How to gain about 18 GB on your hard drive? By asking Windows to clean up after installing the Creators Update.
Microsoft has announced the official rollout of the Creators Update for Windows 10. This update will be installed automatically through Windows Update, but like the Anniversary Edition, it stores a lot of data on the hard drive. Between the installation files and a complete copy of the old version of the OS, a little more than 18 GB are monopolized.
If you don’t have much space on your disk, it is possible to free up those gigabytes that are no longer needed. However, we recommend that you wait a few weeks to be sure that the Creators Update is working correctly. Because once the cleaning is done, it will no longer be possible to revert to the previous version of Windows. Here’s how to do it:
Method 1
Start the file explorer, either by the Windows – E key sequence, or by clicking on its icon in the taskbar. In the tree structure on the left, find the C: drive (the one where Windows is installed) and right-click on it. In the context menu that opens, click Properties. A window is then displayed with information on the capacity and the occupation of the disk. Then click on the button Disc cleaning.
Windows will then start calculating the space that can be freed, which may take a little time. Then click on the button Clean up system files.
In the list that then appears, check the boxes corresponding to the entries Previous Windows installation (s) and Windows temporary installation files. The total free space is displayed below the list. Click on the button OK to start the operation.
Windows will then start cleaning and ask you for confirmation of deleting files related to the previous version of Windows. Click on the button OK to confirm and free the place.
Method 2
Click the button of the Start menu, then on the small gear icon to access Windows settings. Then click on the icon System then on the section Storage in the list on the left. Select the hard drive containing Windows (usually C :).
A list of items appears with their space on disk. Click on the entry Temporary files.
You can then delete the temporary files by checking the appropriate box, but also the old Windows installation. Click on the button Delete files to start cleaning.