Even today, disk space is still scarce, with the relatively limited storage capacity of SSDs as a good example. We therefore look at how you can free up disk space in Windows 10, with internal tools so that you do not have to install anything extra.
It starts with insight: what is Windows spending our precious disk space on? Open the settings window (Windows key + I) and choose System, Storage. Bee Local Disk you can see how much disk space is currently being used and how many gigabytes are still available. The list below shows how much capacity is used per category. This way you can see how much space apps take up, but also how much space is consumed by temporary files or e-mail messages.
click on Show more categories for a more complete picture. By clicking on a category you will see the exact content. With some categories you immediately have the option to remove the space wasters. For example, click Cards and see if any offline navigation maps have been downloaded in the past. Choose Manage maps and remove the cards you no longer need.
Disk Cleanup has been around in Windows for ages. The program is fine to start the Windows diet. Open the Start menu and type Disk Cleanup.
Then click on Clean up system files. The program indicates at the top how much space can be freed up if you check all options. On the right you can see the amount of gigabytes that you can free up. Especially the parts Clean up Windows Update, Temporary Windows installation files, Windows upgrade log files and Thumbnails are space wasters.
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Clean up recovery points
Windows regularly creates a restore point: a snapshot of the computer. In an emergency, you can return to a restore point to fix the situation, such as a failed driver installation. There is nothing wrong with that, but Windows has to deal with multiple restore points. In practice, we only need the latest restore point.
Open the tab More options of the previously opened window Disk Cleanup and click in the box System restore and shadow copies on Tidy. Windows asks if you are sure: click on remove. This diet session is of course temporary, because Windows will eagerly create several points afterwards.
We intervene, press Windows key + R and type Sysdm.cpl. Open the tab System security. Select the drive labeled (system) and click Configure. Bee Disk space usage you minimize the amount of space that restore points can take up, for example to 1%. You deprive Windows of the ability to create multiple restore points.
Remove Windows components and programs
Windows is modular and consists of several parts. These can be eye-catching components, such as programs. However, there are also parts that are less visible and unnecessary and still take up space.
Open the Start menu and type Windows components. click on Enable or disable Windows features. Remove the check marks next to the options you don’t need. For example, on our test machines is the hopelessly outdated browser Internet Explorer 11 checked: get rid of it.
Expand a part to see the underlying components. We see that at Media Components, for example Windows Media Player is checked, while we are using the compact VLC Media Player. If you are not sure about a part, leave it alone. Click OK and restart Windows.
Now view the installed programs and remove the apps you don’t need. Open the settings window and choose Apps. In the part Apps and features you choose first Optional parts. Here you see interesting things like Additional fonts for Khmer and Additional fonts for Korean. Don’t you need them? Click on it and choose remove.
Return to Apps and features and choose at Sort by in front of Size. Now go through all the programs and remove the ones you don’t need. Then open the section Startup, left of the window. Here you will find the apps that are launched. Choose at Sort by in front of Impact on startup: Programs causing a lot of delay appear at the top. Set the sliders to from with the programs that are no longer allowed to start.
Delete temporary files
Windows also has some built-in tools to use disk space sparingly. In the settings window, open System, Storage. Default is the option Smart storage disabled: set the slider to On and click on Configure smart storage or run now. Activate Storage insight, which allows Windows to automatically delete files when storage space becomes critical. We are not satisfied with this and opt for Weekly (Bee Run storage sense).
At the next section – Temporary files – we check the option Delete temporary files not used by my appst is enabled and we choose to automatically delete these files as soon as they are in the trash bin for fourteen days. If necessary, do the same for the files in the folder Downloadsso that they are automatically cleaned up even after fourteen days. You can also find that option under Temporary files.
Let OneDrive help
After all, Windows has an interesting feature for those working with OneDrive: you can automatically free up space by automatically marking local files that you have not used for a period of time as only online. This will only save the file to the cloud and no longer to the local disk. Once you open it, it will be downloaded first. This happens in the background and is hardly noticeable.
Bee Locally available cloud content you choose at Content becomes available ‘online only’ if it has not been accessed for more than 14 days. If you think that is going too far, then you choose a longer term, such as 30 days or 60 days. To get started in good spirits, let’s Smart Store run all of our freshly set options right away: click Clean up now.
You should now have a lot of free space on your drive again. Moreover, you have arranged it so that it does not get out of hand again, so that you do not have to pay attention to it every time.
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