What can you delete the system drive. How to clean up system files. What can and cannot be removed from the C drive. Automatically clean up and speed up the disk

Read how to clear space on your PC's system drive... Described are five types of files and folders that take up a lot of space and can be painlessly deleted by the user. Imagine modern world it is absolutely impossible without computer technology. Today, in almost every industry and in every home, we can see its application.

Content:

The essence of the problem

At the household level, the most popular computer device is the stationary personal computer. Possessing significant potential, it helps to solve various types of tasks, both directly related to the user's professional activity and serving for recreation and entertainment. Creating new projects, processing any documentation, managing archives or databases, editing high-definition images and video files, receiving and sending correspondence - that's far from it. full list available actions, where the help of a personal computer is simply irreplaceable.

In addition to personal computers, laptops and their derivatives (netbooks, ultrabooks) have gained wide popularity. They are easily portable and not tied to a specific workplace, and can be used anywhere, at the request of the user. And, in turn, they have full functionality similar to personal computers, but with slightly reduced capabilities.

For communication in social networks, communication and performing simple tasks smartphones have become very popular. Thanks to access to the Internet, the functional potential of smartphones has expanded significantly. And, in recent times, their capabilities are very close to those of notebooks.

This is not a complete list, but as you can see, the range of computing devices is wide, and the possibilities of its application are not limited.

Without a reliable control, the popularity of computing devices would be low. The main element is the operating system, which allows you to configure and organize the work of computers, as well as to maximize their internal potential. The leader in the development of operating systems is the corporation Microsoft, which introduced the computer control system "Windows"... It has gained great popularity all over the world due to its simplicity, convenience, high speed performance and friendly user interface.

Latest version operating system Windows 10, released relatively recently, has collected the best developments of old versions of the system and new innovative solutions used in the system for the first time.

It allows the user to use any, the most demanding applications and programs, and easily processes huge amounts of data, helping the user and anticipating his requests.

For these purposes, the operating system Windows 10 allocates specific disk space. The list of system capabilities is quite large, so the free space reserved for such tasks can be very large.

If the internal disk space for the user, for his needs, is not enough, but use a larger HDD or an external connected drive is not possible, then the user can independently free up additional space on the disk by deleting some files and folders of the operating system Windows 10.

This can be done painlessly if you do not plan to use certain functions of the operating system in the future, or decide to clean up old system files that you no longer need.

Below we will look at some of the files and folders of the operating system. "Windows" which are completely safe to delete, and we will explain why you can do it. Please note that some of these folders are in protected locations, so be careful when deleting them.

Hibernation file "Hiberfil.sys"

File location: "C: \ hiberfil.sys"

Hibernation on your computer is similar to hibernation, but the system saves all of your open work, in its current state, to the hard drive and then shuts down. You can even remove the battery from your laptop and leave it in hibernation for a week, then start the system back up and resume where you left off. Of course, such a possibility of the system requires a certain reserved space on the hard disk, for which the hibernation file is responsible.

Depending on the size of your hard disk, the hibernation file can be several gigabytes or more. And if you do not use this mode and want to disable it, then you can easily do this using the command line. Note that you shouldn't just delete the system file "Hiberfil.sys" since the operating system "Windows" will recreate it.

There are many different ways to open a command line application in Windows 10... In our case, you need to use the command line with administrator rights. We will only show you three possible ways to invoke a command line application, and you can use any of them to choose from.

Method 1: Find in the lower left corner of the desktop on "Taskbars" button "Start"... Click it and open the main user menu "Windows"... Using the scroll bar, move the slider down and select from the list installed applications and programs section "System Tools - Windows"... Open the submenu and find the section "Command line"... Right-click on it and bring up the pop-up menu. Find the section "Additionally" and open the submenu. Select a section from the list of available actions.

Method 2: Open file explorer "Windows"(for example by double clicking the shortcut "This computer" located on the desktop). Then open the system drive "WITH:" and select a folder "Windows"... Next open the folder "System32" and find the executable "Cmd.exe"... Right-click on it, and in the pop-up menu, select a section from the list of possible actions.

Method 3: Press the button "Search" located in the lower left corner of the desktop next to the button "Start", or press the keyboard shortcut together Windows + Q, and open the search bar. Enter your search term in the appropriate cell "Command" or "Cmd"... Among the proposed options, find the section "Best match" and right-click on it. Select a topic from the pop-up menu.

In the UAC warning message that appears "Windows": "Allow this app to make changes on your device?", press the button "Yes", and the application "Administrator: Command Line" will be open.

