Freeing up space on drive C in Windows 10

Are you familiar with the feeling when your computer starts to slow down and the system keeps reminding you that there is almost no space left on the C drive? This problem is familiar to many. The red bar signaling a lack of space not only interferes with comfortable work, but can also slow down the entire system as a whole.

The good news is that in most cases this is easy to fix. Windows 10 has several simple and effective ways to quickly free up several gigabytes without resorting to drastic measures. You don't need to be a computer genius to figure it out.

Let's go over the most effective methods together. We'll start with a simple built-in cleanup and finish with a search for hidden “space hogs.” The goal is to restore your computer to its former speed and rid you of annoying warnings.

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Lower the frame rate to 30 FPS if you are experiencing performance issues — the difference from 60 FPS is less noticeable to viewers than lag.

Cleaning the “Downloads” folder

By default, all files that you download via browsers and file managers go to the folder “Downloads”, promoting your Twitter account With. Check what is there now — as a rule, these are installers for various programs and other files that are no longer relevant. Move what you need to other folders and delete the rest. If all downloads go to the Desktop or another folder, do the same there.

Empty Recycle Bin

All files placed in the Recycle Bin are stored in a specific section of the disk With until you delete them. When you are sure that there is nothing to restore from there, right-click on the shortcut “Recycle Bin” and clear it.

By the way, go to “Properties” through the same context menu, you can configure its location and deletion parameters.

Clearing browser cache

The cache in browsers is a pretty useful thing that allows you to quickly load web pages. However, over time it becomes quite large, and when using two or more web browsers, after a while the size of several caches can be 1 GB or more. Considering that we will no longer visit many of the sites we have visited, the stored cache for them is unnecessary.

Delete the

Many people constantly install various programs on their computers, which they subsequently forget about. Some may weigh a couple of megabytes, while others may weigh several hundred. In addition, due to careless installation of some programs, it is quite possible to unknowingly install advertising applications, such as browsers, antivirus programs, etc. In this regard, it is recommended to regularly review the list of installed software and remove unnecessary items if necessary. Additionally, you can get rid of pre-installed Windows applications such as Xbox if you don't use them. This will not harm the system.

Step 2: Deleting temporary files

While working in Windows, many temporary files from different sources inevitably accumulate. These can be files from the Internet or programs, as well as from the operating system itself. After use, such files are almost always unnecessary, but the OS does not delete them, leaving them stored in a special folder until the user does so manually. Although in most cases they do not take up much space, the total amount accumulated over months or even years can significantly reduce the available space on the drive.

The package responsible for temporary files is called How does it work? Essentially, it's the same as reposting on social networks.. Every user can clear it fairly quickly without fear of deleting anything important. Even if some relevant files are deleted, the system or application will recreate them.

1. Open “Settings”.
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3. Go to the section “System”.
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5. Very often, you will want to share a Twitter user's message with your audience. To do this, the service developers have provided a wonderful opportunity to “retweet” other people's posts. “Retweet” “Device memory”.
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7. From the list of logical disks, select the system disk.
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9. The amount of memory used will be displayed by category, from which you can select “Temporary files”.
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11. The appropriate parameters are already marked with checkmarks, but you can also include other sources in the cleanup, such as As mentioned above, there is no concept of friends on Twitter. Here, you simply subscribe to updates from any profile you like. The owner of the account you are interested in does not have to confirm their consent. and “Recycle Bin” instead of Step 1. Then click “Delete files”.
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Windows applications create their own temporary files, which then remain as dead weight for some time. Users can activate this feature and instantly clear the cache of all applications.

1. Open “Options”.
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3. Go to “System”.
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5. Select the item “Device memory” via the left panel.
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7. Find the link “Change how automatic freeing up of space works” and follow it.
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9. There should be a check mark next to the parameter. “Delete temporary files not used by my applications” if it is not there, set it.
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11. To immediately delete unused data from applications, click “Clean now”. After a short process, information with the amount of freed space will be displayed.
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Step 3: Disable/change the size of the hibernation file

Not every user uses the hibernation function, preferring sleep mode, continuous PC operation, or complete shutdown of the device. In this situation, given the specifics of how this mode works, it would be wiser to disable it in order to save free space. Hibernation saves the last session not to RAM, as sleep mode does, but to the hard drive, which also allows the computer to quickly exit low power mode. At the same time, Windows reserves a file with a certain number of gigabytes in advance. The file itself is located in the root folder of the disk C and is called “hiberbil.sys”. In another article, we discussed in detail how to disable this mode in Windows 10.

