10+ Ways To Free Up Space In Windows 10

To free up space in Windows 10 is not difficult if you are doing it the right way. Although hard disc and solid-state storage are more feasible these days, this does not imply that it is endless. With games now using hundreds of megabytes and Windows updates requiring substantially more space than before, your hard drive may be filling up more frequently.

And this leads to the most basic question, “How do I clear storage of my computer?” Fortunately, we have a few fast tips to assist you clear the storage in Windows 10. Read to the end for a complete guide and prevent any wrong steps during the clearing of clutter in your Windows 10:

1- Clear Recycle bin To Free Up Space in Windows 10

The most obvious recommendation comes from Windows 95 days. One of the simplest ways to free up space is to empty your recycle bin. You can enable the option to destroy files immediately after they are deleted from your Recycle Bin properties if you want to live dangerously, but we do not encourage it.

In any case, we bring this up because if you like to keep your desktop free of icons (learn how to move the Recycle Bin here), it could be weeks since you emptied it. The Storage Sense function in Windows 10 also defaults to emptying the bin after 30 days.

2- Remove Bloatware and Useless Apps

This may appear to be a simple concept, but Windows includes a number of applications and functions that you may not need. You may swiftly delete applications by going into the App Settings window and selecting them from the menu.

You may delete apps from this menu, but if you want to get rid of other useless features, go to Optional Features and uninstall programs like Windows Media Player or Internet Explorer 11.

Third-party applications such as Revo Uninstaller can assist with this task and make it a simple three-step process. After employing Windows’ solutions, these utilities can help erase any residual files, ensuring that everything is tidy.

3- Remove temporary files to clear the storage in Windows 10

You can find out how much space Temporary files or Downloads are taking up by navigating through the following path: Settings > System > Storage. When you click Temporary Files, you can see a more detailed breakdown of your storage consumption and select the checkboxes that will apply when you press the “Remove files” option.

Delete temporary files automatically

Storage Sense, a disc cleanup software included in newer versions of Windows 10. System Settings > Storage is where you will find it. After you have set up Storage Sense, Windows will erase temporary files, as well as items in your downloads and Recycle Bin, after a certain amount of time has passed.

4- Delete delivery optimization files

Files that were previously downloaded to your PC are known as delivery optimization files. To free up disc space in Windows 10, you can delete these files. To get rid of delivery optimization files, follow these instructions.

• To begin, turn on your computer
• Right-click the drive where Windows 10 is installed
• Then select Properties from the drop-down menu
• Select the Disk Cleanup option from the drop-down menu.
• To delete delivery optimization files, select the Delivery optimization files check box and then click OK.

5- Delete the cache of updates

By emptying the Windows Update cache, you may be able to free up some space on your hard drive. All downloaded update files, as well as faulty updates, are temporarily stored in the Update cache.

6- Compress drive to free up drives space

You can utilize the built-in compression option to save space if your drives are formatted as NTFS. Because it compresses and decompresses data on the fly, this option can have a detrimental influence on your computer’s performance.

Any folder or a hard drive can be compressed.

• Right-click on a folder and choose Properties from the menu.
• After that, select Advanced.
• In the Compress or Encrypt characteristics section, tick the box next to “Compress Contents to Save Disk Space.”
• Then click OK and Apply to complete the process. By unchecking the check box, you can undo these modifications.

To compress an entire drive:

• Use File Explorer and go to “This PC” to compress an entire drive.
• Then select Properties from the context menu when you right-click on the drive you wish to compress.
• In the General Tab, uncheck the box next to “Compress this drive to save disc space.”
• Then hit the Apply button.
• A dialogue box will appear, asking if you wish to apply the modification to the drive, subfolders, and files. Make your choice, then click OK.

7- Delete any app-related temporary files.

Temporary files that are not being used by apps can also be erased, freeing up GBs of space. Here’s how you can do it.

