What is Disk Cleanup
Disk Cleanup is a Microsoft program that comes with Windows. It is designed to free-up disk space on a computer’s hard drive. The program works in two parts:
- Analyse and identify files on the hard drive that can be safely removed
- Delete these files to free-up disk space
An additional, System File Disk Cleanup also checks operating system files that can be removed, including update installation files, upgrade files and error logs. System File Disk Cleanup frees significantly more space than a simple Disk Cleanup.
How to Disk Cleanup System Files
This guide is based on Microsoft Windows 10, however similar steps apply to Windows 7 with Service Pack 1, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.
- Click Start button
- Type cleanmrg
- Right-click on Disk Clean-up top result and left-click on Run as administrator option
- If prompted, agree (click Yes) to User Access Control question to run Disk Cleanup with elevated Administrator permission
- Wait for Disk Cleanup to identify files that can be removed
- Select all files to delete by checking all boxes
- Click OK to confirm selection, then confirm to delete files permanently by clicking on Delete Files
- Wait for files to be removed. This may take a while.
- Restart the PC as normal. Wait if Configuring Updates or Cleaning Up screens appears.
If you need any further help with freeing disk space on your system or if your disk space is still low after running System File Disk Clean-up, please contact us and we will be able to help.