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

The problem with garbage on the computer causes inconvenience from year to year for almost all users. In this article I will tell you how to clean the Local Disk C.

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

To learn how to do it yourself, read the full article or watch the video at the end of the article.

Introduction

Many people wonder about the slowness of the computer and spend hours looking for information on the Internet. One of the main reasons is the clutter of the 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 clogging the files of the operating system, we begin to notice errors in the processes of work and the slow response of programs. Imagine using a real-life example: you are running in sneakers, sports shoes to improve your physical fitness. Now take it, throw a sack of potatoes on each shoulder and try to run, how? I think the difference will be noticeable, the same thing on the local disk, while an empty one works quickly, a lot of garbage has accumulated, it began to work slowly.

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

A clean desktop and its impact on the Local C drive

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 right condition is its purity.

All files and folders located on the desktop are recorded on the memory of the local drive C, so think ten times before uploading music albums and new movies to it, work right now, transfer all data from the desktop to the Local drive D or other available ones, this is significant will facilitate the work 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 right.

Cleaning temporary, unnecessary files from the computer manually

Before proceeding to this stage, you need to understand a little that when you run any programs on your computer, the operating system creates temporary files, even when you just surf 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 the folder with temporary files, and the next time you go to Odnoklassniki, the computer does not download information from the site's server, but takes several large pictures already recorded earlier in the folder temporary files.

Yes, this is useful, the folder with temporary files “swells up” to such an extent that the PC starts to slow down and most of the memory of the Local C drive 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, do not worry, there are no system files and you will not delete anything you need, feel free to go in and clean it.

To do this, go to the directory:

My Computer/Local Disk C/Windows/Temp

We went into this folder, circled all the files and deleted, 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 includes the removal of old, already unnecessary games and programs. To do this, just go to the program control panel and delete those applications that you once installed yourself, when you see the 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 delete / change button from above, so in turn with each unnecessary application or game. This process will also clean up the memory of the local drive C.

The meaning 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? Now I will explain everything.

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

Now we start analyzing each folder in turn, first we check the volume of the first folder

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

We looked, we saw that the folder occupies only 8.13 MB, we are not interested in such a size, we are only looking for huge files that weigh from several GB.

What to do if I don't understand anything about file sizes?

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

A little distracted, but nothing, let's continue, go to the next folder and also check its weight until you find folders whose volume scares you. Most likely - it 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 into it and also analyze everything that is in it through determining the weight. In the end, you will find files or folders that take up a huge amount of memory on Local C Drive, copy their name and look on the Internet for what kind of files and what program, most likely you will be surprised how much junk you find.

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

We use the built-in features of cleaning Local disks

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

To do this, you need to go to my computer, select the local disk to clean up 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 for some time until the program starts, you will see something like this window:

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

Automatic Cache and Registry cleaning with Ccleaner

Now you can relax a bit, then the automatic cleaning program will work for us. It is called Ccleaner, how to download it correctly and from where, you can read in the article how to clean the computer registry. After you have installed it, run it. We click on the cleaning section, first select the Windows heading and only after that we click the analysis button.

Now we will see in front of us all the files that the program can clean without harming your PC, on top where the analysis is completed, you can see how much space the program will free up for you. Click the clear button

Resuscitation or acceleration of the computer after cleaning the mess

After you have done such a huge job, you just need to bring the computer to its senses, for 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.

And now it's time to consolidate the knowledge, watch the video in which I myself do all the steps of cleaning the Local Disk C in order. Good luck friends and do not forget to subscribe to the news of my site, the subscription is a little lower, be literate in everything!

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

Like it or not, but on the system drive "C" there should be at least a few gigabytes of free space.

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

Installed programs

By itself, most of the space on the system disk is occupied by installed programs, so first of all pay your attention to this moment. Remove unused programs using a standard Windows utility.

By opening "Start - Control Panel - Uninstall a program" you can sort installed applications by date, size or name. Uninstall unnecessary.

In this way, you can free up, if not several gigabytes, then at least several hundred megabytes, which will already allow disk "C" to "breathe" freely. And 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 they end up in the Trash first. A folder called "Recycle Bin" acts as a temporary storage for everything deleted. But in fact, it takes up space on our computers.

In order to permanently erase the data from the recycle bin, just right-click on it and select the corresponding item "Empty recycle bin".

Folder Downloads

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

Therefore, you need to open "Computer", 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 disk.

This is another step that is more typical for novice users and will help them free disk space in Windows 7 or another system. We move on.

