How do I free up space on my C drive or how do I clear waste on my C drive? This is the topic that MiniTool focuses on here. If your C drive is full of old apps and unnecessary programs, you can choose to clean up it. Let’s get started.
C drive is an important part of your PC since the Windows operating system is installed in it and many crucial system files are kept in. However, it is also the drive that easily gets filled up. Continuous Windows updates, temporary files of applications, downloaded files, etc. keep on storing in C drive.
Once it is full, your OS could run slowly and may get stuck at stages. To make sure the PC function smoothly, you need to clean C drive. So, how to clean C drive without losing data? Move to the next part to try some tips.
How to Clean C Drive in Windows 11/10
Run Disk Cleanup
Disk Cleanup is the inbuilt tool to help clean up your C drive well by deleting temporary files, downloaded program files, Windows update files, and more. These files are not needed anymore. After the cleanup, some space can be freed up.
Here see how to clean up C drive in Windows 10/11 via Disk Cleanup:
Step 1: In File Explorer, right-click on C drive and choose Properties from the drop-down menu.
Step 2: Click on the Disk Cleanup button to run this tool.
Step 3: Click OK > Delete Files to confirm the cleanup operation. Also, you can click on Clean up system files to delete system files.
Run Storage Sense
In Windows 11/10, there is a feature called Storage Sense that helps automatically get rid of files you don’t need including temporary files and content in recycle bin to free up space based on your settings. When the C drive is full, you can also manually delete some junk files.
Related post: Introduction to Storage Sense and the Way to Customize It
Step 1: In Windows 10/11, go to Settings > System > Storage.
Step 2: Tap on Temporary file, check all the files, and click Remove files.
Uninstall Unnecessary Apps
If you use the PC for some time, many unnecessary applications may accumulate on the machine. You can uninstall junk programs you no longer need.
See how to clean C drive in this way:
Step 1: In Windows 11/10, open Control Panel via the search bar.
Step 2: View the items by Category and click Uninstall a program under Programs.
Step 3: Right-click on the target app and choose Uninstall.
Empty Recycle Bin
When you delete some files, pictures, folders, documents, etc., deleted data is saved to Recycle Bin temporarily. To clean up C drive, you can choose to empty Recycle Bin. Just right-click on the icon on the desktop and choose Empty Recycle Bin.
If you are looking for how to clean C drive using CMD, refer to this guide - How to Clean Computer Using CMD? Run These Commands Here.
Final Words
These four ways are the common methods to clean up your C drive. In addition to these tips, you can try some other ways to free up the disk space of C drive or directly increase C drive. See this related post – 10 Ways to Free up Disk Space in Windows 10/11 to know more.
In addition to freeing up the original disk space, if your system disk is too small, you can choose to upgrade to a large SSD to get a fast speed and large capacity. To do this thing, run MiniTool ShadowMaker to clone a hard drive to an SSD.
MiniTool ShadowMaker TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Of course, if you have any idea on how to clean C drive in Windows 10/11, share it with us via the comment part below.
About The Author
Position: Columnist
Vera is an editor of the MiniTool Team since 2016 who has more than 7 years’ writing experiences in the field of technical articles. Her articles mainly focus on disk & partition management, PC data recovery, video conversion, as well as PC backup & restore, helping users to solve some errors and issues when using their computers. In her spare times, she likes shopping, playing games and reading some articles.