Then in the command prompt window to disable hibernation, type the following command and press the key "Enter" for execution:

powercfg.exe / hibernate off

This command is enough to disable hibernation on your computer. Operating system "Windows" will automatically delete the system setting file "Hiberfil.sys" on the execution of the command. If for any reason the file is still available on the system drive "WITH:" then you can safely remove it yourself. Note that disabling hibernation mode will also prevent your computer from fast startup. Windows 10 which is not a big loss, as this function can cause problems with loading the operating system.

Temporary files folder "Temp"

Folder location: "C: \ Windows \ Temp"

Operating system "Windows" for its work and the correct operation of various applications creates temporary files and folders for initial use. Then the need for such files and folders, with the information stored in them, completely disappears. The size of temporary files can take up a lot of internal disk space, so regular cleaning of the folder "Temp" will allow you to increase the free space for additional use.

You can open this folder and delete all data from it by pressing the keyboard shortcut together "Ctrl + A" to select all files and folders inside, and then press the key "Delete"... System "Windows" may give you a warning about the impossibility of deleting some files that may be used by the system at the moment. Click the button "Skip" to finish deleting the remaining temporary files.

Basket

Located in the system shell: "Basket"

"Basket", in fact, is not a folder, but a special graphical interface, which is known for advanced users. But we decided to remind about this if any of the users does not know this. Whenever you delete a file on your system, "Windows" sends it to "Basket"... This is a special place where deleted files are kept until you permanently delete or restore them. If you have forgotten and have not cleared for a long time "Basket", a large amount of old data may accumulate there.

You can access "Basket" via a shortcut on the desktop. Here you will see all the data that you deleted earlier. You can right-click on individual items and select a section from the pop-up menu "Delete" to erase them forever. Or select a section "Restore" to revert the file back to its original location. Additionally, under the ribbon of the main window menu "Baskets" you will see action buttons and "Restore All Objects".

To customize the way the shopping cart works, click the button "Cart properties" on the tab ribbon. Here you can change the maximum size of the recycle bin and set the option for deleting files by checking the appropriate box "Destroy files immediately after deletion, without placing them in the trash"... This method permanently deletes the selected items without first moving the files to "Basket"... However, we do not recommend activating this option, because the Recycle Bin may give you a chance to recover files in the event of an erroneous deletion.

Folder "Windows.old"

Folder location: "C: \ Windows.old"

Whenever you update your operating system version "Windows"(for example you probably did this when installing Windows 10, or when installing an official service pack), your system keeps a copy of your old system files "Windows" in a folder called "Windows.old"... This is essentially your old working operating system, saved in case a new update doesn't work correctly. In this case, you can use this folder to return to the previous version of the operating system. "Windows"... You can also open the folder and copy any necessary files of your choice, if the need arises.

System "Windows" will automatically delete this folder after ten days (previously the retention period was 30 days), but you can manually delete it if you are running out of free space. To delete the selected folder yourself, you will have to use the help of the tool Disk Cleanup since file explorer capabilities "Windows" won't let you do it. Click the button "Search" located on "Taskbars" and in the corresponding field enter your search term "Cleaning"... In chapter "Best match" find and open the tool you are looking for Disk Cleanup.

Click the button "Clean up system files" at the bottom of the window and let the tool scan the disk. Once the process is complete, find the folder "Windows.old" and remove it with this tool.

It is obvious that deleting these files can significantly complicate possible recovery in case of problems with the correct operation of the operating system. Therefore, after installing any update, we advise you to keep this folder until you are sure that all system components are working properly.

Folder Downloaded Program Files

Folder location: "C: \ Windows \ Downloaded Program Files"

The name of this folder may be a little misleading. This folder, named as Downloaded Program Files, designed for temporary storage of items "ActiveX" and applications "Java" automatically downloaded from the Internet when you browse some pages. Thus, this folder is practically useless. "ActiveX" Is extremely outdated technology, full of security holes, and applications "Java" are quite rare. "ActiveX" is an exclusive element for Internet Explorer and you, these days, can only encounter it on ancient corporate sites.

Most home users no longer use Internet Explorer, not to mention "ActiveX"... Folder Downloaded Program Files may already be empty, but you can clear its contents if it is not.

The best way to clean

We've listed a few items that can be safely removed, but manually removing them isn't the most The best way... In addition, there is no point in wasting time searching and deleting files on your own, when the whole process can be automated with a special tool that will safely clean up unnecessary files for you. This will prevent you from accidentally deleting the files you need, and will save you the time-consuming process of finding the folders you need.

Operating system standard tool "Windows" Disk Cleanup quite easy to use, can quickly collect the necessary data and complete the cleaning process. Additionally, you can use to clean up files software third-party manufacturers by preliminary searching for such on the Internet.

