Have you ever felt your computer working extremely slow and you could do nothing about it? There is a great chance that your C drive is full, and this lack of space is slowing down your system.
If this is the problem you face with your system, our guide can help you clean your C drive and increase space and speed in your Windows 10/7 system.
While Windows 10 has proven to be a great OS and is used by millions worldwide, slow and sluggish process have bugged the experience for many. Often, the operating system doesn’t clean the mess on its own and keeps filling up to storage. In some time, you can see GBs of temporary files (temp files) or junk files and folders eating up your device’s space. This not only reduces the space on your computer but also slows down multiple functions, leading to a bad overall experience.
As the operating system is installed on your C drive, cleaning the drive can help you get a faster and smoother experience.
What takes up space in your C drive?
While many of you may already know, there are still several users still unaware of types of junk files that take up space in your C drive. We have listed down common types of files that might be eating up space in your computer or laptop.
- System files: These are important files of your operating system that store your computer system’s fundamental components.
- Temp files and cache data: While running multiple software, programs, and web apps, your device store some files to smoothen your experience next time you visit the same program. Although it improves your experience, it massively eats space in your C drive.
- Deleted files: When you delete a file or a folder from your device, it does not get removed completely but stored in your recycle bin. And your C drive is where all the files in recycle bin are stored.
- Software data: The more software and applications you store on your device, the more software or app data is created in your C drive.
- User content: C drive also stores tons of other content and downloaded user files that take up substantial space, causing your system to slow down.
How to clean C drive for better speed?
While C drive stores all your important software files and programs, it is important to delete the files that are of no use or not required to perform any core functions. We will talk about some simple yet important steps you can perform to clean C drive and get better speed and space on your Windows 10 or 7 system. You can follow these ideas in any of your Windows devices, but the actual steps may vary from version to version.
Delete temp files
There are many ways you can delete temp files from your system. One of the simplest ways to do so is by using Disk Cleanup from the Start menu.
- Click on the start menu and type to search the ‘Disk Cleanup’ option and click on it.
- The Disk Cleanup program will launch. Once launched, choose the drive you want to clean, C drive in this case. Click Ok to start the process.
- The process will calculate and show the amount of data that can be deleted from your C drive.
- In the pop-up box, click on the ‘Temporary Files’ option and then click on Ok to clean the temp files from your device.
- This will clean up some space from your C drive.
Uninstall unwanted application
If you are using your Windows system for quite a long time, there is a great chance that you are storing a lot of applications on your system that you are not even using. These apps are sucking up space from your C drive and making your system slow.
- Click on the start menu and navigate to the ‘Setting’ menu.
- Click on the ‘System’ setting to see all the system setting on your device.
- From the list on the left, click on ‘Apps and features’. You can now see the list of all the software installed on your system.
- Find the app or software you wish to remove from your system.
- Once you find it, double-tap its icon to get the ‘uninstall’ option.
- Click on ‘Uninstall’ to completely remove the app and all its content from your system.
- You can uninstall multiple apps this way.
Remove junk files via Storage Sense
If you upgrade your Windows 10 software from time to time, then you can also take the help of the Storage Sense option in-built in your device settings. This utility feature can help you clean your C drive.
- From the start menu, go to ‘Settings’ and navigate to ‘System’ settings.
- From the left menu, click on ‘Storage’. Here, you can turn on the “Storage Sense” feature.
- You will now get a plethora of options to clean up your C drive. For instance, you can check the ‘Delete temporary files that my apps aren’t using’ option and set the desired time.
- You can also clean your ‘Recycle Bin’ from here or directly from the start menu or click the desktop icon.
- You can explore more options from here to get more space in your C drive.
These are some simple yet effective ways to clean the C drive of your device. You can also find several other methods on the internet at your convenience.