The disk is not cleaned. Additional cleaning methods. Disk cleanup using standard Windows utility

Good afternoon, dear readers of my site. I haven’t written for a long time - I didn’t have time, because... changed jobs and took a small part in the construction of Olympic facilities in Sochi. In general, there was no time for the site, but more on that another time. Today we will discuss how to clean up drive C, in other words, how to properly free up space on it, because this is not simple, but systemic disk. As a rule, such issues do not arise when cleaning other disks - you simply delete unnecessary files that you yourself once downloaded. The volume of the system disk increases not only from the programs you install, but also from various files that the system itself and programs constantly save on drive C. Over time, such files become more and more numerous and this does not have the best effect on the performance of your computer - noticeably. It is recommended to leave at least 12% of free space on a regular hard drive and no less. It is better not to let this happen and periodically clean up the system disk. Before cleaning, just in case, create a system restore point.

How to clean up the C drive using Windows7.

To clean the system or any disk in Windows 7, there is a built-in utility that can be called in the Disk Properties window:

Another way is to press the Win+R combination and in the window that opens, insert the cleanmgr command:

Click OK and select the desired drive. In our case, this is drive C. After scanning the disk, a window will appear for selecting unnecessary files to be deleted and the amount of freed up disk space.

In my case, this is 3 GB, and most of it is taken up by unnecessary system updates. Next, click OK and get rid of the gigabytes unnecessary to the system.

Speaking of updates, update files are saved in the winsxs folder, which over time grows to a very impressive size. For example, for me it took up 12.6 GB, which was 1/3 of the volume of files located on drive C:

Attention!!! You absolutely cannot delete files from this folder manually! One more nuance - to effectively clean this folder using Windows7, you must have the update installed. It was after its installation that the estimate of cleaned updates increased to 2GB:

On the Advanced tab of the system Disk Cleanup tool, you can proceed to remove unnecessary programs and system restore points:

Click Clean in the Programs and Features section and go to the installed programs window. To see the largest ones, click on the black triangle in the Size column and check the required boxes:

Carefully study the list that opens, do you use all the programs? As a rule, in this list, in addition to the programs you are familiar with, there will be a large list of applications and system components. If you find an unfamiliar program, then before deleting it, look for information about it on the Internet and (let me remind you again) be sure to create a system restore point. I usually delete all programs that I haven't used for more than a month. Which filter you use - decide for yourself

Restore points can also be deleted, but in my opinion it is better not to do this. The system itself will warn you about this:

The last point will, of course, remain, but decide for yourself whether you need the rest.

How to clean up C drive manually.

First of all, check your Desktop, because it is part of the system disk. Many people have the habit of saving documents, photos or even movies on the Desktop. This is understandable - it’s easier to find the file you need later, but you still shouldn’t do that. It’s better not to store anything on the Desktop except shortcuts to frequently used folders and shortcuts. If you have the opposite situation, then transfer all unnecessary files to drive D. Ideally, the volume of the Desktop is measured in kilobytes and will be like this:

Next, check the system folders My Documents, My Videos, My Pictures, etc. on drive C, even if you didn’t save anything in them, various programs that by default save their files in these folders could have done this without your knowledge. Sometimes they grow to quite decent sizes, especially if you often use video editors or play computer games. Analyze the files in these folders; as a rule, more than half of them can be safely deleted. You can clear the system disk of such files by transferring data from system folders to drive D, but this cannot be done using the usual Cut-Paste method. But there is a way out: you need to change the location in the properties of each folder:

You will learn more about this in this. In the same way, you can move the Downloads folder, into which most Internet browsers, as well as downloading programs (Download master, µTorrent), save files from the Internet by default.

Cleaning the system disk with third-party programs.

There are a sufficient number of special programs for cleaning the C drive, the most famous are free utilities and WinDirStat. But I use another program, namely Auslogics BoostSpeed, for the reason that it is universal and has many tools, including for working with disks:

The Disk Browse tool estimates the space on your hard drive, including the system drive, and determines which files and folders take up the most space:

The result of this assessment may surprise you. The list of folders found may contain long-forgotten, deeply hidden or hidden files. Again, if you are not sure, then do not delete or use a restore point.

The Disk Cleanup tool is similar to the built-in system cleanup described above, but goes deeper:

And as a result, it finds a larger volume of useless files on the system disk, although the comparison is a little incorrect, I’ll still give it:

But the comparison is incorrect because Disk Cieaner has a much larger selection of scanned folders. Also, the list of these folders in these programs is slightly different, so it is better to use them in addition to each other.