What other files and folders on the system "Windows" do you delete?

If you look closely, it becomes clear that the operating system "Windows" contains a large number of different files and folders that are not needed after a certain time. But your computer initially independently monitors the cleanliness of the system, and, as necessary, automatically launches the process of cleaning unnecessary files or asks for user permissions for this action. And you do not need to manually search and forcibly delete such files. Periodic tool run Disk Cleanup once or twice a month will be absolutely enough to keep your system in good working order.

What additional files and folders "Windows" do you delete? Share your experiences and comments with us!

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The problem with free space on the system drive C is familiar to many Windows 10 users. Over time, it runs out. It is not surprising, because it is on the C drive that files are downloaded in browsers by default, system updates are installed, and all programs are installed.

In this article, we'll show you how you can free up space on the C drive in windows 10 without uninstalling programs.

What can be removed or moved from the C drive?

The simplest and most effective method that allows you to free about 4 GB is, which almost no one uses anyway. At the root of the C drive, there is a hidden file that is responsible for the operation of hibernation mode. By disabling this mode, you will immediately free up about 4GB.

Hiberfil.sys file on drive C

The next step on the way to freeing up space on the system drive is to another local drive. This will free up a few more gigabytes.

The location of the pagefile sys paging file on the hard disk

Removing the previous version of windows along with the windows.old folder

When updating the Windows operating system, installing and modifying programs, a lot of information is saved "in reserve". Accumulating, it takes up a lot of disk space, and also slows down the computer. To optimize your OS, you need to periodically clean up your system folders and files. But this should be done carefully, careless actions can disrupt the performance of the system. We will tell you how to properly clean Windows from garbage.

Windows 7 system folders requiring cleaning

The Windows 7 system creates a complex structure of folders stored on all disks of a computer and necessary for its services and the operation of user programs. Usually, deleting the entire system folders is not allowed. However, some of the files stored in them have already lost their relevance. To find and delete such files, special tools are used, included in the OS, or developed in addition to its capabilities. The following describes the steps that must be taken during cleaning mainly in relation to the home basic version of Windows 7. However, in other versions the differences are mostly in the translation of the names of sections and system tools into Russian.

File Explorer usually hides system folders. To see them, select "Start" "Control Panel" and then "Folder Options". If you do not see the All Control Panel Items tab, change the viewing method: instead of Categories, select large or small icons.

On the "View" tab in the list of additional parameters, put an end to the very last item "Show hidden files, folders and drives".

When cleaning, pay attention to the size of the folders. There is no point in wasting time cleaning small folders. To understand which folders are taking up the most space, download the WinDirStat program. Please note that this program sometimes distorts the size of folders, considering several times files that have hard links from different folders. This is due to the peculiarity of the NTFS file system, in which the contents of folders are determined by links, which do not necessarily point to a unique file.

Do not rush to delete information if in doubt. And be sure to consider a rollback option: before you change anything, make sure archiving is enabled. To do this, in the "Control Panel" select "System and its maintenance" ("System and Security") or immediately "Backup and Restore".

If archiving is not configured, click "Configure backup" and then follow the instructions of the system.

Unnecessary information, which it is advisable to delete from time to time, is saved mainly in the following folders and files:

• Temp;
• Temporary internet files;
• Winsxs;
• System volume information;
• Appdata;
• System32;
• Pagefile.sys;
• Assembly;
• Installer;
• Driverstore;
• Download

Windows 7 has a generic cleaner for most folders. To run it, open a command prompt as administrator. This can be done by right-clicking on an empty space on the desktop while holding down the Shift key and choosing the "Open command window" item in the menu that opens. Then type cleanmgr, press Enter, select the C: drive and wait for the cleaner to determine what can be removed from it.

Pay attention to the two numbers: at the top it is written how much the program can free up on the selected disk (in the example 0.99 GB), and under the window listing the storage locations - how much it will free when the choice is made (903 MB). After reviewing the proposals, select first of all those places where the garbage is the most. Then press the "Clean up system files" key.

Repeat the cleaning process on all disks on your computer.

How to clean your computer of unnecessary files and junk

While the all-purpose cleaner outlined above is very convenient and fairly safe, sometimes it just isn't enough.

Temp folders

The OS creates several Temp folders. Public is located in the Windows folder, personal is located in the user profile in AppData-> Local. If several profiles have been created on the computer, you will have to go to the OS under the appropriate name to clean each one. In order not to search in the profile for a long time, press Win + R and type% temp% in the line that opens. Don't forget that the Temp folders themselves cannot be deleted!

