How to Clean up Junk Files in Windows 10?

Programs installed on Windows always generate junk files and occupy free space. As the free space becomes smaller and smaller, the disk capacity becomes insufficient, which adversely affects the operation of the personal computer. So, in this article, I will show you the ways to clean up junk files in Windows 10. Don't miss these methods as your computer will run smoothly.

How often do you organize unwanted files, cookies, etc.? every day? once a week? Several times a year? never done it before? Just use your computer and the programs installed on your computer will generate a lot of junk files. Junk files are generated every time you run the app, so the more junk files you have, the more space they occupy. If junk files, temporary files, log files, download files, etc. occupy too much space on your computer, it will definitely adversely affect your computer's performance. If this happens, you need to speed up your computer by cleaning up the junk files.

What kind of Junk Files can be Deleted in Window 10?

Before you start cleaning up junk files, you should know what junk files can be deleted. In general, you can delete the following unnecessary files. Even if you delete these files, your personal data will not be lost and no problems will occur.

Trash file

temporary file

Program generation files, .thumbnails files, log files, etc.

System junk file

Specific large files

From the above contents, you will know what kind of junk files can be deleted, but to prevent the system files from being deleted, back up your system in advance or turn on the system restore function. It is recommended to do it.

Now let's show you an efficient way to clean up junk files and free up disk space.

Method 1. Empty the Trash

The Trash contains recently deleted files. In general, deleting files will move these files to the Trash. However, these files still occupy hard disk space unless you empty the Trash. So the first step to free up disk space is to empty the Trash.

How to empty the trash

Right-click on the Trash on your desktop and select Empty Trash.

Method 2. Automatically delete temporary files in Windows 10

If you are using a Windows OS, you will always have temporary and junk files on your hard drive. You can automatically delete these unwanted files by following the steps below.

Windows 10 can now automatically delete temporary files. It is possible to automatically delete files that have been moved to the Recycle Bin for a certain period of time, or files that have been saved in the "Download" folder for a certain period of time. You can also set the period to one of five items, such as 1 day, 14 days, 30 days, 60 days, or do not allow automatic deletion.

Step 1. Go to Windows Settings and click System > Storage .

Step 2. Go to Change how free space is automatically increased and switch on if the storage sensor is turned off.

Step 3. Check Delete location files that are not used by the app in temporary files, and select the deletion period for the following two items from their respective down-lists.

Method 3. Organize program files etc. with disk cleanup

Program files, thumbnails files and log files are files that are automatically generated after the program is installed. These files are basically unnecessary files, but they take up a lot of hard disk space. You can delete these files by using the Windows Clean Up Disk tool. Follow to below given steps:

Step 1. Type Disk Cleanup in the Enter Here and Search box to the right of the Start button .

Step 2. Specify the drive on which to perform Disk Cleanup.

Step 3. Here, "Downloaded program files", "Temporary Internet files", and "Zoom out" are checked for acquiescence. If you want to delete other files, please check before the item.