Find And Remove Large Unwanted Programs Using Third
You might be experiencing low disk storage issues because of large files hidden somewhere on your PC. Windows offers several ways to delete unwanted software, but it may be hard for you to locate some programs manually. You can easily find and delete large programs by using third-party software.
There are many software programs you can use, but we recommend IObit Uninstaller in this article. It once had a poor reputation for bundling third-party software in the installation, but that is no longer an issue.
You can remove all your large unwanted programs with the free version of the software. Heres how you can use the software to delete unwanted programs from your PC:
Uninstall Applications You Know You Dont Need
Take a look at the installed programs you have on your computer. Many programs that come pre-loaded by the manufacturer on a new computer take up disk space regardless of whether you use them. Pre-installed or third-party programs can take up a deceiving amount of disk space. Scroll down your list of programs, starting with the ones that take up the most amount of space, and consider if theyre worth keeping. If you decide a program isnt worth the space its hogging, uninstall it.
Ways To Free Up Disk Space In Windows 10
Zap all those giant space hogs
When you use Windows 10, the internal storage on your PC fills up gradually over time. Thats not a major problem on high capacity HDDs and SSDs. But youll run into space-related snags on drives that dont offer much breathing room to start with.
You can rely on several methods to free up disk space in Windows 10. Some of them help you free up tens of gigabytes, while others net you only a few extra megabytes.
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Free Up Space Disabling Hibernation On Windows 10
On Windows 10, Hibernation is a nifty feature that saves the data in memory onto the system drive before shutting down to preserve the current session. When the device comes back online, you can pick up where you left off.
Although it is a convenient feature, it requires many gigabytes of space to save the memory information into the hiberfil.sys file. If the device is running out of room, disabling Hibernation can help free up space for more critical files.
To disable Hibernation to free up space, use these steps:
Type the following command to disable Hibernation and press Enter:
powercfg /hibernate off
Once you complete the steps, Hibernation will no longer be available, but you will have more space to store other files.
In the future, you can always re-enable the feature with the same instructions, but on step No. 3, make sure to use the powercfg /hibernate on command.
Way 8 Perform A Clean Boot On Windows 11/10
Clean Boot State is used to diagnose and troubleshoot advanced Windows problems. A “clean boot” starts Windows with a minimal set of drivers and startup programs so that you can determine whether a background program is interfering with your system performance. If you have never performed a clean boot, now is the time to learn.
Step 1. Type msconfig in start search and hit “Enter” to open “System Configuration.”
Step 2. Click the “General” tab, and then click “Selective Startup.” Clear the “Load Startup Items” checkbox, and ensure that “Load System Services” and “Use Original boot configuration” are checked.
Step 3. Click the “Services” tab. Select the “Hide all Microsoft services” checkbox. Select the item and then select “Disable all.”
Step 4. Click “Apply/OK” and restart the computer. This will put Windows into a Clean Boot State.
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Delete Temporary And Downloaded Files
You can delete temporary files without running Disk Cleanup, along with files you downloaded that you may no longer need. Go to Settings > System and click on Storage on the left panel. Next, click Temporary files from the list that shows you how your storage is being used on the C: drive and check the boxes for the type of temp files you want to jettison before clicking the Remove files button to delete them.
Delete Unnecessary Files Using Storage Sense
To free up space using Storage Sense, use these steps:
Under the “Storage” section, click the Configure Storage Sense or run it now option.
Use the drop-down menu to specify how to clean up files you downloaded from the internet.
Quick tip: If you need to delete the most files, use the 1 day option. The folder may contain valuable files you may have downloaded from the internet, which means that it is recommended to backup those files manually before running Storage Sense.
Under the “Locally available cloud content” section, use the drop-down menu to specify how long OneDrive content synced to the device becomes online-only.
Quick note: This option is part of OneDrive Files On-Demand that allows you to access your documents, pictures, videos, and other files using File Explorer, without the need to sync them to reduce the space usage on your device. When your computer is low on space, you can use it to make files only available in the cloud. You will still see your files, but their content will only download when you need them.
Under the “Free up space now” section, check the Delete previous versions of Windows option .
Quick note: If this option is available, you may be able to free up close to 20GB of space.
