How to Clean C Drive in Windows 10 or 11 (Makes Your PC Faster)

How to Clean C Drive in Windows 10 or 11 (Makes Your PC Faster)

Are you experiencing a slow performance from your computer? Or you are experiencing slow browsing or some applications are even taking a long time to launch? Your C Drive is probably full and needs to be cleaned. Although Windows is popular among other operating systems, however, it doesn't cater to the cleaning of the C Drive. Residual contents pile up on the disk and one has to find ways of cleaning else it slows down the PC's performance and response to certain commands. In this article, we'll be exploring the different ways to clean C Drive in Windows 10.

Before delving into that, let's check out some of the things that take up space on the C Drive.

1. Junks: Most of your deleted files are being moved to the Recycle Bin. It doesn't entirely delete from the system. The C Drive contains all data from the recycle bin.

2. Programs and Applications: If you are the type that installs a lot of programs and applications on your C Drive. These applications take up your C Drive's space and the more the apps, the more space it consumes.

3. Cache and Logfiles: All the cache and log files your system stores while running for a faster experience get stored in the C Drive.

4. User Data: All your downloaded files, documents, images, videos, and other contents are stored up in the C Drive.

How to Clean C Drive on Windows 10

1. Delete Junk Files

As a Windows 10 or 11 user, you can take advantage of your system's storage sense. It helps you free up space automatically on your C Drive. It is an inbuilt Windows tool and when turned on, it clears space on C Drive by deleting temporary and unwanted files.

How to Clear Up The C Drive Via Storage Sense Settings:

• Click on the start "settings" and go to the "Windows settings"
• Then scroll down to "System" and click it
• Afterward, click on "storage" and turn on the "Storage Sense" feature
• You can click on the button adjacent to it to enable the "Change how we free up space automatically" feature

This gives a list of things that can be deleted to free up space on the C Drive. You can then select the options. For instance, you can allow the automatic deletion of temporary files, recycle bin, and so on. Click on " Clean Now" after selecting.

2. Disabling Hibernation

Hibernation is a feature on Windows 10 that allows you to save data on memory before shutting down to keep your current work intact. So peradventure, your system goes off or there's a power outage, with this feature, you can be rest assured that your work is intact.

However, as amazing as this feature is, it requires a lot of space to save the memory information. So whenever your C Drive needs to be cleaned, you can disable Hibernation to free up space.

Here's how to disable Hibernation on Windows 10:

• Right-click on the "start button"
• From the menu that pops up, choose "Command Prompt"
• If you get a notification that reads " do you want to allow this program to make changes on your computer" click "Yes" to proceed
• Then type powercfg.exe/hibernate off in the "Command Prompt Window" and click on the enter key.

3. Uninstall Unnecessary Apps and Games

You can free up your storage space by deleting apps and games you barely make use of. It is also important to note that games take up a lot of space, so deleting a few ones will not only clear up the C Drive but also improve gaming performance.

How to Uninstall Games and Apps on Windows 10:

• Open "Settings" and click on "Apps"
• Select "Apps and features"
• Use the " sort by" filter to find out which apps and games are taking a lot of space
• Click on the item to remove and "Uninstall" it.

4. Delete Temporary Files Via Disk Cleanup

Temporary files also take up space on the C Drive and those files can be cleared up on windows 10 using the "Disk Cleanup" tool.

How to Delete Temporary Files Using the Disk Cleanup:

• Click on the "Start menu"
• Search for "Disk Cleanup" and open
• Select the drive you want to clean up
• Select the "Temporary files" option and click the "Ok" button

5. Deleting Other User's Accounts

This is another way to clean up your C Drive. If you share your computer with other people, a lot of space would be taken up because of their data and activities. However, you can free up space by deleting accounts of ex-users.

How to Delete User Accounts on Windows 10:

• Click on "Settings"
• Click on "Accounts"
• Click on "Family and other users"
• Click on the account that is no longer in use and select the "Remove" button.
• Click on the "Delete account and data button

6. Empty Recycle Bin

I'm sure everyone is familiar with the Recycle Bin. Basically, everything deleted from the system is being moved to the recycle bin for temporary storage. You can frequently check your recycle bin storage to clear it so as to free up space on your C Drive.

How to Empty The Recycle Bin:

• Right-click on the Recycle Bin icon
• Choose the option " Empty Recycle Bin"
• Then select "Yes" to confirm your actions.

7. Transfer to Another Hard Drive

There might be times when you have a lot of important files and applications on your system and you are unsure of what to do to delete. Simply, get another drive and move your important documents into it.

How to Transfer Data to Another Hard Drive:

• Connect the new hard drive to your system and wait for detection.
• Then go to "My computer" click on C Drive and Select the data you want to move. Cut it from your C Drive and paste it on the new drive.

The above-mentioned are some of the effective ways of cleaning your C Drive on Windows 10. Incorporating these steps would help improve your computer's performance.