Temp folders

Windows has two Temp folders that store various temporary files. For example, files that are needed when installing programs, drivers, windows update or antivirus and so on. But after they become useless, they can simply be deleted to free up some more space on the C drive.

Open "Computer - drive C - Windows folder". Find the Temp folder there and delete all the 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 through the Start search by entering the query% TEMP% and open 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 C drive 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 such a thing that is needed for those cases when the main random access memory to perform tasks in programs is not enough. Usually, the paging file takes a couple of gigabytes from the system drive "C" for its needs. It is necessary 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 settings", here click the first button "Parameters" and on the "Advanced" tab, through the "Change" button, specify the size of the paging file on some other disk. Thus, to free up space on the “C” drive, we get another couple of gigabytes more. But that's not all.

hibernation mode

If you want to save even more space on your system drive, then I recommend disabling hibernation, 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 the opening of the folder, the programs and data in them will be restored thanks to the Hibernation mode.

You can turn off hibernation mode by opening the command line through the search in Start.

And having registered the command: "powercfg.exe -h off" - to disable the hibernation mode. Click " Enter ».

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

System Restore

Another way free up space on the C drive- delete restore checkpoints, as they also take up a certain number 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 this situation happens, you can first restore your PC using a checkpoint. I recommend leaving one last dot and deleting the rest.

CCleaner

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

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

And the last.

BONUS

As a last resort, if you are catastrophically, chronically and constantly not enough disk space, then you can increase it at the expense of another disk.

Source

Hello dear friends! Now I will talk about a problem that probably everyone has met. It is when drive C is full, and I will tell you what to do in such cases, and what can be removed without prejudice to Windows work. I have been asked many times what can be removed 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, it is on this disk that in 99% of cases the Windows operating system is installed and it does not matter whether it is Windows 7 or Windows XP. During the Windows installation process, we break HDD into sections, about how to do this, I wrote in the article “” Be sure to split the hard drive, do not make one partition for the system and for storing files.

We create a partition and set its size. The waters here are the culmination, depending on how much memory you give to the local drive C, it depends on how long it will be completely filled. I used to always give about 30 GB to the C drive, but almost all computers come with hard drives of 500 GB - 1 TB. And to give under the system in such cases 30 GB for drive C, it seems silly to me. I now give under the system disk, 100 - 150 GB.

But as practice shows, these 150 GB are very quickly clogged and the C drive 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 C drive? Although I always say, they say, do not save any video, photos and other heavy files to the system partition. Yes, and it is desirable to install games on other sections, now there are games that take up several tens of GB.

What threatens the full C drive?

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

What can be deleted from the local drive C?

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 to harm it.

You know, I've seen a lot of computers where the drive on which Windows is installed is packed to capacity. Yes, there are many, this is almost on all computers with which I met. And you look for something that is not necessary to delete, and it seems that everything is needed :), familiar?

1. First of all, it is worth remembering that all the information that is stored on the desktop, in the folder “Documents”, “Pictures” and “Music”, 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 transfer them to a local drive D, well, or E. In most cases, these folders contain files that fill partition C. Also, I have 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 at the top “Uninstall 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 occupied by installed programs and games. Delete everything you don't need, I'm sure there is one. If there are very heavy games, then delete them and reinstall them, only choosing another partition for installation.

3. We remove garbage from the system. If Windows has not been reinstalled for a long time, then several GB, garbage and temporary files have probably not been collected 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 which you can free up quite a bit of memory on the local drive C. You can also turn it off, or transfer system restore 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.

Summing up everything written above, I want to say that it is possible to prevent the local C drive from completely filling up. And it is very simple to do this.

Are you copying or downloading a movie from the Internet? Do not be too lazy to choose to save disk D, E, or whatever you have there. You don't need to save it to your desktop. Install the game, change the installation location from drive C to another partition, this is a matter of a few seconds, but in the end it will help protect the system disk from reddening and ensure stable computer operation.

Also, when saving files to partition C, it is worth remembering that in case of problems with the operating system, you can lose all files. Because at Windows installation, section C is usually formatted. I think it will be interesting for you to read ““, it should come in handy.

And finally, do it again, this is 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 clean drive C from unnecessary files.

Checking the occupied space

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

Detailed data analysis on drive C

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

Perhaps with their help it will be possible to find old and unused movies, disc images or games, erasing them and saving extra space.

Moreover, it is unlikely that anyone will watch a tape lasting an hour and a half and a size of 1 gigabyte, and game programs, most likely, have long been outdated.