Temp contains work files used when executing and updating programs. After finishing the work, the files are no longer needed, but often they are not deleted. They can be removed manually by simply selecting all the files in the folder using the Ctrl + A buttons, right-clicking on any of them and selecting the "Delete" item.

Perhaps, this will not delete some files, the system will say that they are already in use. Check the box "Run ... for all objects" and click "Skip".

Do this for the c: \ Windows \ temp folder and each personal folder.

Temporary internet files

This is where information from web pages is saved to speed up your work with the Internet. When you enter a site that you have already visited, the browser does not read everything that is there, but only the changes that have occurred since the previous visit. This is useful, so usually the temporary Internet file folders are not cleaned. Moreover, you can set the "Used disk space" parameter for them. If the specified size is exceeded, the old information will be deleted automatically.

If you still need to clear these files, open the "Network and Internet" section in the "Control Panel".

Select "Internet Options" ("Internet Options").

On the General tab, you can set parameters, including the size of the Temporary internet files folder. There is also a "Delete" button to clear it.

If several profiles have been created on the computer, then there will be several folders for temporary Internet files. This operation will have to be repeated for each Internet user.

Winsxs

The Windows folder contains a repository of old system files that have changed after installing the next OS update. This is Winsxs. Not only can it not be completely removed, but it is strictly forbidden to clean it yourself. Use the cleanmgr all-purpose cleaner described above for cleaning. In the list of trash places, find the line "Clean up Windows updates", put a tick next to it and start cleaning.

However, such a line may not appear. The fact is that cleaning the Winsxs folder was added only in 2013 by the KB2852386 update. If not, check if you have Service Pack 1. You can verify that it is available by pressing Win + PauseBreak or by right-clicking on the "Computer" line in Explorer and then selecting the "Properties" line.

If you don't have it, download and install Service Pack 1. Reboot your computer. The next step is to install the update itself. It can be found. After that, the update cleanup line should appear.

System volume information

As mentioned above, when working with system folders, backup must be enabled. However, the copies stored in the System volume information also take up a lot of space. In addition, virus developers have chosen the folder. If the problem is only in the size of the folder, limit the space available to it. To do this, go to the system properties - for example, by pressing Win + PauseBreak and on the "System Protection" tab, click "Configure". In the "Disk Space Usage" section, select an acceptable folder size. Here you can delete all backups, including the last one ("Delete" button).

An alternative is the all-in-one cleanmgr cleaner. It deletes all backups except the last one. After launching it, as described above, you need to go to the "Advanced" tab and select "System Restore and Shadow Copy". Then press the "Clear" button and, in response to the following questions, confirm your desire to delete the files.

Removing the System volume information itself is not fatal for Windows 7, but it is not recommended to check this fact. However, you can manually delete files from it, although the developers have done everything to make it difficult. If you have not done so before, enable the "Show hidden files and folders" property, as described at the beginning of this article. Find the folder in the explorer and right-click on its name. In the menu that appears, select the last line - "Properties". On the Security tab, click Continue.

In the list of users who have rights to the folder, you will see the only user - the system. Click on the "Add" button. In order not to guess under what name you are logged in, click the "Advanced" button, and then "Search".

By double-clicking on the name in the list of found users, you will add yourself to the list of those who have rights to the folder. But you get minimal permissions. To expand them, select yourself in the list and click on the top line "Full Control". In this case, checkmarks will appear in all lines of the list of permissions. Click OK or Apply.

After that, you will receive the rights to all actions in this folder. But proceed with caution so as not to deprive yourself of the opportunity to restore the system in case of problems. After completing the planned work, delete the rights granted to yourself so that viruses do not use them.

Appdata

Appdata folders are located in user profiles and are used to store settings and other personalized data used by various applications. If you installed a program, used it for some time, and then uninstalled it, then unnecessary configuration files will remain in this folder, possibly taking up a significant amount of space. Usually Appdata contains three subfolders.

The main one is Local, it contains the most information. This is where the Temp and Temporary Internet Files folders we looked at above are located. As a reminder, they can be cleaned, but not removed. It is not recommended to touch the Microsoft folder. Removing or clearing the rest will strip you of some of the familiar settings in the respective applications, if you are still using them.

The Roaming folder contains the same kind of settings that can be transferred to another device. If you have installed the application on another computer, then simply copying the corresponding folder from Roaming will partially replace the choice of the settings you are used to. There may also be folders corresponding to applications you are not using, you can safely delete them.

The LocalLow folder is small and is used by several programs to store buffered data. There is no point in cleaning it, it will soon return to about the same size anyway.

