Disk space disappearing is a common scenario for most computer users, and you need to clean up your disk space from time to time. Most of us use the built-in Disk Cleanup tool or a free junk file cleaner to get the job done. Windows 11/10 users have another option, and that is via Windows Settings.
Wipe hard drive using Windows 11/10 settings
Windows offers a built-in solution that can occasionally free up occupied space. Even if you don’t want to clean up, you can clearly understand what is taking up space on the system drive.
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Use keyboard shortcut Win + I to open Settings of Windows. Then select System then click Storage. The next section will reveal the details of C drive or system drive.
Windows 10 will first display a list of all connected storages, and you need to click on them to see a detailed view.
To manually clear space or find out what’s taking up storage, click on the drive and Windows will reveal a categorized view. You can see space occupied by applications, reserved system, other people, mail, documents, temporary files, etc.
Clicking on any item will open another panel where you will see a button that allows you to manage that item and the disk space it takes up. This article shows in more detail how to manage disk space and storage using Windows 11/10 settings.
To delete temporary junk files, scroll down to the Temporary Files option and click on the opportunity. The following panel will open.
The options available for deleting four different types of temporary files will be listed. Select Delete Files to clean up unwanted files. Depending on what is available for deletion, you will see the following options to clean up four categories of files from your disk drive:
- Temporary files
- Downloads folder
- empty recycling bin
- A previous version of Windows
- Windows Update Cleanup
- System error memory dump files
- Delivery Optimization Files
- Windows upgrade log files
- Antivirus Microsoft Defender
- Vignettes
- Temporary Internet Files
- Temporary files
- System error minidump files
- Windows Error Reporting and Feedback Diagnostics
- Cache de shaders DirectX
- Windows temporary installation files.
Please note that the file cleanup option will not appear on your computer screen if there is no previous version of Windows on your system. Select the files you want to delete, then press the Delete files bouton.
What is the Cleaning Recommendations feature?
If you’re having trouble figuring out what to remove, cleaning recommendations can help. Available in the Storage section, it will recommend folders you can empty, large or unused files, files synced to the cloud, unused apps you barely used. Make your selection, then the file and application will be deleted.
What is StorageSense?
This feature allows you to automatically delete files from predefined folders that Windows thinks can be emptied. Meaning of storage only triggers when disk space is low. It empties the trash, downloads the folder and OneDrive. All of this can be configured under Settings > Storage Sense.
In Windows 10 you will see your drives listed with the disk space that was used from the start, Windows 11 is different. You need to expand the Advanced storage settings panel and then click on Storage used on other drives. Select the drive you want to know more details like the nature of files stored and the disk space they consume.
Hope the post was easy to follow, and now you know that Windows offers a built-in solution that can help you recover storage space occupied by temporary files and unused apps.