Deleting temporary files

Quite a useful utility for Windows "Disk Cleanup" removes only temporary files created without touching those that arose as a result of other programs.

At the same time, 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 CCleanerdownloaded 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

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

Disk Cleaner Utilities;
TuneUp Utilities software package;
Revo Uninstaller applications.

Additional cleaning methods

In cases where all of the above options did not help to add space on the system disk, it is worth using additional methods, among which are:

Increasing the size of the system partition at the expense of the others (in this case, the combined local disk must be on the same HDD).
There are a number of programs for this, although it is better to make a copy when using them. important information from connected sections;
Moving from drive C (including the desktop) folders with music and movies. 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 the computer.
You can do this manually or with the help of a special and free download 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 about 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 parameter to zero in additional options power supply (Start - Control Panel - Power Options).

Cleanup for Windows 10

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

Windows 10 introduced several additional utilities to get more space on the system drive by deleting unnecessary files and folders.

storage

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

Windows 10 storage settings

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

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

System disk space usage

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

Among them there is information from the system trash and boot folders, easily deleted directly from this menu.

Also, when viewing "Storage", you can see the size of each of the system files, including the page file, system restore and hibernation.

The last two are allowed to be deleted, although this can lead to data loss if there are system problems.

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 removed.

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

Hibernation file and OS file compression

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

According to the software manufacturer, its operation on a sufficiently powerful computer does not affect its performance at all.

In this case, the inclusion of the compression function by launching command line through "Start" and entering the command: compact /compactos:query sometimes allows you to free up to 2 GB.

The possibilities for compressing the hibernation file have also increased.

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

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

Moving apps

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 they are not always removed from the list of all applications.

And in context menu there is no delete option for them. Still, programs are relatively easy to uninstall using PowerShell commands.

Running PowerShell

Space Saving Features

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

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

In non-system partitions, files are more likely to be saved if, for example, you have to install a new Windows.

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

Therefore, it is advisable to change its location at the very beginning of the installation to a directory of 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 C drive from junk 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 storage compared to traditional "mechanical drive" drives. If you are chasing free space, those techniques that we describe below will come in handy and help you achieve what you want. First of all, we will talk about such tools and methods for cleaning a PC from garbage, such as deleting file copies, deep uninstalling programs, etc.

The Windows operating system contains built-in utilities that can solve most of the tasks of an ordinary user. And cleaning up the disk is one of those problems where it is not necessary to immediately run to install third-party applications.

To get started, follow the following instructions, it is quite possible that this will be quite enough:

Open File Explorer on the "Computer" tab (this is the one where all available drives are displayed).
Right-click on the section that you think needs cleaning. Select and click on "Property".
On the General tab, select Disk Cleanup. A new window will open. Alternative option may be searching for the Disk Cleanup utility via the start menu.
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 “scrub” system partitions. To do this, press the key with the two-color shield "Clear system files".
After cleaning, a new tab "Additional 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 “rollback of the system” occurs exactly to the moment when the last backup was made.

Important! In other words, remove such files with care - always leave at least one copy of a running system.

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

Method 2: Remove programs

Direct continuation of the previous section.

Step 1. On the "Advanced Features" tab, click on "Clear" 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, in front of you is a window with all the programs installed on your PC. First you need to form the alleged "hit list". To do this, click on the "Sort" icon in the right corner of the table, next to the question mark. Select sort by size.

Step 3 Determine for yourself what programs you can do without (often those that you see for the first time). Next, with a single left click, select the victim.

Step 4 Right above the list there is a "Delete" button, 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, upon successful completion, which will give you an information window with the appropriate content. Read the contents carefully and click OK again.

Congratulations, you have successfully used the standard Windows functionality!

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

Method 3: Using Third Party Applications

Step 1. System analysis. In order to determine what exactly is pulling your hard drive to the bottom, you can scan the systems to identify the heaviest file partitions. Here, a good solution would be the WinDirStat program, which quickly analyzed and told everything about the PC's memory.

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

Step 2 Removing temporary files. According to popular belief, the best program for quick cleaning of "heavy" partitions from hidden garbage is the creation of Piriform's CCleaner program.

You can download it from both official and third-party sites. In any case, the program is paid. However, there is a fairly solid free functionality. After downloading 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 for the removal algorithm.

Step 3 Removing duplicate files. Quite often, the computer 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's memory and display all duplicate files on the screen, which you can get rid of in the same place.

Thus, in order 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 exactly you consider the most convenient.