It occurs. You’re working on a computer when your screen blinks. The blue screen (Stop Problem) appears with the notification that your computer encountered an error and must be restarted. These problems arise when your computer’s software, firmware, or drivers crash because of malfunctioning or mismatched hardware or software.
If you’re like most people, you want a computer that can keep up with your busy schedule. When your computer is clogged with obsolete files, you are unable to operate efficiently.
While a new computer or external drive may provide extra file storage space, there is a faster and less expensive approach to increase useful storage space. This option is known as windows disk clean up, and it is included with all Windows systems as a free tool for reclaiming hard disc space.
Windows Disk Clean Up – An Overview
Microsoft created disc clean up is a maintenance programme for your Windows operating system. The tool searches your hard drive for files you no longer use, such as temporary files, cached webpages, and rejected things that wind up in your system’s Recycle Bin. Unless you delete those files, they accumulate over time and take up a lot of space on your computer.
The software reveals the files that have been detected as well as the amount of storage space that each of them takes up on your hard disc. You determine which things to delete based on the significance of the files and the quantity of hard disc space that can be recovered. In Windows 10, go to the start menu and scroll down to Windows Administrative Tools, then select the disc clean up button.
Windows also has the Quick Clean tool, which allows you to remove unwanted temporary files securely and rapidly from your Windows desktop. It also removes garbage files that the Disk Clean up Utility does not.
Windows Disk Clean Up: Tips & Tricks
1. Remove Programs
Applications and games consume the majority of disc clean up for many computer users. If you discover that you no longer need particular apps, you can uninstall and delete them from your computer.
Tip: Again, Windows gives us the opportunity to effortlessly remove any undesirable apps from our computers.
2. Get Rid of Duplicate Files
It’s probable that you’ve acquired duplicate files over time that are no longer required for your computer to function properly. Unfortunately, Windows does not give an easy mechanism to detect and remove these identical files, necessitating the use of third-party applications.
There are other apps for removing duplicate files. These apps have an easy-to-use interface and quickly identify and eliminate duplicates. These applications scan your computer for files with identical information, even if the files have different names, using a powerful search algorithm. Also, it can detect and eliminate duplicate documents, photographs, and music from your computer, freeing up loads of space for the stuff you truly want.
The best part is these applications may automatically pick duplicate files for removal based on your preferences, or you can manually choose specific files. The software will move your duplicate files to the Recycle Bin or Trash, so you may restore the deleted files to their original place if you change your mind.
3. Upgrade to a Solid-State Drive (SSD)
The hard drive in your computer serves as its long-term memory, storing Windows, your applications, and all of your personal information. Most PCs still have a mechanical hard disc drive (HDD), which, unlike your CPU and RAM, is excruciatingly sluggish.
Get an SSD if you can (solid-state drive). SSDs are quicker than HDDs and will dramatically boost your read and write rates because they have no moving components and rapid access to all data on them. Windows will load quicker, files will open faster, and applications will perform more smoothly.
SSD prices continue to decline, and even a low-cost drive may breathe fresh life into an aged PC. Upgrading to an SSD also reduces power usage and increases battery life.
4. Make Disk Clean Up
Windows has a number of useful tools for organising your computer’s storage. The issue is that not everyone knows where to seek these features or what to look for.
One of these tools is Disk Clean up. It lets you erase data like temporary files, which can add up to GBs (gigabytes) of data over time.
5. Remove Temporary Documents
“Wait, we just used Windows Disk Clean up to clear temporary files,” you say. Yes, we removed temporary files, including websites that were saved on your hard drive for rapid access. Unfortunately, the Disk Clean up technique did not include data stored by third-party applications like Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. There might still be terabytes of cookies, internet history, and caches on the device.
You may erase this information using your browser or a third-party programme.
6. Empty the Trash
Some of the files we erased using the techniques outlined above may wind up in the Recycle Bin. This is a good precautionary approach because if you make a mistake and accidentally delete a file that you now want back, you can quickly recover the file from the Recycle Bin.
However, the files in your Recycle Bin continue to take up space on your computer. If you are sure that you want to delete the files in your Recycle Bin, you may select them and right-click to delete them, or just click ‘Empty the Recycle Bin’ to permanently delete all of the items.