Auslogics BoostSpeed also has a built-in tool for finding and removing duplicate files and folders, which can also help free up drive C:

I think everything is clear here: select the disks to scan, select the file type and size, click Search.

Additional ways to free up the C drive.

If all of the above methods did not lead to the desired result and there is still not enough space on the C drive, then the first thing you can do is disable hibernation (if you do not use it) and delete the hiberfil.sys file, which has a size equal to the installed RAM ( i.e. the more memory installed, the larger this file). The second is to increase the size of the system disk. Both of these methods are used quite rarely and deserve a separate note.

That’s all on the issue of cleaning drive C, if you have any questions, ask in the comments

Many people are faced with the problem of not having enough free space on the system local drive C:\, despite the fact that the amount of memory in modern disks is quite large. This leads to the question, why does it fill to a critical state if I install and record almost nothing. Let's try to understand this issue right now.

To begin with, I would like to highlight a couple of points about the correct use of the local drive C:\.

To begin with, it must be separated from the rest of the hard disk memory, that is, you need to create a separate partition for it to store the operating system and software, but everything else should be stored on another local disk, so as not to clog its memory with files that may be located in other places. The Acronis Disk program will help you divide your disk into partitions. You can also split the disk when installing (reinstalling) windows, this will be the best option.
It would be nice to move" Desktop"to another local drive, especially for happy owners of SSD drives. Thus, all existing files on the desktop will not clutter up the memory of the local drive C. Read how to do this in the article How to transfer the desktop to another drive. You can transfer it in the same way folders" downloads" And " My documents".

If you see a red stripe on the local disk on your computer, then it’s time to clean it of accumulated garbage. Of course, it’s better not to let things get to this point, as problems with system performance may arise. The red bar of the critical memory state of the local drive C:\ looks annoying, so let's figure out how to get rid of unnecessary and unnecessary files and clean up the C:\ drive from them.

How to clean drive C from unnecessary files in Windows 10

The Windows 10 operating system was released relatively recently and of course it has its own unique tools for dealing with system disk blockages. Of course, there are standard methods that are suitable for all systems, but we will learn about them in the article below. In the meantime, let's look at the issue of cleaning drive C from unnecessary files using Windows 10 tools; to do this, go to the settings tab, through the start menu.

In the parameters window that opens, go to the " tab WITHsystem".

In the left column select " storage", after which a list of all local drives on our computer will appear, click on C:\.

In the window we can see sorted information about the memory usage of our disk. Here I have highlighted three points that I can analyze and decide which unnecessary files can be cleaned.

Other- at this point you can see which files located in the explorer of the local drive C:\ occupy a significant amount of memory.
Applications and games- here you can see which installed programs and games take up a large amount of memory and remove them accordingly.
Temporary files- files created by applications that are temporarily stored on our computer.

When you go to " Other"We see how much memory the folders on the disk occupy. After analyzing them, you can decide which ones you should delete and which ones you shouldn’t. To go to a specific folder, just click on it.

In the Apps and Games section, first sort the list by size to see which files are taking up a lot of space on your disk. And if you find unnecessary ones, then get rid of them by clicking on the delete button.

In the temporary files section, there are three items: temporary files, download folder and emptying the trash. Well, here I think we can really get rid of unnecessary garbage by checking the boxes next to the items that need to be cleared and clicking the delete button. Before deleting files in download folder I advise you to check it for the necessary information.

Now let's try to clear the disk of unnecessary files through its property. To do this, go to the properties of the C:\ drive, where in the " are common"Press the button disk cleanup. (This method also works on other operating systems.)

In the window that opens, we see a list of files that can be cleaned; in fact, you can delete all of them, but perhaps some of these are what you need. Therefore, look at the description for each and decide whether you need to leave something or not. Then select the unnecessary ones and press the button " clean system files."

After clicking the button, the program will begin to estimate the amount of space that you can free up on your disk.

Afterwards, look again to see if everything is selected for cleaning and click OK.

You can also go to the tab that appears " additionally", where it became possible to clear created recovery checkpoints and select unused programs and components for removal.

After clicking OK, in the window that appears, click delete files. The C:\ drive will begin cleaning up unnecessary files.

If you clicked the Clean button in the Programs and Features item, then in the window that opens you can select programs you are not using and clear the C:\ drive of them.

