Windows has a built-in tool to facilitate cleaning out the drives. It can reduce several unnecessary files such as temporary files or system files. It can empty the Recycle Bin or remove other items that you might not need. If you clean up updates then it also helps reduce the size of the component store. The possibility to clean up system files might be a feature you haven’t used before. Removing large update files can recover lots of disk space. Who doesn’t want extra disk space? You can actually use the disk space you’ve payed for instead of having it hijacked by your operating system. Free disk space is also necessary for the operating system to run smoothly. So you shouldn’t fill the hard drive completely anyway. Again we lose out on the space we payed for. Here’s how to use the built-in Disk Cleanup tool.

Disk Cleanup

Press the Windows key to open the start menu. Type “cleanmgr”. Click on “cleanmgr” and Disk Cleanup will open.

Select the drive you wish to clean. Usually Windows is installed on the C: drive. Select it and click the OK button.

Disk Cleanup will open with the options for drive C:. Click the Clean up system files button. The shield on the button means that you’ll need administrator privileges to run this feature. You may get prompted for the password to grant permission.

Once again, select the drive you wish to clean. We still want to clean the C: drive. Select it and click the OK button.

Now there are more options in the “Files to delete:” list. Select everything, unless you have a good reason not to. Selecting the type of file will display a description below it. This can help you decide what to keep or remove. I never have a reason to keep any of the files so I always select everything. Then click the OK button at the bottom.

Disk Cleanup will ask for confirmation. Click the Delete Files button to confirm. Disk Cleanup will start the cleaning process. If you haven’t run it before or it has been a while since it ran last, this could take a moment to complete.

Once the cleaning process is complete, the program will automatically close. All done.