checkpoints that are created every time we update drivers, or install some programs, and so on.

This useful feature gives us the opportunity to restore our computer to a more efficient state. For example, after an unsuccessful attempt to update drivers, or after a virus attack. If such a situation happens, the first thing you can do is restore your PC using a checkpoint. I recommend leaving one last point and deleting the rest.

CCleaner program

If you install it, you will see the following window:

The most interesting tabs here are “Cleaning” and “Service”, where you can: remove everything unnecessary, clear the cache, remove programs from startup, and more. And on the tab " Registry“You can clean it simply by clicking the “Search for problems” button. I usually leave all the checkboxes that are checked there.

And one last thing.

BONUS

As a last resort, if you have catastrophic, chronic and permanent not enough disk space, then you can increase it using another disk.

Source

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 displays 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 500 GB – 1 TB in size. And in such cases, giving the system 30 GB for the C drive 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 “Delete 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 the operating system, you can lose all the 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!

Increasing the size of drives does not always avoid the question of how to clear drive C of unnecessary files.

Checking occupied space

Another way to more accurately determine the space occupied by programs is using a special utility called WinDIRStat - free and available in several languages, including Russian.

Detailed analysis of data on drive C

By scanning drive C with this program, you can get detailed information about the space occupied by files and folders.

Perhaps with their help you will be able to find old and unused movies, disk images or games, erasing them and saving extra space.

Moreover, it’s unlikely that anyone will watch a film lasting an hour and a half and measuring 1 gigabyte, and the game programs are most likely long outdated.

Deleting temporary files

A fairly useful utility for Windows, Disk Cleanup, deletes only temporary files created by , without touching those that were created as a result of other programs.

However, some browsers on which the user works for a long time can create a cache of several gigabytes on the system disk.

You can solve the problem by installing and running a special utility CCleaner, downloaded from the website of the developer company. Its advantages:

• Search for data that other cleaning programs do not see;
• Intuitive interface;
• Possibility of free use.

CCleaner program

To clean up temporary files that are not deleted by built-in using Windows, you can also use applications like:

• Disk Cleaner utilities;
• TuneUp Utilities software package;
• RevoUninstaller Applications.

Additional cleaning methods

In cases where all of the above options did not help add space on the system disk, you should use additional methods, including:

• Increasing the volume of the system partition at the expense of the others (in this case, the combined local disk must be located on the same HDD).
  There are a number of programs for this, although if using them it is better to make a copy important information from connected sections;
• Moving folders with music and movies from drive C (including the desktop). On the desktop you should leave only shortcuts to directories that will be located in other sections of the HDD;
• Removing duplicate files, if there are any on your computer.
  This can be done manually or using a special program downloaded free of charge from the manufacturer’s website Duplicate Killer, which detects and deletes completely identical images, videos or folders;
• Cleaning the “Downloads” folder, which may also contain programs that have not been used for a long time;
• Reducing the amount of space allocated for information for restoring the operating system;
• Disabling hibernation, a mode that saves data from RAM on the hard drive and takes up approximately the same amount of space as the RAM itself.
  The function is disabled in two ways: by entering Powercfg /Hibernate off on the command line or by setting the zero parameter to additional parameters power supply (Start - Control Panel - Power Options).

Cleaning for Windows 10

All of the previously mentioned disk cleaning methods apply to any version of Windows. However, there are also those that can only be used in the latter.

In Windows 10, several additional utilities have appeared to gain additional space on the system disk by deleting unnecessary files and folders.

Storage

First of all, the user of this OS should try to clean up the C drive using the “Storage” settings available in the “All Settings” menu (called by clicking on the system notification icon or pressing the “Win” and “I” keys simultaneously) when selecting the “ System".

Windows 10 Storage Settings

This settings section allows you to view the amount of space occupied by programs, music, images, videos and documents.

Here you can install a disk on which the corresponding files will be automatically installed, which will help avoid filling up the system partition.

System disk memory usage

For example, from this list you can select temporary files that are no longer needed and should be deleted to free up space.

Among them is information from the system recycle bin and boot folders, which can be easily deleted directly from this menu.

Also, when viewing “Storage”, you can see the sizes of each of the system files, including the swap file, system restore and hibernation.

The last two can be deleted, although this may lead to data loss if there is a problem with the system.

The Applications and Games section contains information about the programs installed on the PC, including the amount of space they occupy. Some of them can only be deleted.

But those that were installed from the Windows 10 Store are also moved to other drives, freeing up space on the system drive.

Compress hibernation file and OS files

In the 10th version of the operating Windows systems appeared special utility Compact OS, which compresses system files and reduces the space they occupy on the system partition.

According to the software manufacturer, running it on a fairly powerful computer does not affect its performance at all.

In this case, enabling the compression function by launching command line via “Start” and entering the command: compact /compactos:query Sometimes it allows you to free up to 2 GB.

The ability to compress the hibernation file has also been increased.

If in the past Windows versions it only turned off, freeing up space approximately equal to the PC's RAM, but also removing some of the functions for quick startup, now you can even reduce its size.