System32 (DriveStory)

This folder contains a lot of important information. Drivers of devices that are no longer used may be superfluous. They are located in the DriverStory folder. Do not under any circumstances delete this folder and do not try to clean it manually! There are special utilities for this - standard pnputil.exe or:

If you do not know what bit depth your system has, press Win + PauseBreak again. In the group of information about the system, its type is indicated - 32 or 64 bits.

Before cleaning the folder using the utility, create a backup copy as described above. Next, you need to set the devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices parameter, which is required to display unused devices. To do this, reopen the system information section (for example, using the Win + PauseBreak buttons), select the "Advanced system settings" item and click the "Environment Variables" button. In the "Environment Variables for XXX" section (XXX is the user under whose name you are working) click the "New" button. Enter the parameter name devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices and its value is 1.

Then go to the device manager and disable those that you no longer need. Unused devices are grayed out. Be careful not to disable what you are not sure about.

After downloading from the site http://www.jaswindows.ru/ the utility corresponding to the bitness of your system, unpack it to any folder. Go to this folder and run driver_cleanup.exe as administrator. After scanning DriverStory, the utility will indicate the amount that can be freed. On a Latin keyboard layout, press y to clean up or n if you don't want to.

Pagefile.sys

Pagefile.sys is referred to as the paging file. Strictly speaking, this is not even a file, but disk space reserved for storing information that does not fit into random access memory(RAM). If there is not enough fast memory for all programs and services running at the same time on your computer, the processor transfers some of their information here and, if necessary, reads it from disk as if it were in RAM. This reduces performance, but does not cause fatal failures due to lack of fast memory.

If the Pagefile.sys file is used very heavily, in addition to slowing down performance, the load on the disk also increases. Solid-state drives (SSD) are especially sensitive to frequent overwriting of information. So that this does not lead to premature failure of the equipment, consider whether it is worth increasing the amount of RAM. You can check the download by pressing the three "magic" buttons Ctrl + Alt + Delete and selecting "Start Task Manager".

Of course, you cannot clean Pagefile.sys, but you can reduce its size in accordance with your capabilities and transfer it to a more free device. To do this, go to the system properties and select "Advanced system settings". Then go to the "Advanced" tab. In the "Performance" section, there is one button "Options". By clicking on it, select the "Advanced" tab again and pay attention to the amount of allocated memory.

By clicking the "Change" button, you will be able to resize or transfer the file in whole or in part to another device.

Assembly

Some users might want to clean up the Assembly folder in Windows. Indeed, its volume can be relatively large, but you should not interfere with it. It is created and maintained by the Framework. His service information is located here. The exception is the Temp and Tmp subfolders of temporary files, the contents of which can be manually cleaned (without deleting the folders themselves!), But their size is usually small.

Installer

Windows \ Installer stores installation files for installed programs. They may be required for reinstallation and uninstallation. However, to reinstall the program, it is better to download new version, but you can also remove it using non-system tools, for example, Total Uninstall.

Still, it is not worth completely deleting the contents of this folder without special need. A more reliable option is to move it to a more free device. To do this, it is not enough just to copy the folder, you need to make sure that the rights on the new device match the original and set a soft link to a new location (for example, d: \). This is done by the command mklink / j c: \ windows \ installer d: \ installer, which should be typed in the command line launched, as described at the beginning of the article.

Downloads (DownLoad)

These folders, located in each user's profile, contain the data you downloaded from the Internet. They are clearly visible in the explorer and you can always delete from them what you no longer need or transfer the necessary information to another device. A more radical solution is to transfer these folders themselves to a freer device as described above for the Installer folder.

When deleting unnecessary information from the disk, remember that even with correct actions with system information, problems may arise in the event of random events such as power outages, virus intervention, etc. Therefore, be sure to make a backup copy before such actions. The main purpose of cleaning is to eliminate interference with high performance processor, so pay attention mainly to large amounts of data. Good luck with your work!

We will talk with you about what you can delete from the C drive and what not. In addition, we will learn with you how to free up space on a hard drive so that such cleaning does not cause us problems. Let's start studying our question as soon as possible.

What is C drive

But before that, it is worth discussing what the system drive C is, and how it differs from all the others. In addition, you will have to think carefully why cleaning this place can cause a lot of trouble for many users. In particular, beginners.

If you are thinking about what you can delete from the C drive, then you should understand that this section is an important part of yours, which means that you need to treat it with extreme caution. Why? Yes, all due to the fact that any careless action can lead to the collapse of the system.

So, before you think about what you can delete on the system C drive, you should know that it is better not to touch the Windows folder. As you might guess, it is in it that our "operating system" is located. However, there are exceptions. We will talk about them a little later. For now, let's take a look at what typically needs to be cleaned up.

