How to Free Up Space on Windows 11/10 – Guide
If you’re looking to free up space on your computer, Windows 10/11 is a great place to start. The operating system has been under six years of service and has made many changes that can help you free up disk space. One of the most important changes is the new “Clean Up Your Computer” feature that helps identify and delete applications and files that are no longer in use.
It is easy to neglect regular maintenance; therefore, the problem often comes from old files and programs. If you don’t clean your computer after a while, you will encounter low disk space warnings and find that it is slowing down. If your device is running out of space, Windows 10/11 offers several tools (such as Storage Sense, OneDrive File On-Demand, Compact OS, NTFS Compression and many others) to delete junk and temp files, apps and games. Device memory optimization. Using these tools will help you reclaim additional space but will improve overall performance and upgrade issues.
How to Free Up Space on Windows 10/11
Delete unnecessary files
- Manually select and delete some files that you no longer use.
- Make use of Storage Sense.
In the “Storage Sense” setting, you can choose how to free up space on your computer. You can choose to free up space by deleting files, moving files and folders, or using the “Storage Sense” feature of your computer.
In the next window, you can exclude temporary files by selecting the type of file you want to exclude and pressing “Clear Now.”
Uninstall apps you no longer need
If you have some programs installed on your computer and you no longer need them, you can uninstall them for free up disk space. To do this, right-click on the Windows Start menu and click on “Programs and Features”. Then right click on the program you no longer need and choose “Uninstall”. Repeat this process to remove other unnecessary programs. ..
Run disk cleanup
Disk Cleanup is an integrated tool that deletes temporary and unimportant files. When your hard drive, such as in drive C, keeps filling up, you can use Disk Cleanup to free up disk space.
To clean up your computer, go to Explorer and navigate to “This PC”. Then right click on the drive you want to clean up and choose “Disk Cleanup” from the best match. ..
After several minutes of calculation, you will be given a new interface listing the total files that can be cleaned, as well as the size of each file type. At this point, check the ones you don’t want and click OK. ..
Disable sleep mode
Hibernation in computing is turning off a computer while maintaining its state. If you have enabled hibernate mode in Windows by changing the folder options to “Show hidden files, folders and drives” and unchecking “Hide protected operating system files (recommended)”, you will find a file named “hiberfil.sys” located on the C drive, taking up several gigabytes of storage space.
Enable compact operating system
Windows 10 introduces a new operating system called Compact OS. This new operating system is designed to reduce the size of the Windows 10 operating system and its apps. Additionally, Compact OS reduces the footprint of Windows apps on your computer. Activating Compact OS is easy, but it is important to create a backup of your system image before proceeding.
To search for the Command Prompt and run it as Administrator, use the following command: cmd.exe -c “netstat -an”
compress /c /d “C:\Windows\System32” To uncompress Windows 10 and applications, use the following command: uncompress C:\Windows\System32 ..
Compact.exe is a tool that helps you to optimize your Windows operating system for better performance. CompactOS is a feature of Windows 10 that helps you to keep your operating system compact by automatically removing unused files. ..
This process will take about 20 minutes. When finished, you will have 2GB of disk space.
Reduce WinSxS Folder Size
If your C drive keeps filling up, you can go to C:Windows and find a folder called “WinSxS”.
The WinSXS folder is a large and growing folder that contains all of the system components for Windows. These files can accumulate over time, leading to unnecessary clutter. ..
- Delete the files “WinSxS” and “Winsxs” from the C:\Windows\system32\drivers folder.
- Delete the files “Winsxs” and “WinSxS.dll” from the C:\Windows\system32 folder.
- Delete the files “Winsxs” and “configuration.ini” from the C:\Windows\system32 folder.
In the Control Panel, select “Desktop and Security.” In the “Desktop and Security” section, select “Security Center.”
This article is about the security risks associated with the aging computer systems in the United States. It covers topics such as computer viruses, data breaches, and cybercrime.
Under “Schedule Tasks,” you can select how often tasks should run. You can choose to have tasks run every day, every week, or once a month. ..
In the right pane, select Task Scheduler Library -> Microsoft -> Windows -> Maintenance.
In the “StartComponentCleanup” window, right-click on the “Cleanup.exe” file and choose “Run as Administrator”.
Enable OneDrive Files On-Demand
If your PC is running Windows 10 Fall Creators Update and higher version, you can enable OneDrive Files On-Demand. This will allow you to get the OneDrive files from your PC without having to download them all.
Click the OneDrive icon on the taskbar and open your account.
In the “Settings” window, click on the “Files” tab. Under the “Files” tab, click on the “OneDrive for Business” icon. In the “OneDrive for Business” window, under the “General” heading, click on the “Sync Settings” button. In the “Sync Settings” window, under the “General” heading, click on the “Advanced Options…” button. In the “Advanced Options” window, under “File Sync Settings”, select “Use a different sync protocol”. Under “File Sync Settings”, select “Microsoft OneDrive for Business (formerly SkyDrive)”. Click on OK to save your changes. ..
To optimize your browsing experience and save space on your device, make sure the “Save space and download files as you use them” option is checked in the Settings tab. ..
Clear space on your OneDrive:
- Open your OneDrive folder, select all files and folders, bring up the context menu and choose “Clear space”.
- In this way, all files are kept in the cloud, releasing up Windows disk space.
Move files to another location
If you have a lot of large files saved on your computer, you may want to consider moving them to an external hard drive. This will free up disk space on your computer. ..
Open File Explorer, choose the “Partition” tab and select the partition you want to move.
After that, on the Home tab on the ribbon, select Move To and choose your new location.
To move your external hard drive, select it from the list of locations and click Move. ..
Save new files to another location
If you’re like most people, you probably have a lot of new files saved on your computer that you don’t need. You can save some of them to a different drive to free up disk space. ..
On the Storage page, you can see how much space is currently used on your hard drive and how much is available. ..
Under More Storage Settings, select “Change where new content is saved.”
For each content type, select a drive to save new files from the drop-down menu.
Final note
How to Free Up Space on Windows 11/10 In order to free up space on your computer, you first need to understand the different ways that Windows 11 and 10 manage space. Here are some tips:
- Start by deleting unnecessary files and folders. This can free up a lot of space on your hard drive.
- Use the System Restore feature in order to revert back to previous versions of Windows if something goes wrong. This can help you keep your computer running smoothly and efficiently.
- Disable background processes that are not needed most of the time. This can free up more disk space on your computer.
