How to free up space in Windows 10 - The Happy Android

It does not matter how much storage capacity our hard drive has. In the end, sooner rather than later we always end up in the same situation: the disk is full and it's time to free up space. Normally we do not usually realize it - at least in my case - until we want to install a new program and we see that we do not even have room to store a miserable text document. Don't worry, it happens to everyone!

In addition, now that SSD drives are more common, which also tends to lead to a much more limited storage space for the user, it is essential to have everything in its place. You know, scratch a couple of megabytes here and a few gigabytes there for the good of our PC.

8 easy ways to free up space in Windows 10

If you are also a little short of space on your hard drive, today's post will surely interest you. Next, we review some of the most effective methods to free up space in Windows 10. Surely many of you already know them, although I hope to surprise you with some of them. Let's go there!

1- Empty the recycle bin

This is the most direct and classic way to reclaim some space on your hard drive. When you see that your gigs are in red, right click on the Trash icon that you will see on the desktop and select "Empty the recycling bin”.

Remember that when we delete a file in Windows it is not erased from memory but goes to the trash, so still taking up disk space. Many times by simple forgetfulness they end up accumulating dozens of GB. Empty the trash from time to time and your PC will be happier!

2- Disk Cleanup

Windows has a native cleaning system called "Disk Cleanup" or Disk Cleanup. A tool that can help us free up space by eliminating different types of files: from temporary Internet files, through memory dump files, and even files from previous Windows installations that still remain on the computer.

You can open this application by typing "Disk Cleanup"In Cortana or by navigating to"Start -> Windows Administrative Tools -> Disk Cleanup”.

Select the unit you want to analyze and click "OK". Windows will calculate how much space it can free up. It will then show us a window with several options: check the boxes of the items you want to purge and click on "Clean system files" if you also want to free up space by deleting files such as the Windows.old folder.

3- Delete downloaded files and temporary files

In Windows it is also possible to delete temporary files and downloads without having to run the disk release tool. Click on the Windows start button and go to "Settings -> System”And in the side menu click on“ Storage ”.

Under your local disk, click on "Temporary files" and select all the elements you want to delete. Note: If you are going to delete all the contents of the Downloads folder make sure that it does not contain any important files that you want to keep.

4- Activate the storage sensor

Within the settings of “Settings -> System -> Storage”We also found another interesting tool called Storage Sensor. If we activate this functionality, the system will automatically delete any temporary file that is not being used, as well as any content from the Recycle Bin. older than 30 days.

If you are not one of those who empty the trash from time to time, it is best to leave this option always activated.

5- Move the files to another disk or external memory

Sometimes there are files that we just can't delete. If they are also heavy files (videos, sound / image editing, data processing, technical tools) they can quickly run out of disk space. In these cases, it is important to consider the possibility of moving all that content to another partition or disk drive - assuming we have one - or even transfer all this information to a USB memory or external disk for conservation.

The idea is that we only have on our main album those files that we access regularly, leaving free space to install other programs and download files without compromising the integrity of our hard drive.

6- Disable hibernation mode

Are you one of those who uses the Windows 10 hibernation system? If instead of completely shutting down our PC we send it to hibernate this will make the boot much faster. However, before entering hibernation, the system takes a snapshot of the current state of the computer and the files it has open, etc. which can take up a considerable amount of space.

To give us an idea, the hiberfil.sys file can consume up to 75% of your PC's RAM. That means that if we have 8GB RAM we can instantly free up 6GB simply by disabling hibernate mode.

7- Uninstall applications

This is another one of those obvious tips, but no less important for that. If you have been working with the computer for a while, you will surely discover that there are applications that you have not used for a long time. To check it go to “Start -> Settings -> Applications"(Or type" Add or Remove Programs "in Cortana) and take a look at all the apps.

If you are using programs from older versions of Windows they may not appear on this list. To locate them write "Control Panel"In Cortana and select" Uninstall a program ", or run the command" control.exe ".

8- Save files in the cloud and do not keep duplicates

By default Windows 10 incorporates a cloud storage application called OneDrive. It is the most practical, since it always appears in the file explorer along with the rest of the folders and drives on our PC.

Take advantage of this extra storage space, but try not to keep duplicates. If you already have a file saved in OneDrive, don't save another copy on your computer's hard drive. In this way you will be able to save a few gigs and at the same time you will be able to access all those documents online from anywhere without having to be connected to the PC.