Old programs

The first thing you should remove if you have a huge need for free space on the C drive is, of course, old programs. However, there is no need to go into "My Computer" and just erase the data folders. The "Control Panel" will help us in this matter.

Go to this service, and then select "Install and a window will pop up in front of you, which will display a list of all installed content. Now take a close look at it and think carefully about what you can remove from the C drive (from your programs). Select objects, then click on them with the right mouse button, then select the "Delete" function. Wait until the end of the process and look at the result. As a rule, you will have a little bit of space. True, not only this content can be erased. Let's try to figure out what can be removed from the disk besides old programs.

Games

For modern users, a lack of hard disk space is often associated with overcrowding with a variety of games. It doesn't matter what they are - online or not. The main thing is that such content takes up a lot of space. Especially if it was downloaded from the Internet. After all, the so-called installer (installer program) is also added to the total space occupied.

Think you can delete from drive C? Then clean the toys that were installed in this section. The same "Control Panel" will help you with this. Open it, then wait for the content list to load, and now clean up unnecessary games. As a last resort, you can reinstall them on a different partition. This will give you a good opportunity to free up space on your system drive.

Don't forget to remove the toy installers as well. It's best to write them to removable media so you don't have to download files over and over again. Such a move will save you from the lack of hard disk space for a long time. But this is not all the techniques used. There are a couple more moves that will definitely help you deal with the lack of space.

Downloads

The guide to cleaning up hard drive debris continues. Now it is worth paying your attention to such a place as "Downloads" of your browser. As a rule, this daddy is located on the C drive and gradually fills up. With all this, users do not even think about cleaning in this place.

But if you forget about the "Downloads" folder, then you can think for a long time about where to get a free space for the correct functioning of the computer. Especially when the operating system starts to give us messages "Not enough space on the C drive". As a rule, such notifications can cause panic in any user.

What can be removed from the C drive from the Downloads folder associated with your browser? To be honest, absolutely everything. Especially if all downloaded data has already been transferred somewhere. If not, then it is recommended to move the downloaded files to a place where they will not interfere, and then select the entire contents of the folder and erase at once. Many users note that this action helped free up a decent amount of space on the system partition.

Old data

The next objects to be cleaned, as a rule, are old user data. We are talking about personal information: photos, pictures, videos, music, and so on. True, few people store such files in the system partition. Nevertheless, sometimes this is the case.

If you are thinking of how to free up space on your computer, then try to write the ones you do not use to some kind of media (blank discs and removable hard drives work well). After that, you can erase everything that was just subject to recording.

Modern photographs and video files, as a rule, are distinguished by their special quality and, therefore, their volume. So you can be sure - such a move will help you clear the lion's share of gigabytes (or even terabytes) on your computer. The main thing here is to carefully record everything that is important to you on a third-party medium.

Virtual disks

Sometimes users ask: "Is it possible to remove Yandex.Disk and other virtual machines to free up space on the computer?" The answer is quite simple - there is such a possibility. It will not damage the data recorded in the "cloud", and even help you when cleaning the system partition of your hard drive.

True, it is not worth rejoicing here too much. The point is that when you delete, say, the same "Yandex.Disk", you erase as much space as the program itself "weighs". But not the number of gigabytes, which is recorded in this "program". So you can free up a couple of megabytes. And that's all.

If virtual cloud disks are used frequently, and you are constantly dropping more and more files into the root folder, then it makes sense to reinstall the content on a more spacious partition. So, if the operating system crashes, you will not lose important files.

Viruses

Well, now let's move on with you to a more interesting and intriguing topic. Now we will focus on viruses. After all, they are often the ones who fill the system partition, and then begin to destroy the Windows folder.

What can be removed from the C drive? As already mentioned, the virus. But how to do it right? Any antivirus program will help you. However, it is best to use Dr.Web, Avast or Nod32. These are the real leaders in the fight against computer infection.

So, check your operating system for viruses. Deep scanning will help with this. After that click on "Disinfect". Most of the files, as a rule, can be disinfected, but it also happens that some data cannot be saved. If you are thinking of how to remove viruses, while freeing up space on your computer, then click on the "Delete" button in the antivirus. It will appear after scanning is complete.

From which disk can you delete a computer infection in this way? Honestly, from anyone. Select the settings for performing the scan, scan this or that section and from the found viruses. Nothing complicated. True, there is another little trick that will help users deal with the lack of free space.

Temporary files

Our topic "What to Remove from C Drive: Tips for Anyone and Anyone" continues. Now we have come with you, perhaps, to the most interesting point, which very often takes a central role after the issuance of the message: "There is little space on the system drive C". We are talking about cleaning the computer from the so-called temporary files.