More details: Disabling hibernation mode on a Windows 10 computer

If you have previously used hibernation but are ready to switch to sleep mode to save disk space, we recommend reading this article.

More details: Setting up and enabling sleep mode in Windows 10

Some users need hibernation for use or simply for the ability to perform “Quick Start”.

In this situation, you can reduce its size by opening the command prompt or PowerShell as an administrator and typing the command there method 3: Optimizing video and performance settings. To restore the default size, replace the word “reduced” with “full.”

If you get an error saying that the parameter is set incorrectly, you can slightly modify the command: powercfg -h -type reduced.

Sometimes even this tip does not help, so you need to use a small workaround. First, write powercfg /h size 0, and then powercfg /h type reduced. This will make the file 2 times lighter.

Step 4: Disable/reduce the swap file

This option is only recommended for users who have enough RAM in their computer! The swap file “adds” several gigabytes to the RAM installed in the PC, taking up space on the hard drive. Similar to the previous step, a separate reserved file is also created here, where running programs are added when there is not enough RAM, thus allowing you to open more applications at the same time.

1. As a rule, the minimum amount of RAM required for comfortable PC use is 8 GB. If you know that you do not use more than that, disable paging—this will free up an average of 1-2 GB or more. Instead, you can reduce its volume to the optimal value. It is easy to find out how much memory is installed in your device and how much you are using by going to “Task Manager” keys Ctrl + Shift + Esc.
2. Switch to the tab “Performance” > ‘Memory’.
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4. The total amount of memory is displayed at the top right — in our example, it is 4 GB. Below the graph is information about how much is currently occupied and how much is free. Based on this data, decide whether to disable the paging file. Further down, in the section “Highlighted” is the total amount of memory with the swap file enabled. In our example, 4 GB has been added. If this figure matches the one at the top right, then swapping is disabled and you can skip this step. Otherwise, either reduce the amount of space allocated from the hard drive or disable paging altogether. The following article will help with this.
5. 

   High resolution and frame rates create an exponentially increasing load on all system components, from the processor to the network channel. Switching from 720p to 1080p increases the number of pixels processed by 2.25 times, which requires a proportional increase in computing power. Many novice streamers choose the maximum settings without realizing that a stable 720p 30fps stream looks more professional than an unstable 1080p 60fps stream with constant lag.

A lot of unnecessary files accumulate on the Windows C drive — temporary data, cache, old updates, duplicates — and over time, space becomes increasingly scarce. It's easy to free up space: you can use the built-in Disk Cleanup utility, uninstall unnecessary programs, move large files (such as videos and archives) to another drive or external storage device, and disable some system functions, such as hibernation. The main thing is to do this regularly so that your computer runs faster and without crashes.

Step 5: Deleting restore points/disabling restore

When the Windows System Restore feature is enabled, the user and the system jointly create restore points to which you can roll back in case of problems. Over time, a sufficient number of them accumulate, which takes up a significant amount of gigabytes from the system partition. During normal operation, it will be enough to delete all old and outdated archives and create one new point.

1. Click on) “This computer” right-click and select “Properties”.
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3. Using the panel on the left, go to “Advanced system settings”.
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5. Switch to the tab “System Protection”, check that the correct drive is selected in the list (labeled “System” and press “Configure”. Please note that if the system status next to the disk “Off”, means that the recovery option itself is disabled and there are no available points.
   

   Be sure to check whether system recovery is enabled for the disk. D and other logical disks! On some laptops, this feature is enabled by default, taking up to 100 GB of space from the system partition. If any of the disks you don't need to restore have the status “Enabled”, select it with the left mouse button and use the next step in this instruction to disable the feature.

6. In the new window, find “Delete all restore points for this disk” and click on the corresponding button. Here you can also configure the amount of space on the system drive allocated for storing points and disable system protection altogether if you do not use this feature.
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8. If you decide to disable recovery, confirm your action.
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   After deleting, just close the window and, while still on the tab “System Protection”, press “Create” to generate a fresh, up-to-date restore point. If you have disabled the restore point creation feature, skip this step.