Clear drive C of temporary files and cache using CCleaner

CCleaner is one of the most popular programs for getting rid of unnecessary files. With its help, you can easily clean drive C from accumulated cache in installed browsers, temporary system files, cookies, etc. To download, go to ccleaner4you.ru.

After the standard installation, run the program and in the tab cleaning We see which programs will be affected. You can also decide for yourself what should be deleted by simply checking the box. Well, I usually leave everything as it is and press the " Aanalysis".

The program analyzes files that can be cleaned and displays a complete list showing the occupied disk space. Now press the button " ABOUTcleaning".

In the warning message window, click OK. The deletion process will begin, thereby freeing up a decent amount of memory from accumulated garbage.

Another program that I would like to introduce you to is called WinDirStat it determines how much memory a particular file on your computer occupies. With it you can easily and quickly determine the size of any file located on your disk. You can download the program from the official website at windirstat.net. After installation and launch, check the box individual disks, where we select the desired disk and click OK.

An analysis will begin to determine the occupied space for each file.

Then you can see which files are too heavy and if you don’t need them, delete them through Explorer. This displays a general list of volume extensions.

That's probably all, I hope the answer to the question how to clean drive C from unnecessary files was quite developed.

ABOUTGive your opinion about this article, and of course, ask your questions if something suddenly goes wrong for you.

Thank you for your attention!

The speed of your PC can be significantly slowed down by the growing list of files that are stored on your hard drive. Especially if it's the same drive that contains your Windows operating system.

Of course, modern drives may not suffer the same performance penalty as older, lower-bandwidth models. Regardless, it's a good idea to keep up with the unnecessary file buildup on all of your PC's drives.

How to Use Disk Cleanup to Remove Unneeded Files

Using the disk cleaning instructions and diagrams below, you will learn how to effectively remove unnecessary files from your computer. If you have multiple drives, simply repeat the steps for each one. Note that the Windows installation drive will usually have more folders to delete unless you are an advanced user and have moved them to another drive.

Clearing open partitions

Drive selection

Select the drive or partition you want to clean. Drive (C🙂) is usually your main drive that contains the Windows operating system and your program files. Once your selection is made, simply click OK. A window will appear showing that Disk Cleanup is currently scanning your drive.

Select files to delete

Finally the actual Disk Cleanup panel appears. Look at the Files to Delete box (highlighted in red), if you click on each one, a description will be shown below it. More detailed descriptions for each category. See the section below to see which files you should select for deletion. In some categories (not all), you can click the "View Files" button to go to a folder and view each individual file.

Permanently deleting files

After checking the categories you want to delete, left click on the OK button. You will be prompted to enter a field asking, “Are you sure you want to permanently delete these files?” If you want to continue, left-click on the "Delete Files" button. A progress window will open and after deleting the files you selected, Disk Cleanup will close automatically. Congratulations, your Disk Drive has just been cleaned and is now optimized for better performance.

Which files should I choose to delete?

Because each user's needs will be different, there are no absolutes in the suggestions we can make here. We can provide information to help you decide which files to delete, but ultimately you will have to make the final decision yourself.
Downloaded program files. When you surf the Internet, websites typically place Java and ActiveX data on your disk. This may slow down your next visit to these sites if you delete them. We prefer to clear it out since it has data from websites we'll probably never visit again on our hard drive. Additionally, ActiveX and Java may pose a security risk due to the nature of the files and the way they are used.
Temporary Internet files. Every web page you visit is listed here for easy retrieval on subsequent visits. You may notice that when you go to a web page that takes a long time, when you click the back button, it loads instantly. This is the result of your browser retrieving the saved page directly from your hard drive. Deleting temporary Internet files will NOT delete your saved passwords and login information.
Offline web pages. If you save your web pages for offline viewing, they are saved in this folder. If you delete them, you will need to visit the site to sync them again.
Basket. Everything is clear here without comment.
Service Pack Backup Files - If you have completed a major Windows Update update, these are the old files that were saved so you can uninstall the Service Pack.
Temporary files - used to store temporary data while the program is running. The data is then deleted when the program is closed. Sometimes the remaining data will still be used by the program after restarting.
Miniatures. When you open a folder, such as the Pictures folder, you'll see small thumbnails for each image. They are stored here for immediate download when the folder is opened. If you delete them, the next time you open the folder they will be re-created on the fly, slowing down the display speed as if it were the first time.