Every time you perform certain actions in the operating system, they are recorded and recorded. Some of these entries are deleted on their own after restarting the PC, but some remain. And they accumulate. Again and again.

Downloaded movies and various reports are all hidden in the C partition. Try to get rid of this garbage in a timely manner. It is best to carry out a kind of cleaning once a month. With active video viewing - once every 2 weeks.

In this situation, as a rule, they resort to using special programs. For example CCleaner. Download, install and use. It is enough to mark the checkboxes in the settings of the place to check, and then click on "Scan". A few seconds - and the check is complete. Now all that remains is to click on "Cleanup". Ready? You can see what happened - literally in two clicks you will free up a lot of hard disk space.

Conclusion

It's time to take stock. We learned what you can delete from a disk to free up space. With all this, we now know how to carry out this action without any harm to the operating system.

True, there remains one little piece of advice: when you get the message "Not enough free space", start by clearing your computer of temporary files. As a rule, this action is a natural born leader in freeing gigabytes.

In this article, we will look at various ways to clean up and free up disk space in any operating system. Windows system XP, 7, 8.1, 10.

1. Where does disk space go?

In the process of computer operation, system updates, installation of programs, visits to sites and other activities, a lot of unnecessary files accumulate on the disk, which are often called garbage or junk. In addition, we often download some files ourselves, and then, when they are no longer needed, we forget about them.

Extra files not only take up disk space, but also slow down system performance. The disk takes longer to search for the files it needs, and some of them can take up RAM space and use up processor resources. In addition, viruses often like to sit in temporary files.

For stable, fast and reliable operation of your computer, you must keep the disk clean and tidy. Nowadays, the problem of lack of space on SSD disks is also urgent, the volume of which is very limited.

In this article, we will try to comprehensively solve the problem of insufficient disk space. To achieve high results, we recommend that you read the entire article and follow all the tips in the order in which they are presented.

2. Removing unnecessary programs and games

First of all, remove all programs and games you no longer need. This will not only free up disk space, but also speed up the system.

Press the key combination "Win + R", type "appwiz.cpl" and press "Enter" or use the "Uninstall Programs" shortcut from the "" section.

In the window that opens, carefully review the list of programs, games installed on you and remove all that you are unlikely to use in the near future.

To uninstall a particular program, right-click on it and select "Uninstall".

Do not delete what you do not understand the purpose of or if you are not sure.

After that, manually find and delete the folders with the saved games of the deleted games, as they can take up a lot of space. It is easy to find out where the save of this or that game is by searching on the Internet.

Many Online Games also save their distributions (installation packages) during updates that are no longer needed, but take up a lot of space. For example, the Mail.Ru game center saves distributions in the Distrib folder, and the World of Tanks game in the Updates subfolder. Files in such folders can take tens of gigabytes and can be removed painlessly.

3. Search and delete unnecessary files

It often happens that some old unnecessary files take up a lot of disk space, but we have forgotten about them and do not know where they are. In order to find them, I recommend using the "TreeSize Free" utility, which you can download in the "" section.

Once launched, the program will scan your disk, determine the size of files, folders and sort them by size.

This way, you can easily determine which folder contains the files that take up the most space. Delete any files you no longer need. If you think you may need any of them, write them to disk. The choice of the drive for scanning (C, D, etc.) is done in the "Scan" menu.

4. Transferring user files and folders

If you have a second drive or partition (for example, drive "D"), then first of all transfer to it all files from the desktop and user folders such as "My Documents", "My Music", "My Videos", etc. ., since they are all physically located on the "C" drive.

You can move files manually by creating folders for them on another disk or partition in advance. But it is more correct to change the location of the user's folders by means of the operating system. Then all new files that you or any programs will save on the desktop and in the user's folders will automatically go to another disk partition without causing the system partition to overflow.

4.1. Transferring user folders in Windows 7, 8.1, 10

Go to the "C: \ Users \ Name" folder.

Right click on the "My Documents" folder and go to the "Location" tab.

Replace the drive letter with the one where you want to move the folder (for example "D") and click "OK".

Agree to move the files, and then repeat the steps for the Desktop folder and the rest of the user's folders.

4.2. Transferring user folders in Windows XP

In Windows XP there is no function of automatic movement of user folders and we will use a special utility "XP Tweaker", which you can download in the "" section.

Install the utility and run it. Then, in the left pane, select the Windows XP section and go to the System Folders tab.

Select the "My Documents" folder with the mouse, change the drive letter to the one where you want to move the folder (for example, "D") and click the "Change" button.

