1. Use the Disk Cleanup tool
Windows 10 ships with a Disk Cleanup tool that you can use to delete temporary files, system files and other unnecessary files.
- Open Disk Cleanup:
- Click the Start menu, type “Disk Cleanup”, and pick “Disk Cleanup” from the search results.
- Choose the drive to clean:
- In the window that pops up, select the C drive (usually the system drive), then click “OK”.
- Choose the file types to delete:
- In the Disk Cleanup window, the system lists the file types you can delete (temporary files, system cache, Recycle Bin and so on). You can pick the file types you want to clean up.
Click the “Clean up system files” button to allow cleaning up more system files (such as Windows Update files).
- In the Disk Cleanup window, the system lists the file types you can delete (temporary files, system cache, Recycle Bin and so on). You can pick the file types you want to clean up.
- Confirm the deletion:
- After you click “OK”, the system starts cleaning those files, and once it finishes, space on the C drive is freed up.
2. Delete temporary files
Windows 10 lets you delete temporary files directly — they can pile up and take a lot of space.
- Open the “Settings” app, then choose System > Storage.
- Under “Local Disk (C:)”, click Temporary files.
- Choose the file types to delete, such as cache and downloaded files.
- Click the “Delete files” button.
3. Uninstall software you don’t need
Sometimes programs you rarely use take up a lot of disk space.
- Open the “Settings” app, then choose Apps > Apps & features.
- Find the programs you don’t use often, click one, then choose Uninstall.
4. Clear browser cache
Browser caches take up a fair amount of space too, and clearing them regularly helps free up disk space.
- Google Chrome: go to Settings > Advanced > Privacy and security > Clear browsing data.
- Microsoft Edge: Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Clear browsing data.
5. Turn off hibernation
If you don’t need hibernation, you can turn it off, because the hibernation file (hiberfil.sys) can sometimes take up a lot of space.
- Open Command Prompt (as administrator) and enter the following command:
powercfg -h off
- Press Enter, which disables hibernation and deletes the hiberfil.sys file.
6. Move files to another drive
If the C drive is still tight on space, you can move large files (videos, images and documents, for example) to another disk partition or an external hard drive.
7. Use third-party tools
Some third-party tools can also help you clean up the C drive and optimize disk space, for example:
- CCleaner: cleans up system junk files and the registry.
- WinDirStat: analyzes disk space usage and finds large files.
8. Delete system restore points
If you have System Restore enabled, you may have many restore points eating up disk space.
- Right-click This PC and choose Properties.
- Click System Protection, select the C drive, then click Configure.
- In the window that pops up, click “Delete” to remove the old restore points.
9. Clean up Windows update files
Windows updates can leave behind unnecessary installation files.
In the Disk Cleanup tool, click “Clean up system files”, select Windows Update Cleanup, then clean up the outdated update files.
With the steps above, you can free up space on the C drive and keep your Windows 10 system running more smoothly.
