This article answers the question: "How to clean drive" C "?" This operation always remains relevant, since reducing the free space on the system partition usually leads to malfunctions in the OS and software. This problem can even make Windows unable to boot. The article discusses all the main ways to increase unallocated space on the HDD.
The reasons why the free disk space is reduced on the system disk
Before you clean the "C" drive, you should find out what helps to reduce the amount of unallocated space. The main reasons for reducing free space on the system disk can be divided into three groups: the operation of programs, the functioning of the OS itself and the accumulation of user data.
Any applications installed on the computer take up space on the HDD. Also, in the process of their work, they create many temporary files, as well as write their settings to special directories, which allows the user not to configure the utilities again after reinstalling them. If the application is no longer needed by the user, the settings files will still remain on the drive and take up space.
The operating system also creates many settings files that can be used once, but stored on the drive for a long time. In addition, to ensure user safety, WIndows creates recovery points after installing each application or device, which also reduces the amount of free disk space.
In addition, after downloading and installing the application, the distribution package remains in the system, even if the program is deleted. It must be washed by hand. When the number of distributions in the directory with downloaded files increases, they can take up quite a lot of space on the HDD.
Uninstall programs
To clean drive “C” on Windows 7, first uninstall unused games and applications. To do this:
- Expand the standard Control Panel snap-in.
- Click on the text "Uninstall a program." A list of all installed software will expand on the screen.
- By double-clicking on any item in the list, you can launch the standard dialog for uninstalling software. The user can sort the applications by installation date, name and, most importantly, size. Only delete utilities that you don’t use. If in doubt whether you need one or another program, study its description on the Internet.
- After uninstalling all unnecessary utilities, restart the computer, because in rare cases, installers cannot delete some files currently used.
Cleaning "garbage" with regular means
As mentioned earlier, the operating system creates many temporary files and entries with settings that can be deleted without consequences. How to clean drive “C” from garbage using regular tools?
Follow these steps:
- Expand the main window of the program "Explorer". To do this, just select the "Computer" icon on the Windows desktop and press "Enter."
- Click once on the "C" drive and press the "Alt" + "Enter" key combination.
- In the dialog that opens, click on the button with the text "Disk Cleanup".
- Wait until the program analyzes the files.
- In the dialog that opens, check the boxes next to all the items, then click on the "OK" button.
Cleaning may take a long time. It depends on the amount of garbage accumulated in the system.
Recovery points
As stated at the beginning of the article, Windows creates restore points when installing new drivers and applications. This operation is designed to reduce the risk of data loss during crashes. But if the user has not installed new software on the PC for a long time, it makes sense to delete the recovery points. How to clean drive "C" on Windows 7, erasing information for recovery? Follow the instructions below:
- Go to the "Disk Cleanup" dialog.
- Click on the "Advanced" tab in the upper area of the window.
- In the box under the text "System Restore," click on the button that says "Clear." The OS will ask if it is worth deleting recovery points. Answer yes.
The operating system does not notify the user in any way about the end of the cleaning process. When file deletion is complete, the window simply closes.
Basket
Deleted files are moved by the operating system to a special directory called the Recycle Bin. The user can assume that he has erased enough information to free up the hard drive for further work, but the documents themselves will simply be moved to the "Trash". Therefore, it should be cleaned from time to time.
How to clean drive "C" from unnecessary files that have already been deleted? To clear the basket, you do not need to perform complex actions, just call up the menu by clicking on the desktop icon in the form of a bin, and then click on the text "Empty the basket". If the screen does not have this icon, follow these steps:
- Right-click on the desktop, and then click on the menu item with the text "Personalization".
- In the left part of the dialog that opens, click on the "Change Icons" link.
- Check the box next to "Trash."
- Click on Enter.
Now the standard trash can icon will be displayed on the desktop. With it, you can easily erase unnecessary deleted files.
Delete unnecessary files from the desktop
Very often, users save many different files to the desktop, such as music, installation packages, movies. And all this is stored in the section where the operating system is installed. To clean the "C" drive on Windows, simply move the large files from the desktop to any section of the hard drive, but not to the system.
To do this, just select the desired directory or document and press the key combination "Ctrl" + "X". After that, just go to the directory where you want to move the files and use the combination "Shift" + "Insert". Naturally, if some documents stored on the desktop are not needed, you can safely erase them. After removal, be sure to empty the Recycle Bin.
Download folder
The Downloads directory is another place where many unused user files are accumulated. The fact is that this directory is used by default to download files of any type from the Internet. Often users, using the downloaded installation distribution kit or viewing the document once, do not delete the files, but continue to use the computer as if they were not there.
How to clean a hard drive by deleting files downloaded from the World Wide Web? To do this, use any file manager. Just go to the directory "C: \ Users \ [Username] \ Downloads" and delete all the files that you do not need. You can immediately switch to the "Table" view, and then sort the documents by size. This approach will help you understand which files take up the most space. Sometimes when viewing documents downloaded from the Internet, it seems that the size of each of them is quite small - several hundred megabytes. However, after deleting several unnecessary files of such a volume at once, it turns out that they occupied quite a lot of space on the HDD. After erasing all documents do not forget to empty the basket.