7. Data should be Stored on External Storage or in the Cloud.
All of the preceding ways in this list illustrate how to delete or remove files from your computer that you may no longer require. But what about the data you want to save, such as important images, videos, and music? These media genres can take up a lot of storage space, but if you run out of space on your PC hard disc, you still have choices other than disk clean up!
Transferring data to external storage is a frequent approach for keeping information safe. Physical storage and cloud storage are the two options for storing your data apart from your primary computer.
Physical storage can take numerous forms and sizes, but the most prevalent are USB drives and external hard drives. When you transfer data from your PC hard drive to an external hard drive, you can remove the original files on your PC while keeping them secure in storage. Needless to say, this may free up a lot of storage space on your computer.
Cloud storage allows you to save files on remote servers and access them over the internet. There are several cloud service providers, with Apple iCloud and Microsoft OneDrive being only two examples. Most providers provide a certain amount of storage space for free, with the option to pay monthly for more storage space if necessary.
Also, keep in mind that cloud storage is not immune to duplicate data. Because many cloud services charge for additional storage space, it is critical to eliminate duplicate files to preserve important space and money.
8. Defragment your Computer’s Hard Drive.
When you add a new file to your computer, a certain section of your hard drive is designated to hold the file. However, if you keep saving and removing data, your drive will become ‘fragmented.’ This signifies that there are gaps in your hard drive where the following files would not fit, and hence they are left empty.
In addition to reducing the amount of useable free space on your hard drive, fragmentation reduces your computer’s capacity to store data in sequence, slowing it down.
Fortunately, Windows has a ‘Disk Defragmentation’ programme for disk clean up. Before we defrag, we may use this programme to determine which of our discs might benefit from defragmentation. This is quite helpful because defragging a huge disc full of data might take a long time.
To utilise this programme, go to your Windows icon or Start menu and start typing “defragment.” Select Disk Defragmenter from the search results. When you see the tool’s window, choose each disc and examine it to see what proportion of it is fragmented. Higher percentages indicate greater fragmentation.
Tip: Simply select “Defragment Drive” to defragment your disc.
Note:
- It is not recommended that you defragment your hard drive too frequently since the repeated writing and deleting of data will shorten the lifespan of your hard disc.
- It’s also worth noting that there’s considerable controversy about whether defragmenting SSDs (solid-state drives) is good or harmful to the disc. If you’re still not sure, you may read more on the debate at PC World.
9. Have a Sufficient RAM
RAM (Random Access Memory) is the hardware in your computer that controls how data is stored. RAM holds data or instructions that you regularly utilise, allowing for rapid read or write procedures to increase the overall performance of your computer experience.
Isn’t it fantastic? Right. However, if you do not have enough RAM, your computer will begin to save the excess information that should be kept in RAM on your hard drive instead. When your computer needs to read or write this data, the operation between the hard drive and computer is substantially slower than the RAM computer.
For these reasons, ensure sure you have adequate RAM for the tasks you typically perform on your computer. It is worth noting that the common user, whose agenda may include text editing and online browsing, will not require as much RAM as a professional.
It’s worth noting that the usual user, whose agenda may include text editing and web browsing, will not require as much RAM as someone who routinely uses numerous programmes at once, such as a picture or video editing and rendering tools.
Tip: Go to Machine Properties to find out how much RAM is presently installed in your computer.
10. Improve your GPU
Are you a video gamer, designer, or editor? If this is the case, RAM, hard drives, and even your CPU aren’t your primary concerns. Your graphics card is responsible for video editing and gaming. If Grand Theft Auto 5 or one of your other games isn’t running smoothly, it’s probable that your graphics card is to blame.
The GPU (graphics processing unit) in laptops is normally soldered to the mainboard and cannot be updated. Desktop PCs, on the other hand, may be updated with new GPUs.
If you want to update your GPU, market giants NVIDIA and AMD offer a variety of possibilities. However, because Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency fans require powerful GPUs when creating crypto mining PCs, many popular GPUs are either sold out or extremely costly.
Windows 10 Is Now Cleaner Than Ever!
That’s all there is to do disk clean up for your viable PC. You now understand the major steps of disk clean up for large and unnecessary files in Windows 10. These methods should be sufficient to free up a significant amount of space on your computer and refresh its appearance. If you keep up with them on a regular basis, you shouldn’t have to worry about low disc space notifications or periodic disk clean up any longer.
Just be careful not to overdo it and commit frequent Windows maintenance blunders while disk clean up.