How to Clean C Drive in Windows 10: 7 Best Ways

If you’re a regular Windows 10 user then there’s always a question swirling around your head, How do I clean and free up some on my C drive in Windows 10? However, there is no doubt that Windows is one of the most powerful operating systems but with only a minor downside. A lot of times, it doesn’t clean up its mess and junk files that take up a lot of disk space. As a result, users are searching for different ways to clean the C drive. In this guide, you’ll learn the 7 best ways to clean C drive in Windows 10 in order to boost your Windows performance.

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Moreover, For most users, the all-important “C” drive is the backbone of their PC, where their operating system is installed, and all the essential system files are stored. Inevitably, this is also the hard drive that gets filled up most quickly due to constant Windows updates, downloaded files that you’ve deleted, and the fact that everything is saved to the “C” drive by default.

How to Clean C Drive in Windows 10

Although today’s hard drives come with multi-terabyte options, it doesn’t take a lot of time until we fill them with thousands of files, photos, videos, apps, and games. But you will definitely start experiencing poor performance on your Windows.

If your computer is running out of space, Windows 10 provides a range of features and options to clean up unused and temporary files, as well as apps and games to maximize storage. By using these tools correctly and effectively will not only help free up space to store more important files but will also increase performance and reduce the chances of issues when installing updates. So, here are the 7 best solutions to clean C drive.

Solution 1. Cleaning Temp and Prefetch Files

In the first method, you’ll need to manually delete Temp and Prefetch junk files from the C drive. So, here’s how to completely clean Temp and Prefetch files:

A)

Step 1. Press Windows + R to open Run.

Step 2. Type Temp and click OK. If prompted click Continue.

Step 3. Now, you’re in the Temp folder, press Ctrl + A to select all files then press Shift + delete to delete all.

B)

Step 1. Press Windows + R to open Run.

Step 2. Type %Temp% and click OK. If prompted click Continue.

Step 3. Now, you’re in the Temp folder, press Ctrl + A to select all files then press Shift + delete to delete all.

C)

Step 1. Press Windows + R to open Run.

Step 2. Type Prefetch and click OK. If prompted click Continue.

Step 3. Now, you’re in the Prefetch folder, press Ctrl + A to select all files then press Shift + delete to delete all.

Solution 2. Empty Recycle Bin to Clean C Drive

Although it might be apparent when you delete certain files, they won’t be deleted from the hard drive instantly in case of deleting files by pressing the delete key. They are instead sent back to the Recycle Bin. By the time the Recycle bin will grow in size and takes lots of space in your C drive.

To empty the Recycle Bin on Windows 10, use these steps:

Step 1. Open Recycle bin.

Step 2. Select all the files then click Empty Recycle Bin on the top left-hand corner.

Solution 3. Uninstall All Unwanted Apps

If you have been using your Windows system for some time now, a lot of unwanted applications must have been accumulated. To get going, you should review all of the apps installed on your computer and get rid of all the unwanted or unused programs you no longer need.

To delete unwanted apps, use these steps:

Step 1. Press Windows + I to open Settings.

Step 2. Click Apps.

Step 3. Find the App or Apps that you no longer use and uninstall them.

Solution 4. Optimize C Drive

In order to minimize slow hard drive performance on Windows 10, Windows includes an integrated tool to defrag all fragmented files and help your PC stay up to speed.

Over the years, changes to the Windows Drive Optimization Tool have been made. Nevertheless, even though the operating system is able to identify the type of storage and manage file defragmentation automatically, it is not always ideal. Either you may not keep your PC running long enough, or you may have an external hard drive that is not always connected to your machine that prevents maintenance from running properly. clean c drive

Here’s how to optimize C drive:

Step 1. Open file explorer by pressing Windows + E.

Step 2. Right-click on C drive then select Properties.

Step 3. Click Tools and select Optimize.

Step 4. Make sure that C drive is selected then click Optimize once again.

Solution 5. Disk Clean up

While working for a while on your Windows system, chances are you could end up accumulating loads of temporary data. While temp files are used to store some vital information and make the overall experience smoother, they can also consume a lot of space. The easiest way to clear the C drive is to clean its temporary data at regular intervals using the Disk Cleaning Tool. clean c drive

Here’s how to use Disk clean up:

Step 1. Type disk cleanup in the search bar menu and open it.

Step 2. Once the Disk Cleanup application is launched, you need to select the drive you wish to clean. In this case, it will be the C drive.

Step 3. Wait a bit, as the application will measure the data from the drive that it should clean.

Step 4. Check all the boxes and click Clean up system files.

Step 5. Once again, check all the boxes, click OK and click Delete Files.

Solution 6. Use Storage Sense

Windows 10 has a helpful function called Storage Sense that tracks your PC’s storage space, then jumps in and cleans, if you run small. It does simple stuff such as cleaning your Recycling Bin, deleting old files from your Downloads tab, and deleting temporary files from your computer.

Step 1. Go to Settings.

Step 2. Click System.

Step 3. Click Storage in the left pane.

Step 4. Click Configure Storage Sense or run it now.

Step 5. Turn the Storage Sense on.

Step 6. Click the drop-down menu to choose whether you want it run when you’re low on space daily, weekly, or monthly.

Solution 7. Free up Space by Disabling Hibernation

To save power and time, a lot of Windows users put their system on hibernation. This can backfire though – as the function generates a dedicated device file (hiberfil.sys). The file will store all of the system’s vital information during the hibernation, so you can continue from where you left off before. Ideally, turning off hibernation isn’t necessary, if you’re used to it.

Here’s how to disable hibernation in Windows 10:

Step 1. Open Command Prompt and run it as an Administrator, if you’re prompted click Yes.

Step 2. Type powercfg /hibernate off and press Enter.

Step 3. Alternatively, you can also type the “powercfg –h OFF” command and press enter. This will automatically disable the hibernation mode on your system.

Once you complete the steps, you’ll no longer be able to hibernate your device, but the available storage will increase to save other files.

Conclusion

That’s it. This is how you can clean a C drive in Windows 10. I hope, these 7 ways would help you. As you all know that C drive is the backbone of the PC. So, as a regular Windows user, you have to clean the C drive every now and then. In the end, I would like to recommend that whenever you’re downloading software, music, videos, or photos then kindly select other drives as a destination folder and do not select C drive as destination download.