• Step 1: Launch the Settings app. Select System > Storage from the left-hand menu.
• Step 2: Go to the Change how we free up space link and click it.
• Step 3: Make a choice Option to delete temporary files that my programmes are not using.

Check that no additional options are chosen before clicking the Clean Now button. You will notice how much space you freed up by eliminating temporary files created by apps in a matter of seconds.

8- Remove files and directories that are duplicates

Finding and deleting duplicate files and folders on your computer is a difficult task, but there are programs that can assist you. To discover and eliminate duplicate files, we recommend the application dupeGuru.

You can also free up space in Windows 10 by transferring photographs and videos to an external drive or a cloud service.

9- Disable reserved storage

Windows 10 has set aside around 7 GB of storage space for programs, Windows Update, temporary files, and system caches. Although we do not encourage it, you can temporarily disable Reserved Storage to save up disc space. Go to settings and search for Reserved Storage and disable the option.

10- Delete accounts of other users from your pc to free up space in Windows

If you share your computer with someone who no longer uses it, you can erase their account and all of their files and folders. The Account Settings are where you may do this.

• Select the account that is no longer in use by clicking on the Family & Other Users option in the sidebar.
• Then, on the Remove button, a new dialogue box will appear, asking you to confirm that you want to delete the account and its contents.

You will be freeing up space on your drive once you opt to remove the account.

11- Compress window 10 installation to clear the storage in Windows 10

Compact OS is a tool created for devices with very low storage capacity that can assist in clear the Storage in Windows 10 but at the risk of sacrificing performance. “Compact OS installs the operating system files as compressed files,” Microsoft says.

We recommend making a backup before using the Compact OS utility and only using it on storage that is quite fast. To use the utility, log in as an administrator to the command prompt. To compress the Windows 10 installation, type the following command: compact.exe /compactOS:always compact.exe /compactOS:always compact.exe /compact

You should be able to save a few megabytes of storage space with this method. Open a command prompt as an administrator and run the following command to undo the change: compact.exe /compactOS:never.

12- To clear up disc space, disable hibernation.

Before you start whining, let us clarify that we recommend turning off the hibernation option only if you do not use it or do not understand what it is. When the hibernation feature is enabled, a file called hyberfil.sys is created, which is roughly the same size as the RAM installed on your computer. For example, if your PC has 8 GB of RAM, the hibernation option will consume around 7 GB of disc space. So, turn off the hibernation option if it is enabled on your PC.

13- Turn on feature ‘File on demand’

OneDrive users can take advantage of Files On-Demand, which is a useful tool. While a cloud drive account is useful for storing things in a centralized location, OneDrive also allows you to access items in an online-only mode, downloading the item as needed and deleting the local copy when space is limited. This is the best way to free up space in Windows 10.

13- Remove all files from the Downloads folder

Files downloaded through all web browsers are saved in the Downloads folder on the drive where Windows 10 is installed by default. Hundreds of MBs of space could be used by tens of unnecessary files in the Downloads folder. For example, unless you reinstall the application frequently, the setup file of a program is not required after installation! So, why downloading the setup file again and again?

Other Tools to Clear Storage in Windows 10

If these suggestions are too basic and are not working, you should invest in a disc analysis program. WinDirStat or Space Sniffer are two programs that examine a drive and show you which folders and files are using up the most space.

These visualizations can help you see how much space an app, program, or game takes up, and they can help you locate large folders or files that are sometimes buried or difficult to locate.

FAQ’s

Bottom line

If these suggestions did not suffice, there are a few additional tactics to consider as a final resort. Windows comes with a built-in reset option that wipes the slate clean. You have to select Update & Security > Recovery from the Settings menu. The Windows 10 reset is started by pressing the first button.

Finally, you can always copy data to an external drive to free up faster internal storage for your operating system and apps, but this is always the more expensive choice. Though a 5TB drive for under $100 does sound appealing. Stay tuned to our website for more informative posts like this.