Blog

Don’t have hundreds of dollars to spend on a new hard drive? The Windows Disk Cleanup tool can free up hard drive space safely.

Every time the Windows machine downloads and installs an update for the operating system, it saves a backup of the current state of the machine. These backups can take up to hundreds of used hard drive space and quickly fill the storage room.  Fortunately, Windows comes with a utility called the Disk Cleanup tool. This tool is easy to use and lists all the files that are taking too much space on the hard drive. This tool can free up hard drive space and give the user hundreds of megabytes in extra storage space without spending money for a new one.

Starting Disk Cleanup

The Disk Cleanup tool is hidden in the “Accessories” section of the Windows Start menu. In this menu is a program area called “System Tools.” Within this section is the Disk Cleanup shortcut.  Click the icon and the first window that opens is a prompt asking for the drive the user wants to check. The user can select the default value (usually the C drive), or select another hard disk. Once the selection is made, it takes several minutes for Windows to search the drive to choose which files can be deleted to free up hard drive space.

Using Disk Cleanup to Free Up Hard Drive Space

The first window shows the user a list of files with the amount of space its taking.  The most expendable files are the temporary Internet files, so they are at the top and checked for removal. These files normally take up 10 to 20 megabytes in hard drive space. Scrolling down, the user can see other file options such as hibernation files (used by laptops), the recycle bin space and the hard drive usage for error dumps. All together, these files can add up to gigabytes. Click the file group to receive more information. Windows warns if deleting these files can have adverse effects.

The “More Options” Tab

Click the “More Options” tab and view the other cleanup selections. There are two options in this view: “Programs and Features” and “System Restore and Shadow Copies.” The first section opens the console that helps guide the user through removing applications that aren’t needed. Old games, beta software or programs that are never used can be removed to free up hard drive space.

The other option deletes the stored update backups. All Windows operating systems create backups before each installation. These backups take up hundreds of megabytes. The user should keep recent backups, but older ones from several months back can be safely removed to free up hard drive space. Click the “Cleanup” button on both of these options to delete these files.

The Disk Cleanup tool in Windows is a quick, easy way to remove files from the hard drive. Deleting these files will free up hard drive space and give the user room to store more files and install more programs.