How To Clean Disk C On Windows 8

June 09, 2014 Comment on this post [31] Posted in

This is an "updated for Windows viii.1" version of my popular original article Guide to Freeing up Deejay Space under Windows 7.

I've got a 256 gig C: drive that is an SSD, but things add together up and I've noticed that in the last week or so I've just got about 20 gigs free and it was feeling cramped. A few hours later, I have 80G free. Here's how.

Warranty: There is none. Please read carefully and with all things you find on a random blog, be careful because y'all have no 1 to blame but yourself. Nonetheless, if you take a few minutes, read carefully and do fifty-fifty a few of these tips or just run Deejay Cleanup, y'all'll get lots of infinite back.

Press Windows Key + Due west and type "Free up." Yous'll see a few options. We're going to run two things.

First "Free upward disk space on this PC" which runs total screen as a "modern app."

Now, run "Free upwardly deejay space past deleting unnecessary files" which is the Disk Cleanup desktop app.
Set your Windows Store Post app to merely download a month of post. Come across how mail above uses 514 megs of space? That'due south considering I told it to download all my mail. From inside the Windows 8.1 mail application, printing Ctrl-C, then click Settings, then go to Accounts and nether Options for your account change the "Download Email from..." option to the terminal month, or fifty-fifty less.
Disable Hibernate - I accept a desktop, and I prefer just three power states, sleeping, on or off. I don't utilise Hide. Plus, I have 12 gigs of RAM, and hibernation uses as much deejay space as you take RAM. From an administrative command prompt, type "powercfg -h off" to get that infinite back. Got me back 12 gigs. It'due south up to you. Don't turn it off if you employ the characteristic.
Virtual Retentivity - If you lot've got eight or more gigs of RAM, it's likely that Windows has allocated more Virtual Memory as a file on disk than needed. It'south not bad, and it's not a issues, it's simply conservative. For instance, I have 12 gigs of RAM and Windows has allocated a 12 gig "swap file." Interestingly, it'due south recommending (not certain if that's to me, or to itself) that I accept just five gigs. Boom, change it manually and I go 7 gigs free. Not a large deal with a 500 gig bulldoze, but a HUGE deal on a 128 gig SSD.
Type Windows Key+W, then "Advanced System Settings" and enter. From here, go to Operation Settings, so Avant-garde. Nether Virtual Memory, click Change. This is commonly managed for yous. Alter it only if you feel you know what you're doing. Here I've moved it to my D: drive, opening up infinite for my smaller C: drive.
%TEMP% Files - Even though Disk Cleanup is neat, sometimes for whatever reason it doesn't always go stuff out of the TEMP binder. I recommend you try to delete the TEMP binder. I exercise this from the command line. Open up an authoritative console, type "cd /d %TEMP%" (without the quotes, of course). Then, go upward one folder with "cd .." and type "rd /due south temp"
Do exist warned, this control says to Endeavour to delete the whole folder and everything underneath it. It's very unambiguous. If you lot don't experience comfy, don't practise it. If you experience in over your head, don't practice it. If information technology screws up your computer, don't e-mail me. Next, I do a "dir temp" to see if the binder really got deleted. It ordinarily doesn't because almost always some other programme has a temp file open up and the command can't get remove everything. If it DOES remove the folder, just "md temp" to go it back fresh and empty. This got me dorsum 12 gigs. I'm certain you'll be surprised and get lots back.
Delete your Browser Enshroud - Whether you use Chrome, IE or Firefox, your browser is saving probably a gig or more of temporary files. Consider clearing it out manually (or use the CCleaner mentioned below) occasionally or move the enshroud from your browser'south settings to another drive with more infinite.
Clean upwards Organization Restore - Windows keeps backups of lots of system files every fourth dimension something major (driver installation, some software installations, etc) happens, and after a while this can accept upward lots of space. Information technology uses a service/subsystem chosen ShadowCopies and tin can be administered with a tool called vssadmin.
At present, the EASIEST way to handle this is only to run Disk Cleanup, then click More Options and "Clean up…" which will delete all merely the most recent System Restore data. That's what I did. That got me back lots of space back on my C: drive.
You can also become to System Properties, then Organization Protection, then Configure and not but control how much space to allow for System Protection only also delete preview restore points as seen in the screenshot at left.
Alternatively, yous tin can utilise the vssadmin tool from an admin control prompt to to exercise important things. One, you tin ready a max size for the System Restore to go. Two, you can set up an alternative bulldoze. For example, you could have the D: drive be responsible for System Restore for the C: drive.
You lot can employ the commands similar this. Note that yous can put whatever drive letters you have in there. I ran it for each of my iii drives. Note that this isn't merely used for System Restore, it's also used for the "Previous Versions" feature of Windows that keeps some number of Shadow Backups in instance you delete something and didn't mean it. Kind of a mini, local time machine. Bespeak is, this isn't a feature you probably want off, just one you want kept to a max.
Here's the command line I used. Your mileage may vary.
vssadmin Resize ShadowStorage /On=C: /For=C: /MaxSize=15GB
