Disk Cleanup

Disk Cleanup is one of the applications that haven’t change much over the years. It’s functionality has remained pretty much the same except a few interface changes here and there. Disk Cleanup scans your disks, finds unnecessary files and helps you remove them to cleanup some space and make your computer run a bit faster. In this article we will show you how to work with it and save some valuable space from your hard disk.

Windows Vista, 7 and 8: Disk Cleanup can be found in the Start Menu by going to Accessories -> System Tools. Alternatively, you can always use the search box and type the word “disk”. The first result should be the Disk Cleanup shortcut.

Windows 10: Click the small search icon (magnifying glass) in the bottom-left corner and type: cleanmgr (when you start typing it automatically goes into search mode). Then push enter.

When the application starts, you need to select the partition you want to cleanup and then click on OK.

Disk Cleanup will scan the selected partition and calculate how much space you can free up.

After a while, the results are shown. You can see the total amount of the space you can free up which is then detailed by categories of files that can be deleted. Select all categories or just the ones you want to be deleted and then click on OK.

Disk Cleanup will ask for your confirmation. Click on Delete files and the cleanup process will start.

Wait until the progress bar fills up and the Disk Cleanup window disappears.

In case you are not satisfied with the amount of space that was freed, go to the More Options tab from the Disk Cleanup window. Here you can remove all but the most recent System Restore points or uninstall some of the programs you have on your PC.

If you click on the first Clean up button, it will take you to Programs and Features. There you will find a list with all the installed applications. Select the one you want to uninstall, click on Uninstall/Change and follow the uninstall wizard of that application.

If you click on the second Clean up button, you will delete all the System Restore points found on that partition, except the most recent one. If you had many System Restore points you can save quite a lot of space, compared to the first option.

Related articles:
Disk Defragmenter
What is new in the Disk Defragmenter from Windows Vista SP1
Defragment your hard drive from the Command Prompt
Prevent problems by disabling Hibernation File removal from Disk Cleanup
CCleaner – When Disk Cleanup is no longer enough

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