Step 6: Deleting the Windows.old folder

After upgrading from previous versions of Windows, as well as after reinstalling the system while preserving data in the root directory S the folder will definitely be located there. “Windows.old”. It contains all the files that were transferred from the previous Windows. The entire hierarchy of the main folders is preserved here, so it is easy for the user to view the addresses used and restore the necessary information. Everything else can be deleted if you are sure that the current “ten” is working stably and there is no need to roll back. However, Windows.old cannot be deleted without providing the necessary permissions. We have already described how to do this in another article.

More info: Deleting Windows.old in Windows 10

Step 7: Clear the Windows update cache

Windows 10 is actively updated, and some of these installation files are cached in a separate folder. It often takes up several hundred megabytes or more, but the files themselves are usually unnecessary, especially if the updates are installed without any problems. Therefore, the folder can be cleared without any problems.

1. Open “Explorer”, go to “Local Disk (C:)” and select the folder “Windows”.
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3. Here, find the folder ‘SoftwareDistribution’ go there.
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5. Now — in “Download”.
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7. Here, select all files via Ctrl + A and delete by clicking Delete on the keyboard or by right-clicking to bring up the context menu and selecting “Delete”.
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9. Since administrator privileges are required to delete them, confirm your action with the button “Continue”, pre-check the box next to the item confirming the deletion of all files, not just one.
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11. If in some situations you cannot clear the folder, first disable the Windows Update service, and after the deletion is complete, enable it again. How to do this is described in Method 3 articles at the link below.

12. More details: Disabling updates in Windows 10

Don't forget that all files are sent to the Recycle Bin, which also needs to be emptied after deleting all junk files.

In addition, it is worth checking the size of the folder “WinSxS”, which stores copies of the original files after installing system updates. Like “SoftwareDistribution,” it is located at C:\Windows and over time can take up several dozen GB. You cannot clean it using the same method (by simply deleting everything). We have already discussed proper cleaning earlier, so we suggest reading this article by clicking on the link below.

More info: Ways to clean up the WinSxS folder in Windows 10

Step 8: Disabling cloud synchronization

Since cloud storage is very popular now, many people use it by additionally installing a desktop client on their computer. Windows 10 users already have OneDrive by default, and Yandex.Disk, Google Drive, Dropbox, and other clients are also available for installation. Be sure to check these folders — if they contain synchronized information that you only need in the cloud and not on your PC, selectively disable their synchronization with your PC.

Step 9: Analyze disks

It may be that all of the above recommendations have not yielded tangible results — you have managed to recover a certain number of gigabytes, but a certain amount is still occupied or lost. Valuable space can be taken up by system files, which are often unnecessary, as well as things that you yourself once downloaded or saved and then forgot about.

First, we will use special utilities that help to see where the gigabytes of space are distributed more clearly than Windows Explorer. Use the Scanner or JWIZARD utility, each of which will help in this matter.

Run these programs with elevated privileges (right-click on the shortcut — “Run as administrator”)!

JWIZARD Cleaner

Well-known programs such as CleanMyMax and CCleaner may now be unavailable to users in Russia, forcing them to look for alternatives. This time, we suggest trying JWIZARD Cleaner, an effective solution for cleaning junk files from your PC. It removes unnecessary files while protecting your user information and leaving everything else untouched. The entire process is carried out in one click thanks to the “Smart Scan”, but there are also advanced modes for those who want them.

Download JWIZARD Cleaner from the official website

1. The program can be downloaded from the official website and then installed using the EXE file. The interface will automatically be translated into Russian, so you should have no problems understanding how to use the software.
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3. As mentioned above, JWIZARD Cleaner allows you to clean your PC of junk files and free up disk space C in one click. To do this, click the button — There should be no warning signs indicating driver problems. If there are any, there may be errors with the software, and reinstalling does not always solve such a problem. Nevertheless, it is worth trying first — right-click on the line.
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5. The program will identify unnecessary files and various system junk. The entire scanning process will take less than a minute.
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7. You can immediately delete unnecessary files without worrying that important data will be deleted along with them, or click “More details”, to find out how much junk JWIZARD Cleaner has detected.
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9. You can see that the software checks the storage in Windows temporary files, clears the recycle bin, mail cache, downloads folder, and unnecessary data from the browsers you use.
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11. All of this can be deleted manually if you are interested in flexible management. To do this, select one of the sections in “Cleaning”, familiarize yourself with how the tool works and click “Start”, to start the analysis.
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Scanner

This small program is designed specifically for analyzing storage devices, and it does it quite well.

