A brand-new computer gives you lightning-fast speed and performance however, as you install new apps and clutter it up with a lot of temp files and cookies, the performance gets diminished. As we install new apps, they create a lot of temp files, utilize more space on the drive and slow down the PC. If you are wondering ‘Why is my C drive full?’ the simple reason is, you have got cluttered up with everything on the C Drive. I should know what is taking up space on my hard drive on Windows.
There are different ways to delete unnecessary files on Windows. You can always get more disk space without deleting anything important on your hard drive. I figured out some easy ways to free up space on my C drive without losing data. These are the best practices that I used to clean up unnecessary files on my C drive. You can also try these tips and tricks to delete unnecessary files on Windows and keep your PC as good as new.
How to Clean Up Unnecessary Files on My C Drive
There are a few inbuilt utilities in the Windows operating system that allows you to perform cleanup and delete unnecessary files on Windows. You need to shuffle with multiple utilities to perform complete optimization and cleanup. Alternatively, you can make use of the best Windows optimizer to automate the process. You can compare the features before installing the best cleanup utility.
Clean Up Temp Files
Temporary files are unwanted cache and cookies that take up a lot of space on your hard drive. You can use the Windows inbuilt utility to clear all the temp files with a few clicks. Here are two of the best utilities that you can use to clean up temp files.
Clear Temporary System Files
You can clear up temporary system files and other clutter from the system storage. You can follow these steps to access the cleanup process.
Step 1. Press the Window key and click the Settings option.
Step 2. Click on the System option in the left panel and select Storage from the options on the right.
Step 3. It will scan and list out all the types of important and unwanted files.
Step 4. Click on the Temporary Files option and let it scan all the files that can be deleted.
Step 5. Check all the Temporary Files that can be deleted from the list and click on the Remove Files button at the top of the list. All the selected files will be removed from your PC.
Run Disk Cleanup
Disk Cleanup has been the best Windows utility to clean up system files and user temp files. You can use this utility on Windows 7 to Windows 11 operating system versions. It’s a quick and easy-to-use utility to clear up all the temp files.
Step 1. Press the Window key and type Disk Cleanup in the search bar.
Step 2. The utility will ask you to select the drive. Select the Windows drive and start scanning the storage.
Step 3. It will list out all the removable files that can be deleted.
Step 4. Put a tick on all the removable files and click on the Ok button. It will remove the temp files in the background.
Step 5. Repeat steps 1 and 2 to come back to the same screen. Follow the ‘Clean up System Files’ button and click on Okay to scan again. You can remove all the listed Windows temp files to delete unnecessary files on Windows. I used this perfect way to clean up unnecessary files on my C drive.
Remove Unused Apps
Apps can be temporary and permanent depending on the frequency of usage. If you are not using any apps on a regular basis, you can clear up unwanted apps and free up space on your C drive without losing data.
Step 1. Hit the Window key and access the Settings app.
Step 2. Click on the Apps section on the left and select Apps & Features.
Step 3. Scroll down the list and check out all the apps that can be uninstalled.
Step 4. Sort apps by Size or Install Date to list out heavy apps on the top.
Step 5. Click on the 3 dots on the right and click on the Uninstall option. It will remove the app and all the app’s residual files, temp files, cache, cookies, and unwanted clutter. Follow the same process with all other apps that can be removed.
Run Disk Defrag
Disk Defrag can organize and free up space on my C drive without losing data. I can figure out used and unused space on the storage drive and organize files. This is the easiest way to get more disk space without deleting anything important on your hard drive.
Step 1. Access the Start menu with the Window key and type Disk Defrag in the search context.
Step 2. Hit the ‘Defragment and Optimize Drives’ option from the results.
Step 3. Select the Windows drive (C: Drive) and click on the Analyze button. Click on the Optimize button if there is any fragmented space available. It will organize and manage used and unused files in a segregated manner.
Step 4. Do this with all the available drives to delete unnecessary files on Windows.
Remove Duplicate Files
Duplicate files can take up a lot of unwanted space in your storage. It is essential to scan and delete unwanted duplicate photos, movies, videos, and documents from your storage. You can try manual methods to clear duplicate files using Windows Explorer or make use of the Best Duplicate Files Fixer Pro to scan and list out duplicates.
Duplicate Files Fixer Pro has an advanced scan algorithm to scan and delete unwanted duplicate files. It not only scans the file name or image type but also scans the file format, size, date created, internal content and all other features before listing out duplicate files. You can select one or all found duplicates and delete them just with a single click.
Final Words
While using Windows operating system, you must be aware of what is taking up space on your hard drive on Windows. There are always unwanted temp files that can be removed to free up space on the C drive without losing data. You can try these tips and tricks to delete unnecessary files on Windows without deleting anything important.