How to clean drive "C" on "Windows" by deleting the browser cache?
In the modern world, the Internet is ubiquitous, and browsers are for many those programs that start first after starting a computer. Internet browsers are used for work, communication, gaming, searching for information, watching movies. It is only natural that the applications that are entrusted with such a large amount of work require a significant part of the hardware resources, and the hard drive is no exception in this regard. Browsers store browsing history, passwords and logins, cache of pages, pictures and videos on it. Of course, all this takes up a lot of space on the HDD.
How to clean drive "C" from unnecessary files created by Internet browsers? The instruction is simple:
- Launch your internet browser.
- On the keyboard, press the key combination "Shift" + "Ctrl" + "Del".
- In the dialog that opens, select which type of records to delete. If in doubt, check the boxes next to which items, check all but the "Passwords" line.
- Click on the "Clear" label. The text on the button may differ in different browsers.
- When cleaning is complete, the browser can be closed.
This procedure should be performed for each Internet browser, since it is not enough to clean the “C” drive from files of one browser only. Sometimes the keyboard shortcut may not work, it is suitable only for the most popular browsers. If you use other software, try looking for the data cleaning function in the settings. If you can’t find it, read the instructions for using the software, which is located on the official website of the developer. Typically, you can quickly go to it by pressing the "F1" button on the keyboard or by selecting the item with the text "Help" in the menu.
File system analysis
User files are often the main reason that free space is reduced on the system partition. The situation is aggravated by the fact that several people, including children, can work on one PC at once. How to clean drive "C" from garbage if the location of the user's large files is unknown or forgotten?
For this operation, you can use special programs that analyze the space occupied by documents and directories. I must say that this method is not suitable for inexperienced users. The application only shows what the occupied space is, and the user makes the decision to delete files. To clean the "C" drive on version 7 of WIndows manually, follow these steps:
- Download, install and run the WinDirStat utility.
- Select the system partition and click on "OK." After that, the analysis of the occupied space will begin.
- After analysis, a diagram consisting of rectangles of different sizes and colors will appear at the bottom of the utility window. By clicking on any of them, you can go to the file that it symbolizes. The scheme is not the best option for viewing documents. It’s easier and more convenient to pay attention to the bands next to the catalogs. The longer the strip, the more space the directory files on the hard drive occupy.
- Once you find out which unnecessary directories and directories occupy the most space, delete them, and then empty the trash.
Be careful: never delete files from system folders.
Ccleaner
CCleaner is a free utility that allows you to remove "garbage" that could not be cleaned manually. With it, you can clear temporary directories, browser caches, delete invalid registry entries. The program is as effective as safe. The failure of the operating system due to the operation of the utility is almost excluded.
How to clean the "C" drive from the "garbage" on Windows using the CCleaner tool? First, the utility must be installed. For this:
- Download the installation package to your computer from the official website of the software developer.
- Run the installer from the directory where the downloaded files are stored, or from the browser.
- To install the application, just click on the "Install" inscription. If you want to configure the installation path and other parameters, click on "Customize".
- When installation is complete, click on the text "Run CCleaner".
After this installation, the entire utility interface will be in English. To enable Russian localization:
- Click on the gear icon, which is located on the left side of the main application window.
- Click on the text "Settings".
- In the drop-down menu opposite the line "Language", select "Russian".
How to clean a disk from "garbage" Windows 7 after installing CCleaner and language settings? Follow the instructions:
- In the left pane of the window, click on the icon that shows the broom.
- On the tab with the name "Windows", check the boxes next to all the items. Be careful: if you do not want to erase any types of files from the proposed ones, uncheck the boxes next to their description.
- Now go to the "Applications" tab and also check all the boxes.
- Click on the button with the text "Analysis". After performing this action, the utility will display information about which files occupy which space on the HDD. Also, the total amount of documents that will be deleted will be indicated here.
- Click on the words "Cleaning". A warning appears on the screen that the files will be erased from the storage device.
- Click on Continue.
- When finished, close the utility.
Before you clean the "C" drive with the CCleaner application, it is not superfluous to create a system restore point. After cleaning, you should restart your computer and work on it for some time. If after a long period of operation no failures are observed, you can delete the restore point.
File system compression
You have followed all the recommendations, but there is still not enough free space on the system partition? Try compressing the file system. How to clean drive "C" using file system compression? Follow the instructions below:
- Right-click on the system partition in the standard file manager.
- In the menu that appears, select the item with the text "Properties".
- Check the box next to "Compress this disk."
- Click on Enter.
- Move the switch to the lower position and press "Enter".
This operation cannot be called garbage cleaning, but it helps to get a few extra gigabytes of free space.