Video: MAXIMUM CLEANING of drive C from JUNK, removing extra 20-50 gig

Every PC user has at least once encountered the problem of low disk space. When such a situation occurs, a person begins to frantically remember what information he will no longer need and what can be deleted in order to make the next update or install the necessary program. Famous tweakers and cleaners may be able to help you, but they often do not work very correctly.

In this article you will learn about Windows 7 (64-bit system).

Removing junk using Disk Cleanup

How to completely clear drive C (Windows 7) so as not to disrupt the operation of the disk" - this is one of the safest programs among all the tools that help get rid of computer junk. With its help you can clean your hard drive, but it is almost impossible to delete something important , as a warning signal will be received. Other utilities offer quick cleaning, but cannot offer any security guarantees.

To understand how to clear drive C (Windows 7) of unnecessary files using the Disk Cleanup function, you need to understand what this function is for. With its help, the number of files that have not been used for a long time, but are located on the hard drive, is reduced. Such measures lead to increased computer efficiency. All temporary and unused system files will be deleted and the Recycle Bin will be emptied.

You need to start working by launching the program. To do this, go to “Start”, select “All Programs”, go to “Accessories”, “System Tools”, and then click “Disk Cleanup”. In the "Disk Cleanup Options" window that opens, you should select what you want to do: clean up personal files or all files that are on the device. If you are prompted for a password, you must enter it.

In the window you need to go to “Select disk” and determine which disk will be cleaned. After that, click "OK" and check the boxes next to the selected files. This action must be taken responsibly so as not to delete important files. After this, you must confirm the cleaning.

The Advanced tab includes two more methods that allow you to free up space on your hard drive. But it is only available if the option to delete files for all device users is selected.

The next step leading to knowledge of how to clean up drive C (Windows 7) is opening the “Programs and Features” item, which is located in the Control Panel. In it you can delete everything that is not used. In the "Size" column you can see how much disk space each program takes up.

With System Restore, you can use restore points to go back to an earlier state to restore your system files. If your computer is functioning properly, you can delete previous revert points to save disk space.

Removing "garbage" manually

To know how to properly clear drive C (Windows 7) of unnecessary files manually, you need to have information about where the temporary folders are located. They can be found at the following addresses: "%windir%\Temp" or "%ProgramData%\TEMP". For everyone using the device, it is "%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Temp".

Files located in these folders can be deleted without problems. If you try to uninstall an important and necessary program, Windows will not allow you to do so.

Windows Search Services and file reduction

Cleaning up drive C (Windows 7) can be done using the Windows Search Service; it caches all information about files on hard drives and transfers it to the database, which is located in the folder "%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows" \" and is called "Windows.edb".

The thing is that if the amount of data on hard drives increases, then the database file also increases. It can be several GB. Those users who do not use hard drive search very often can free up space using the following method, which will not only reduce the file, but also be able to monitor its size.

You need to enable "services.msc" and set "Window Search" to disabled. Then you should run it again. In the "Indexing Options" you need to click "Change" and select the appropriate mode, and then confirm all actions.

Working with file size

How to clean up drive C (Windows 7) and free up space on it? This can be done by reducing the volume and relocating it to another disk. The optimal sizes depend on the features of your device.

Cleaning the installation

Most updates that are installed on a computer tend to leave installation programs in a separate folder. This leads to its size increasing significantly. You should not completely delete these files; such a measure may lead to incorrect operation of the device. But if free space is urgently needed, then removing them will be the way out. In the future, you should use software distribution kits or remove applications.

Antivirus software

It is better to explain clearly using the example of the popular antivirus "ESET NOD32". When it finds infected files, it sends them to the “Quarantine” folder. Its location may vary, so you need to look at your specific computer.

If there are a huge number of such files, the folder size will increase. You can solve this situation by clearing the "Quarantine" folder.

Disabling sleep mode

There is a file "hiberfil.sys" on the system disk, which always takes up space. Depending on the configuration of your computer, it can reach different sizes. If you don't need hibernation, you can always turn it off. But you need to do this in sleep mode.

To do this, you must log into your computer using administrator rights. On the control panel you need to select "Go to sleep mode". You must click to create a shortcut. In the field that opens, enter "powercfg -h off". Then confirm your actions. Next, you should run the shortcut as an administrator and agree to the actions in the “UAC” request.

