How to Check What Junk Files are Taking Up Space on Your Windows 10 PC.
Managing storage space on Windows used to be a complicated task, with each drive showing a total combined figure of space used/unused without any breakdown. Thankfully on Windows 10, it’s now possible to quickly and easily check and manage all used and unused hard drive space. If you haven’t had been introduced to Storage Sense, this article will show you how to starting using it.
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If the hard drive on your Windows 10 computer is starting to approach full, it may be time to clear out some of the junk taking up and wasting space. Like most people, you are probably aware where most of the storage space is being used, however, there may be quite a large amount of space used that you are currently not aware of.
Quite often certain temporary components of Windows system resources, things like temp files and previous versions of Windows sit unused for extended periods of time, wasting valuable space. Thankfully using Windows Storage Sense, it’s very easy to find and remove stuff that is no longer needed.
Find Out What’s Taking Up Hard Drive Space on Windows 10. (Windows Storage Sense)
To find Storage Sense on Windows 10, open Settings, go to System, then click on Storage in the left-hand pane. On this screen, you will be able to view all your system hard drives (if you have more than one) and the space used/remaining on them. (similar to what you will find in File Explorer). Next, click on the drive labeled ‘This PC C:’, this will change to a new screen showing the contents of the drive in categories.
On this screen, you can click on each of the subcategories to find out more about the storage space being used for each. For example, if you click on documents Windows will open your documents folder and allow you to delete the contents. This is pretty standard and something you can do from File Explorer, so instead focus on the following options.
System and Reserved: Here you will find system restore point information, including how much space is allocated to system restore points. If you wish to change anything about system restore click 'Manage System Restore' at the bottom and change the settings accordingly. I wouldn't recommend removing system restore completely as it's a super handy back to have, especially with Windows current major update track record. (bugs, bugs, bugs)
Apps & Games: Clicking this will open a new page showing you all the programs, apps and games installed on your system. Clicking on any of the items will allow you to modify or uninstall them.
Other: This is an interesting folder which contains an assortment of different content, most of which will be the remains of previously uninstalled programs. If you spot anything here that you know you have removed, its best to delete the remaining contents. Once done, it's also a good idea to run a registry cleaning program to remove the final traces from your system, CCleaner is great for this task.
Temporary Files: Contains an assortment of different content, old Windows update files, other temporary cache files, etc. To quickly clear anything from this area, tick the boxes, then click Remove Files. If you use the Downloads folder for storing files long term, don't tick the box.