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Create More Space By Using External Storage Devices
If you don’t have enough disk space on your PC, you can use an external storage device to complete the Windows 10 update. For this, you’ll need an external storage device with about 10GB of free space or more, depending on how much additional space you need.
To get started, select Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Check for Updates.
Windows will pop up the “Windows needs more space” error message. On the Windows update page, select Fix issues. This will launch the Windows update tool that lets you update your PC using an external storage device. From here, follow these steps:
Before using an external storage device for updating your PC, make sure you backup your important files.
How To Free Up Space On Your Laptop
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A cluttered hard drive is a cluttered mind. If you’re constantly fighting against a “Low disk space” warning, it may be time for a little spring cleaning. Here’s how to find out what’s taking up space on your PC or Macand what to do with the files you just can’t let go of.
Before you start deleting things willy-nilly, you should step back and look for the big wins. Deleting a bunch of 50-MB files here and there isn’t going to make nearly as big a difference as cleaning out an 80-GB folder of old TV shows or uninstalling a few games.
If you’re on a Windows 10 machine, open up Settings > System > Storage to see a breakdown of your drive and which folders are taking up the most space. You can click on any category to see more information, especially in the “Other” category, which will show you individual folders with large files in them. Find stuff you don’t need anymore, and get rid of itit’s not always easy, but this is the best thing you can do to free up space.
If you’re on a Mac, you can analyze your drive for large files by clicking the Apple menu in the top-left corner and going to About This Mac > Storage. Click the Manage button and you’ll see different categories in the sidebar that you can select for a list of large files. Right-click files to delete them, and empty the Trash when you’re finished.
Scott Gilbertson
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Configure And Run Storage Sense
If you want to better configure the Storage Sense feature, click the Configure Storage Sense or run it now link. You can then determine how often the tool will run and when temporary files and downloads will automatically be deleted.
Open the Run Storage Sense drop-down menu to determine how frequently the feature should runEvery day, Every week, Every month, or During low free disk space. Unless you’re constantly running low on space, running it monthly should be a good place to start.
Under the Temporary Files header, check the box next to Delete temporary files that my apps aren’t using to automatically remove unneeded temporary files on a regular basis. You can also tell Storage Sense to automatically purge files in the Recycle Bin and Downloads folder dailyevery 14, 30, or 60 days, or never.
Storage Sense must be switched on in order for your scheduled maintenance to take place. However, if you’re running low on space, you can take action right away. Click Clean now to make Windows scan for unnecessary files that can be deleted. After the work is done, Windows tells you how much space has been freed.
Way 10 Turn To Remote Assistance
Is the 100% disk usage issue slowing down your Windows 8.x or Windows 10 computer? Have any of these methods fixed the problem? Tell us, and let’s see if we can get it resolved. EaseUS also provides 1-on-1 remote assistance to fix the Windows issue. If the solution above does not work for you, contact our professionals via email or LiveChat on this page.
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Move Local Files To External Drive
To transfer existing files to an external storage, connect the drive that you will dedicate to the computer, and then use these steps:
Use the drop-down menu to select the new location.
After you complete the steps, you may need to repeat the same instructions to move additional apps or games to the new location.
When using this feature, the external drive always has to be connected to the computer. Otherwise, you won’t be able to launch the apps or play those games you moved to the new storage.
Defragment Your Hard Drive
When adding a new file to your computer, a particular portion of your hard drive is allocated to store the file. However, after constantly saving and deleting files, a disk will become fragmented. This means that there are gaps in your hard drive where subsequent files would not fit, so they are left vacant.
As well as affecting your usable free space on your hard drive, fragmentation also has a negative impact on your computers ability to store your data in sequence, hence slowing down its speed.
Luckily, Windows has us covered, providing a Disk Defragmentation tool. Using this tool, we can analyze which of our drives would benefit from defragmentation, before we commit to defragging. This is very useful, as if you have a large drive full of data, it may take a substantial amount of time to defrag.
To make use of this tool, hit your Windows icon, or Start menu, then start typing Defragment. From the search list, click Disk Defragmenter. Once you see the tools window, you can elect each drive and analyze them to determine what percentage of them is fragmented. Higher percentages mean higher fragmentation.