Another useful tip is how to clean up the C drive (Windows 7) to free up space on the system partition. To get rid of possible problems in the future, it is necessary to control the availability of free space. This applies to user folders.

For this method to work, you need to have several hard drives or partitions on them that will be located on the same computer. It is more advisable to carry out this procedure immediately after reinstalling Windows. This is due to the fact that there should always be free space left, which is necessary for defragmentation. It can be carried out either automatically or if necessary. Defragmentation not only reduces wear and tear on the hard drive, but also improves the performance of the computer as a whole.

After installing (which requires drive C) Windows 7, you need to create several system folders. They must be placed in the root directory. Some of them may not be displayed. But the necessary one, "Users", is always visible.

After entering this folder, you can see all the names. The number of users may vary depending on circumstances. You need to select the folder that is named after the user you need. This is where all the user data will be located.

Almost each of these folders will grow in size as you add photos and other files. If you pay attention to the picture, you can see which one is overflowing and requires cleaning.

It is better to remove the folder that fills up as a result of various downloads from the hard drive and move it to another location. To do this, you need to cut it out and move it to the next disk, which has more free space. On this drive you need to create a folder with the user name and paste all the data there.

If there are many users, this procedure must be done for each. This will allow you to control the system partition and also improve the performance of the entire system.

Any operating system, during its operation, saves some temporary files in a specially designated area of disk space. Thus, a fairly substantial amount of information, especially unnecessary information, gradually accumulates. This is why it is important to periodically clean the C drive. There are 10 ways to free up space on the C drive that will seem simple even to a beginner.

Navigator by methods

1 way. Using the Windows utility.

10 ways to clean up a disk include the main and not the most effective way to clear the system disk of files that are not needed. This is a built-in Windows utility. Thanks to it, you can delete data that does not affect the operation and is unnecessary for the system, and it only takes a couple of minutes. To do this, you need to launch the tool by opening the “My Computer” window and selecting the properties of drive C. In the menu that appears, select the “General” tab, which most often opens by default. Next you will have to click on the clear button. After a certain period of time, the utility can display a list of temporary files, information about the operation of the operating system, and even data located in the Recycle Bin.

3 way. Empty the trash can.

It is important to remember that all deleted files are most often sent to the Recycle Bin. A folder called "Trash" acts as temporary storage for everything that is deleted. In reality, this folder takes up a lot of space on your PC. In order to finally get rid of data from the recycle bin, you should right-click on it, and then select the appropriate “Empty Recycle Bin” item.

4 way. Clear folders Temp.

Windows has 2 Temp folders where various temporary files are stored. For example, files that are necessary when installing drivers, programs, updating antivirus or Windows. After these files become useless, you can simply delete them, thereby freeing up some space on the C drive. To do this, you will have to open “Computer – drive C – Windows folder”, find the Temp folder there and delete all contents.

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5 way. Restore the system.

Another way to free up space on the C drive is to delete recovery checkpoints. They also take up a certain number of megabytes. To see them, go to “Start – All Programs – Accessories – System Tools – System Restore”.

6 way. Clean your desktop.

If you want to clean up drive C, the first thing you need to do is clean your desktop. All files that are on the computer desktop are physically located on the “C” drive. In this regard, moving files from your desktop to another drive, for example, drive D, will instantly help free up a large amount of occupied system space.

7 way. Use CCleaner.

An excellent program called CCleaner can help clean up drive C. It is the most popular utility among garbage cleaners.

8 way. Remove duplicates.

Duplicate files are a more serious problem. And almost everyone has it. In fact, the same folders with photos, music and videos are always located on the disk. They are real disk space eaters. You can find them without using a special program, especially if you have a good memory. If your memory is bad, you can use special software, for example, the Duplicate Killer program.

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9 way. Remove unused programs.

Removing unused programs will help free up space on the C drive the fastest, but some programs take up very little space and deleting them will hardly change the overall picture. Therefore, in the Programs and Features section, programs can be sorted by size. To do this, press Win+X and select “Programs and Features.” You should click on the name of the “Size” field with the mouse so that the applications are sorted by size. Next, you can select the necessary programs and click the “Delete” button.

10th way. Disable sleep mode.

When the computer is in sleep mode, the system saves the contents of RAM on the hard drive. This allows the user, during the process of waking up the computer, to continue using it from where they left off. Windows stores the contents of RAM in the Hiberfil.sys file on drive C. To save space on your hard drive, you should disable sleep mode and delete the Hiberfil.sys file.