How to

How to Clear Space on Your C Drive

February 15, 2024

How to Clear Space on Your C Drive

Having enough free space on your C drive is important for your computer’s performance. Here are some tips for freeing up space on your C drive:

Uninstall Unused Programs

One of the easiest ways to free up space on your C drive is to uninstall programs you no longer use.

Open the Control Panel and click Uninstall a program.
Review the list of installed programs and uninstall any you don’t need.
Some good candidates are trial software, bloatware that came pre-installed on your computer, and programs you haven’t used in a long time.

Uninstalling unused programs can free up gigabytes of space on your C drive.

Delete Temporary Files

Temporary files from your internet browser, operating system, and other programs can take up a surprising amount of drive space.

Open Disk Cleanup utility that comes with Windows.
It will scan your drive and allow you to delete temporary files, downloads folder, Recycle Bin contents and more.
Deleting temporary files can free up hundreds of megabytes or more.

Move Files to Another Drive

If you have files saved on your C drive that don’t need to be there, consider moving them to another drive.

Media files like photos, videos, and music are common culprits here.
You can move folders or entire libraries to another drive.
Right-click on them, choose Properties, and under Location tab choose Move.
Moving large folders off of C drive is an easy way to open up space.

Delete System Restore Points

Windows System Restore takes snapshots of your system and saves them, taking up drive space. You likely don’t need all of these restore points.

Go to Control Panel > System > System Protection.
The System Restore tab will show how much space restore points are using.
You can delete older restore points to free up space.

Enable Storage Sense

Windows 10 has a Storage Sense feature that will automatically delete temporary files and files in your Recycle Bin if they have been there for over 30 days.

Go to Settings > System > Storage and toggle “Storage Sense” to On.
You can also set it to automatically delete downloads folder contents after 30 days.
Letting Storage Sense automatically clean these files is an easy way to reclaim wasted space over time.

Following these tips can help you free up gigabytes of space on your C drive and keep it from filling up as quickly. Performing regular disk cleanups is key to maintaining your computer’s performance.