Understand what's taking up all that space with SpaceSniffer or WinDirStat or TreeSize Free. - I've used a large number of Windows Folder Size checkers, and the one I keep coming back to is WinDirStat. WinDirStat is oldish merely is Open Source, and it works great in Windows. It'due south wonderfully multi-threaded and is generally fabulous. It'll aid yous find those crazy big log files you've forgotten about deep in %APPDATA%. It saved me 10 gigs of random goo. SpaceSniffer is also astonishing and actually lets yous drill into what's going on space-wise in your disk.
Remove Old Stuff - Just go into Add/Remove Programs or Programs and Features and tidy upward. There'due south likely a pile of sometime crap in there that's taking upwards space. I removed some Games and Game Demos and got dorsum v gigs.
Be sure to SORT by size to detect big stuff AND sort by "installed on" to find old stuff you've forgotten! Too note the "Full size" at the bottom that no one notices. This is the full size of Desktop apps, not Windows Store apps.
Uninstall anything evil - If y'all desire to get a quick look at what'south on a car and uninstall LOTS of stuff quickly, look no further than NirSoft's My Uninstaller (download). Remove Toolbars (they recall they need them and they never exercise and won't miss them), and anything that looks like information technology might destabilize their arrangement. I check out toolbars, add-ins, etc
Wasteful TempFiles/ScratchFiles Settings in Popular Programs - Most programs that need scratch space have a style to set a ceiling on that Max Infinite. Get into Cyberspace Explorer or Firefox, into the options and delete the Temporary Internet Files. Gear up a reasonable size like 250 megs or 500 megs. I've seen those cache sizes set to gigs. If you've got a speedy connexion to the cyberspace, that's only overkill. Check other programs similar Adobe Photoshop and other editors and run into where they store their temporary files and how large they've get. I used SpaceSniffer (mentioned above) and was shocked to find 5 gigs of sometime temp files from a yr agone in fiddling used programs.
Podcast Apps, especially iTunes - If y'all've configured iTunes to automatically download podcasts, exist enlightened that these tin app up if you use the default settings. Set your podcasts to continue just the last episode or concluding few, rather than 10 or more unlistened-to files.
NTFS Compression - That'due south correct, baby, Stacker (kidding). This is a great feature of NTFS that more people should use. If you lot've got a agglomeration of folders with onetime crap in them, but y'all don't want to delete them, shrink. If you've got a folder that fills upwards with text files or other easily compressed and frequently access stuff, shrink 'em. I typically shrink any and all folders that are infrequently accessed, only I'g not ready to toss. That is most 30-40% of my difficult drive. Why carp to shrink when Deejay Space is so inexpensive? Well, C: drive space normally isn't. I've got an SSD, and it's small. I'd like to get as much out of it as I tin without the hassle of moving my Programme Files to D:. More than importantly, Why the heck not? Why shouldn't I compress? It's utterly painless. But right click a folder, hit Properties, then Advanced, and so Compress. Then forget about it. Every bit long as you're not compressing a bunch of Cipher files (won't practice much) and so you're all set up. You might consider defragging when you're done, just to tidy up if you lot don't have an SSD.
Find Fat Temp File Apps and squash them - Google World and Microsoft Virtual Earth 3D are really fast and loose with the disk space. You tin can poke around for a while and next thing you lot know you're down two gigs or more. If you don't use the app a lot, delete the caches when you exit, or better yet, make the cache size for each app modest.
Remove Crap with CrapCleaner (CLeaner) - This is a brilliant utility that removes crapware, unneeded programs, toolbars and other things that might litter up your machine.
Advanced: Use Junction Points/Difficult Links/Reparse Points to move temp file folders - This is an advanced technique. If this technique kills your beloved pet cat, don't email me. You have been warned. Also, annotation that I'm only saying it works for me.
I reclaimed 25 gigs just today by moving the MobileSync Backup folder from iTunes to a spinning rust disk off my SSD.
Here'southward the idea. You lot'll move it to a drive with more than space, but you'll Lie to iTunes using a little-used Windows Utility that will make a LINK between the binder iTunes expects to observe and the binder you want your backups in. Meet? Information technology'southward avant-garde but VERY powerful, particularly when you
```
C:\Users\Scott\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync>dir                  Directory of C:\Users\Scott\AppData\Roaming\Apple Figurer\MobileSync
                11/25/2011  10:10 PM    <DIR>          .
xi/25/2011  10:10 PM    <DIR>          ..
eleven/25/2011  10:10 PM    <JUNCTION>     Fill-in [f:\iTunesMobileSync\Fill-in]
                  0 File(south)              0 bytes
                  3 Dir(southward)  97,594,851,328 bytes gratis
              
```

While your are in at that place, why not practise some more maintenance on your car, blow out that dust and install some updates? Bank check out the The Technical Friend's Essential Maintenance Checklist for Non-Technical Friend'south Windows Computer.

Hope this helps! If I missed annihilation, sound off in the comments!

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About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, onetime Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, male parent, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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