Wherein quick start will be possible, but the hibernation file will take up less space.

Moving Applications

IN Windows system 10 installed several standard utilities and applications such as OneNote, mail, calendar and weather monitoring.

They are removed from the Start menu, but not always removed from the list of all applications.

And in context menu There is no deletion option for them. Yet programs are relatively easy to remove using PowerShell commands.

Launching PowerShell

Features of saving space

Another way to save space in the system partition is not to clutter it with unnecessary information, and especially with applications.

Moreover, other disks are usually intended for them - this is convenient not only for saving space, but also in case the need arises to reinstall the system.

In non-system partitions, files have a better chance of being saved if, for example, you have to install a new Windows.

By default, any program is installed on drive C, taking up space reserved for system applications.

Therefore, it is advisable to change its location at the very beginning of installation to a directory on another disk.

This is especially important for modern games, which sometimes take up no less space than all system games Windows files.

How to clean drive C? Disk Cleanup in Windows 7

How to clean drive C from unnecessary files: Best ways

Hard drives are getting bigger and bigger, but no matter what, they somehow always seem to be full. Especially it concerns solid state drives(SSD), which offer their owners less available memory compared to traditional "mechanical drive" drives. If you're chasing free space, the techniques that we describe below will come in very handy and will help you achieve what you want. First of all, we will talk about tools and methods for cleaning a PC from junk, such as deleting copies of files, deep uninstalling programs, etc.

The Windows operating system contains built-in utilities that can solve most problems for the average user. And disk cleanup is one of those problems where it is not at all necessary to immediately run to install third-party applications.

To begin with, follow the following instructions, quite possibly this will be quite enough:

1. Open File Explorer to the Computer tab (this is the one where all available drives are displayed).

   

2. Right-click on the section that you think needs cleaning. Select and click on "Property".

   

3. On the “Basic” tab, select “Disk Cleanup”. A new window will open. Alternative option You may be searching for the Disk Cleanup utility through the Start menu.

   

4. Click on “OK” and in the list you will see all the “unnecessary” files that can be deleted without damaging the files you need. Check the boxes as you wish and click OK. In addition to the usual, you can also “brush” system partitions. To do this, press the key with the two-color shield “Clean up system files.”

   

5. After cleaning, a new tab “Advanced Features” will appear, go to it. On the tab you can do two things: "Uninstall programs" and "Uninstall backups" The latter exist in order to turn back time in case of unsolvable problems with the system. Time travel or “system rollback” occurs exactly to the moment when the last backup was made.

   

Important! In other words, delete such files with caution - always leave at least one copy of a working system.

You have successfully gotten rid of Congratulations! Now let's move on to uninstalling programs.

Method 2: Uninstalling programs

Direct continuation of the previous section.

Step 1. On the "Advanced Features" tab, click on "Clean up" in the "Programs and Features" section. As a result, you will be taken to the “Uninstall programs” window.

In addition, you can get there through the “Control Panel” by following the following route: “Control Panel” - “Programs” - “Programs and Features”.

Step 2. So, before you is a window with all the programs installed on your PC. First you need to create a proposed “hit list”. To do this, click on the “Sorting” icon in the right corner of the table, next to the question mark. Select sort by size.

Step 3. Determine for yourself which programs you can do without (often these are the ones you see for the first time). Next, select the victim with a single left click.

Step 4. There is a “Delete” button right above the list, click on it.

Step 5. In the dialog box, confirm your intention to get rid of the program by pressing the “OK” button.

Step 6. Windows will begin the uninstallation process, after successful completion, which will give you an information window with the corresponding content. Please read the contents carefully and click “OK” again.

Congratulations, you have successfully used standard Windows functionality!

If, in an effort to free up space on your computer, you are ready to do something more, feel free to move on to the next section.

Method 3: Using third-party applications

Step 1. System analysis. In order to determine what exactly is dragging your hard drive to the bottom, you can scan your systems to identify the heaviest file partitions. Here good decision there will be a WinDirStat program that will quickly perform an analysis and tell you everything about the PC memory.

The program can be downloaded for free on the Internet. After installation, it will immediately prompt you to run a scan. Then you can continue the execution, either manually or automatically using other programs.

Step 2. Deleting temporary files. According to popular opinion, the best program To quickly clean “heavy” partitions from hidden garbage, the CCleaner program is a creation of the Piriform company.

You can download it from both the official and third-party sites. In any case, the program is paid. However, there is some pretty solid free functionality. After loading CCleaner, select the section with the “Cleaner” broom and check the boxes where you see fit, press the “Run Clean” button. Next, follow the instructions of the removal algorithm.

Step 3. Removing duplicate files. Quite often, a computer's memory contains a huge number of the same files in different places. In order to fearlessly get rid of this kind of garbage, use the Duplicate Cleaner Pro program. The application will scan the PC memory and display all duplicate files on the screen, which you can get rid of there.

Thus, to free up space from garbage on operating system Windows 7 has both built-in and third-party . You are free to choose and use exactly what you personally like and what you find most convenient.

Video - How to clean a disk from garbage