![]() ![]() The combination of Windows’ own Storage settings and WinDirStat might not magically clean up your hard drive, but they’ll help you make an informed decision on what to keep and what to delete.All too often, our computer desktops serve as a dumping ground for all kinds of random bits and pieces. It presents this information to you in a File Explorer-like interface coupled with a graphical UI, so you may need to dig through and find any hidden Steam games, for example, that may have escaped your notice. MP4 video files? WinDirStat can tell you. Want to find out how much space is consumed by. WinDirStat is powerful, though intimidating.Īs my colleague Brad Chacos explains, WinDirStat solves this problem by offering a top-down view of your hard drive, with a graphical representation of the size and type of your files. If you’ve downloaded a few games via Steam, for example, Windows can’t recognize how much space they take up. The one key limitation I’ve noticed about WIndows’ own Storage settings is that they have blinders on where other app stores are concerned. You can save space, sure, but it might not be worth the inconvenience. Before you can access it, however, it must be downloaded from OneDrive, which might be undesirable for those users with slow or unreliable Internet connections. ![]() What Windows can do is delete local files that are already backed up in the cloud, saving space.Ī file that’s backed up in OneDrive can be accessed by clicking it in File Explorer, just like a local file. OneDrive files stored only in the cloud have a cloud icon. In File Explorer, files stored on your local hard drive (on your PC) are shown with a green checkmark next to them. It won’t! It will simply clean up local files that have been previously backed up, which won’t be everything on your PC.) Mark Hachman / IDG (Note: don’t expect this option to simply copy your hard drive into the cloud. Windows is smart enough to know if such a copy exists, and can delete the local copy, preserving the bookmark and maintaining the copy in the cloud. Files that you’ve stored locally are maintained on your local hard drives, but a copy is also kept on OneDrive (provided you have the space). But it keeps a placeholder-sort of a file bookmark on your local hard drive. By default, Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud-storage service backs up your Documents, Pictures, and even your Desktop folder. ![]() The OneDrive subheading is a bit more subjective. There will be some that say that you should keep older Windows Update files in case you need to roll back a flawed update, but this is rare. The “temporary files” section usually contains a number of files that can be safely deleted. Click the Remove files button at the top to clear everything out. Clicking the Temporary files subheading opens up a wealth of files that even Windows thinks are unnecessary, from temporary Internet files to the Recycle bin. The “Temporary files” and “OneDrive subheadings” are typically the mother lode of unwanted files. Filter by file size to make the task easier. Mark Hachman / IDGĪpps typically consume gobs of gigabytes at a time, so look here first for unwanted old apps that consume space. Note that some Windows native apps, such as Photos, won’t be uninstallable. Reorganize the list by file size to see which apps consume the most space, then click the app and select Uninstall to get rid of it. Click the Apps menu, which will lead you to a page where Windows will show you the apps stored on your PC. ![]() You may find that a “small” game that you downloaded actually takes up a few gigabytes that you want back. Apps traditionally gobble up the most space on a PC. ![]()
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