Disk Cleanup is an Important, Underrated Windows Feature

For those novices wise enough not to become involved with 3rd party “speed up your computer” software but would like to tidy up their system, know that Windows provides a utility that may help increase your computers performance. And do so without the possibility of a blue screen of death.

Disk Cleanup will “safely” reduce the number of unnecessary files on your computer to free up disk space and perhaps even help your computer to run a bit faster by removing temporary files and unnecessary system files and logs.

To access Disk Cleanup type “disk” in the Start menu search bar and then click Disk Cleanup under Programs or click on your Start Menu > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup.

When you open Disk Cleanup click the drop-down box to select the desired drive to clean up and press the OK button.

Depending on the size of your drive and its contents, the Disk Cleanup may take a few seconds to a few minutes to compute the amount of space it will be able to safely free up.

When done analyzing, Disk Cleanup will present the total amount of space that can be reclaimed. Scroll to the “Files to delete” list to see the various categories of files that can be deleted e.g., Downloaded Program Files, Recycle bin, System error files, and Temporary files.

You can highlight a category for a description.

Note: For some of the categories by clicking the “View files” button Disk Cleanup will provide a presentation of the files that can be deleted.

To delete the files from one or more of the categories select the appropriate check boxes and click OK. A confirmation box will appear. Click “Delete files”.

When the deletion begins Disk Cleanup provides a progress bar.

Click on the “More Options” tab to free up additional space should you decide to remove all but your most recent System Restore Point and\or seldom used programs determined by Disk Cleanup.

Note: I suggest rather than allowing Disk Cleanup to determine what programs you should delete, you make that decision yourself and then delete your choices via your Control Panel’s Add and Remove Programs (XP and Vista) or Programs and Features (Windows 7).

Disk Cleanup is an important, underrated Windows feature. I recommend to novices that until they’re experienced users Disk Cleanup should be the only computer performance utility they use to free up space by deleting unnecessary temporary and system files.

Here’s wishing you a Good Boot.