Follow the same steps for the folders "My Pictures", "My Music", "Desktop".

After that go to the folder "C: \ Documents and Settings \ Name".

And manually move the My Documents and Desktop folders to the new location D: \ Documents and Settings \ Name.

5. Disk cleanup using Windows

All versions of Windows have a Disk Cleanup feature. It can be used to clean up any disk partition (C, D, etc.), but it is most effective for cleaning the system partition (drive "C"), since it is on it that most temporary files are stored.

Right-click on the C drive and select Properties.

Click the Disk Cleanup button.

Click the "Clean up system files" button (in Windows 7, 8.1, 10).

Check all the boxes and you will see how much space will be freed by deleting temporary files.

The size of temporary files can be up to 5-10 GB. Click the "OK" button and all temporary files will be deleted.

6. Deleting the hibernation file

The hibernation file (hiberfil.sys), which can be close to RAM size, is located on the C drive and is used for sleep mode. If you do not use this mode, and each time you turn on and off the computer in the usual way, then this file can be removed painlessly, since it takes up a lot of space.

The system will not allow you to manually delete this file, and even if you do it using a special utility for deleting files, the system will create it anew. Therefore, for the correct deletion of the hibernation file, you need to disable sleep mode.

Run Command Prompt as Administrator and run the following command:

Powercfg -h off

After that, the system itself will delete this file and will no longer create it.

If you do not know how to work with the command line or do not want to bother, you can download the command file "Deleting the hibernation file" in the "" section.

You just have to right-click on it and run as Administrator (except for Windows XP).

7. Disable or resize the paging file

The paging file (pagefile.sys), which can be one and a half times the size of the RAM, is located on the C drive and is used by many programs to compensate for the lack of RAM.

With a sufficiently large amount of RAM and a small "C" drive (for example, SSD), many enthusiasts advise disabling the paging file.

In the window that opens, go to the "Advanced" tab and in the "Performance" section, click the "Options" button.

In Performance Options, go to the Advanced tab and click the Change button.

Uncheck "Automatically select paging file size", set the checkbox "No paging file" and click "OK".

After restarting the computer, the paging file will be deleted and a lot of space will be freed up on the "C" drive.

But keep in mind that the work of the system is tightly tied to the paging file, and some programs may not even have enough 8 GB of RAM. Therefore, out of memory errors may start to appear.

You can try to completely disable the paging file if you have 16 GB or more of RAM, but still I would not recommend doing this.

8. Disable System Restore

The restore service makes backups of system files and stores them in a special hidden folder, which can take up a lot of disk space. At the same time, the built-in recovery tool does not always work correctly, and viruses like to hide in the folder with backups.

Press the key combination "Win + R", type "sysdm.cpl" and press "Enter" or use the shortcut "System Properties" from the "" section.

In the window that opens, go to the "System Protection" tab, select the "C" drive and click the "Configure" button.

Set the "Disable system protection" checkbox and click "OK".

After that, all backup copies of system files will be deleted and additional disk space will be freed up. In this way, you can free up 5-10 GB of valuable space on the "C" drive.

9. Disable the recycle bin

You can disable the Recycle Bin on drive "C" so that it does not take up space on it. To do this, right-click on the trash can icon and select "Properties".

Set the "Shred files immediately after deletion" option for the "C" drive and click "OK".

After that, if you delete large files from the folders with distributions of games or any others, then they will not go to the trash and will not take up space on the "C" drive.

10. Clearing the backup storage

To clear the storage of backup copies of system files in Windows 8, 8.1, 10, I recommend running the following command at the command prompt as Administrator.

Dism.exe / Online / Cleanup-Image / StartComponentCleanup

For this purpose, you can also download the "Clean up backup storage" batch file in the "" section and run it on behalf of the Administrator.

11. Removing temporary folders

You can painlessly delete temporary folders left after installing some drivers and programs:

C: \ AMD C: \ ATI C: \ CONFIG.MSI C: \ Intel C: \ MSOCache C: \ NVIDIA C: \ SWSetup

12. Automatic cleaning and disk acceleration

There are special utilities for automatic disk cleaning of temporary files. One of the best I recommend is.

It can be configured to clean up temporary files every time the computer boots, which will maintain free space on the C drive, and will also provide a little extra protection, since temporary folders are a favorite place for viruses.

But it is necessary to correctly configure it, otherwise this utility will clean you not what you need, but will leave what needs to be removed. Since the utility's settings are quite extensive and it has many additional useful functions, I decided to talk about it separately in the next article.

13. Links

HDD A-Data Ultimate SU650 240GB
Transcend StoreJet 25M3 1 TB Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EZEX 1 TB Hard Drive