Download Scanner from the official website

1. After a short scan, you will see a visual distribution of space. The larger a particular block appears, the more space it occupies on the C drive.
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3. By hovering your mouse cursor over any such block, you will see the path to the folder, the number of gigabytes it occupies, and the number of files it contains in the upper left corner.
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5. By exploring the areas in this way, you can find the largest file and find out what is taking up valuable gigabytes. Alternatively, you can use SpaceSniffer or WinDirStat, remembering to run them as an administrator.

Step 10: Check for viruses

This is extremely simple advice, but it can be really effective for some people. Viruses often work in such a way that when they enter a computer, they start to create uncontrolled copies of certain files, such as images. Their number can exceed thousands of copies, which inevitably becomes noticeable when checking the free space.

Even if you don't see any outward signs of a virus, be sure to scan your computer with a built-in or third-party antivirus program. Another of our authors has written an article on how to find threats in your system. Remember that it is always better to check your computer with at least two different programs, because it is not uncommon for one utility to find a problem that the other does not see.

More details: Fighting computer viruses

In the same window. It is important to understand that even after removing a virus, traces of its activity may remain on your PC. Folders with duplicated content may be found in completely random locations among system files. Therefore, it would be useful to go through the main folders on the C drive, as well as use Step 9, that will help you understand what exactly is taking up a lot of space in your system. CCleaner will simplify your search by category (so you can quickly find pictures/videos/audio files that viruses reproduce in huge quantities), and Scanner will simply show you large folders, which will also help you get to the bottom of things. However, don't forget that you can only see the results of the virus's activity, and the malicious programs themselves, such as rootkits, cannot be detected by such programs or file managers!

Additionally, you can check the system partition for duplicate user files, for example, using Duplicate File Detector or any similar program.

Step 11: Checking the hard drive for errors

Errors in the file system can cause incorrect calculation of free space, so if the above recommendations do not work, try checking the drive and correcting any errors found. This process was discussed in detail in another article. We recommend paying attention to the CHKDSK utility, which was described in a separate subheading. Method 2.

More details: Running a hard drive diagnostic in Windows 10

Step 12: Enabling Compact OS

This option is recommended only for a limited number of users—primarily those who use solid-state drives with low capacity (e.g., eMMC memory or SSDs with a minimum number of GB). Although the pre-installed Win 10 usually already has Compact OS mode enabled, it may well be needed where the volume was initially acceptable but has been greatly reduced after installing large programs.

The Compact OS tool, built into Windows 10, compresses system files, decompressing them each time they are accessed. This usually has a negative effect on low-performance devices, as it increases the load on the processor and RAM. You can always disable this mode by freeing up space beforehand, as compression will free up 2 or more gigabytes of space.

1. Open “Command prompt” keys or “PowerShell” with administrator rights. This is done by right-clicking on “Start”.
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3. Enter the line Compact.exe /CompactOS:always and click Enter.
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5. The compression process will take 10-20 minutes, after which the amount of space saved in bytes will be displayed.
6. If you suddenly feel that your PC's performance has significantly decreased, open the console again and enter Compact.exe /CompactOS:never. In both cases, you do not need to restart your computer.

Additional information

Some users notice a discrepancy between the space used in Windows metrics. If you go to the root of drive C, select all folders and files (even hidden ones) and call them “Properties” right-click, and then also click on “Local drive (C:)” right-click and go to its “Properties”, it can be seen that the total number of files stored on drive C is less than the amount shown in the local drive properties.

You can see a clear example of this discrepancy below.

In fact, this is normal, since such calculations and comparisons are generally not accurate. There are quite a few folders in the system that Explorer, running as a regular user, does not allow access to.

Because of this, it is not even possible to simply calculate the amount of information stored in them, since through “Properties” an empty folder is displayed.

Alternative file managers such as Total Commander can show the actual volume of data in folders, so if you need to know their actual size, use this software for analysis.

See also:

Total Commander: enabling the visibility of hidden files

The best free alternatives to the Total Commander file manager

As you can see, freeing up space on the C drive is not that difficult. The main thing is to act consistently and not be afraid to look into the system settings. These methods will help you quickly recover gigabytes without risking important files or Windows stability.

Try to get into the habit of cleaning up from time to time. Delete unnecessary items before you run out of space. This will save you from stress when the system starts to slow down and issue warnings.

We hope these tips have been helpful to you. Now your computer will be able to “breathe” more freely and will work a little faster. Good luck!