To defragment your disk, just hit Defragment Disk.
Note:
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Free Up Storage Space On Your Pc
Already run out of storage space on your speedy SSD and stuck installing the latest games on an ageing hard drive you found in a cupboard under the stairs? Fear not, weve put together the best tips we could muster to get rid of all your storage goblins, free up as much space on your storage drives as possible, and get rid of all the needless files that Windows has squirreled away on your OS.
Gone are the days when you could squeeze the very best AAA titles onto 700MB of disk space. Instead, we have to deal with installation files occasionally well over 100GB, for example, Final Fantasy XV launched earlier this year on PC with over 150GB of install files, thats over 200 Half Life installs from back in the day.
Still in need of more storage space? Here are the best SSDs for gaming.
Luckily, storage space has dropped dramatically in price to keep up with the increased demand, allowing us to enjoy the highest resolution textures our graphics cards can handle. One gigabyte of storage space on a hard drive back in 1998 would cost you roughly $50 which would leave Final Fantasys install folder valued at $7,500. Nowadays, a gigabyte could cost you as little as two cents.
But while the SATA interface was supposedly all the speed you could ever need, SSDs came along and massively sped up our PCs for a price. Unfortunately, SSDs cost a pretty penny, so keeping as much of that precious storage space clear is critical.
Uninstall Desktop Apps You No Longer Need
Uninstall desktop apps you don’t need any more in Programs and Features.
To uninstall or change a program
Open Programs and Features by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Programs, and then clicking Programs and Features.
Select a program, and then click Uninstall. Some programs include the option to change or repair the program in addition to uninstalling it, but many simply offer the option to uninstall. To change a program, click Change or Repair. If you’re prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
Note: If the program you want to uninstall isn’t listed, it might not have been written for this version of Windows. To uninstall the program, check the information that came with the program.
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Fix #: Disable Hibernation Mode
Hibernation in computing is to power down a computer while maintaining its state. If you have enabled Hibernation Mode in Windows, by changing the Folder Options to “Show hidden files, folders and drives” and unchecking “Hide protected operating system files “, you will find a file named “hiberfil.sys” located in the C drive, taking several gigabytes’ storage space.
To free up disk space taken by this file, you can open CMD and run this command:
Powercfg /hibernate off
Delete More Temporary Files
Windows 10 also contains large amounts of other temporary files that you can safely delete. For a complete step-by-step walkthrough, we recommend checking out this guide about removing temporary files in Windows 10. But heres the process in brief.
Start by pressing Windows + R to open the Run box. Then, type %temp% and select OK.
Follow by deleting all files and folders within the directory that shows up. Next, type temp into another Run box, select OK, and remove all files inside that directory as well. Finally, wrap up by restarting your computer.
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Best Tools For Extending C Drive In Windows 11/10/8/7
In this part, we’d like to introduce 3 best disk management tools to you and you can pick up one of them to extend your system C drive in Windows 11/10/8/7 for free:
| All levels of Windows users, beginners’ best choice | Experienced Windows users | Administrators |
Note that if you prefer an easier solution, apply EaseUS EaseUS Partition Master Free – Partition Master to increase C drive space in Windows 11/10/8/7/XP/Vista with success.
Pick up one of the free methods and follow the respective tutorial as shown below to start extending your local disk C drive now. These methods also work to extend data volumes on your PC.
Why Need To Increase C Drive Space
Accordingly, the reasons why people need to increase the C drive space are various. Mostly, it could be divided into the following two cases:
#1. C drive full, Windows warns with “Low Disk Space” message
One day, you may find the system partition does not have much free disk space left, and the Windows OS pops up a low disk space warning message, which states as: “You are running out of disk space on Local Disk …”
#2. Windows slows down, computer performances goes down
As time goes by, Windows OS, installed applications and programs will generate some application data, cache files, which will take up huge space on your C drive. So it is to your personal user data.
With the C drive getting full, the running speed of Windows OS and the performance of your computer will go down. Problems like high CPU usage, high ram memory, Windows 11/10 update stuck, etc., come along.
If you are with one of the listed cases, the best resolution is to increase the C drive space on your computer. How to do it? You’ll need a reliable disk partitioning tool that allows you to extend local disk C: drive.
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