How to use Disk Cleanup on Windows

Joined
Apr 22, 2017
Messages
5,477
Reaction score
684
Hi all,

to clean up any or all old files that your system collects and stores, use "Disk Clean-up", a simple way to clear your computer of unnecessary files:

Open Windows Start Menu by pressing the Windows symbol (
windows logo.png
) on your keyboard and type the word "disk", you will then be presented with the tool "Disk Clean-up", open the tool and select which boxes you want to tick and then on "OK":

disk clean 2.JPG


disk clean 4.JPG


It will clean all selected boxes and close automatically.

Re-open the app and then select "Clean up system files", a different window will open (looks the same but has a couple of differences to the first window).

disk clean 1.JPG


Once again it will scan for files to delete, depending on what boxes you have ticked, it will take a long time so be patient!.

*Note the difference between the first and second windows!.

disk clean 3.JPG


disk clean 2.JPG


Again, it will close automatically once it has finished.

disk clean 6.JPG


That's it. I hope it helps.

Wolfie :)

There is also an app called "CCleaner", it has a free and a pay version, you decide which one you wish to use:

https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download/standard
 
Last edited:

Regedit32

Moderator
Joined
Mar 4, 2016
Messages
3,617
Reaction score
1,139
I thought your were supposed to throw away your disk and buy a new one :D

Nice work their Wolfie!
 
Joined
Nov 19, 2013
Messages
6,296
Reaction score
1,272
I think the disk cleaner is a very useful tool, and worthy of more.
1. A quicker way to the objective: press the Windows key + R
2 Type cleanmgr
3. Select which disk you wish to clean up. (C: ?)
4. Make sure you have all the boxes , as wished, selected.
5. In the new window, bottom left, select the option to clean up system files., and OK
According to the size of your disk, the op may take a couple of minutes.

How about putting it on the taskbar or desktop
!. Go to Windows/System 32
Scroll down to cleanmgr.exe. According to your choice, right click the utility and pin to the taskbar or start.
2. Scroll down the start menu to Windows Administrative Tools. It is in there. You can right click it, move it and pin it etc.....

Whenever you choose to do a cleanup, you can right click and "run as Administrator", which will take care of the system files, or just run, as in Wolfies post.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Nov 19, 2013
Messages
6,296
Reaction score
1,272
Ccleaner update. Piriform was bought by Avast a couple of years ago. Avast now run Ccleaner as a separate site

https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner/download/standard

Disk cleaner can be considerably enhanced, if you desire. As a result of a link posted on another site, I got hold of this and added a bit of my own.

In the "run" box (Right click the start and select) Type cleanmgr /sageset:50
You will be presented with a long list of items which can be deleted..
Select as you wish, and press enter
Now you must enter a slightly different command cleanmgr /sagerun:50
OK. It will take a while and then you must reboot the computer.

This may seem awkward, you can automate it however.
You can avoid the double "run" option like this:
Run the first command, cleanmgr.exe /sageset:50 and set your options and click OK to save.
Open a notepad and type cleanmgr.exe /sagerun:50 and save it as .bat or .cmd file to a convenient place (Desktop? or even in the start menu)
 
Last edited:
Joined
Nov 19, 2013
Messages
6,296
Reaction score
1,272
Pretty much an example of what I am interested in, referring to my thread regarding "improvements" in Windows 10.
Maybe more to it, but it seems, like the snipping tool and others, that all that has occurred is that they have moved a few menu items around and rebadged it

For anyone reading in this thread, I would suggest you urgently look at this facility and the options, or you might find items you need suddenly disappearing!
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 31, 2020
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Hi all,

to clean up any or all old files that your system collects and stores, use "Disk Clean-up", a simple way to clear your computer of unnecessary files:

Open Windows Start Menu by pressing the Windows symbol (View attachment 7883 ) on your keyboard and type the word "disk", you will then be presented with the tool "Disk Clean-up", open the tool and select which boxes you want to tick and then on "OK":

View attachment 7880

View attachment 7879

It will clean all selected boxes and close automatically.

Re-open the app and then select "Clean up system files", a different window will open (looks the same but has a couple of differences to the first window).

View attachment 7881

Once again it will scan for files to delete, depending on what boxes you have ticked, it will take a long time so be patient!.

*Note the difference between the first and second windows!.
View attachment 7882

View attachment 7880

Again, it will close automatically once it has finished.

View attachment 7886

That's it. I hope it helps.

Wolfie :)

There is also an app called "CCleaner", it has a free and a pay version, you decide which one you wish to use:

https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download/standard
Is it ok for me to delete the file called "Temporary Files"?
 
Joined
Apr 22, 2017
Messages
5,477
Reaction score
684
Hi Person who needs help,

yes you can delete the temp files no problem!. :) That is, as long as you don't mean the actual folder "Temp files!. ;)
 
Last edited:
Joined
Feb 3, 2020
Messages
34
Reaction score
5
What I did was run the ff. command:

%windir%\system32\cleanmgr.exe /sageset:1

and then select what to clean. After that, I created the shortcut:

%windir%\system32\cleanmgr.exe /sagerun:1

to run what I set, and also added it as a task in the task scheduler.

Finally, there's also an advanced replacement called Cleanmgr+:

 
Joined
Mar 7, 2020
Messages
244
Reaction score
29
CCleaner was my main reason for dumping it, to many of my installed files suddenly disappeared after clean session. Free copy, sure but with adverts.
 
Joined
Apr 22, 2017
Messages
5,477
Reaction score
684
Hi Rab,

@davehc also points out the newer "Storage" feature (also commented above) which is eventually set to replace "Disk clean". Time will tell if that is better than the old one?. :)
 
Joined
May 22, 2020
Messages
108
Reaction score
16
Aren't these steps to use Disk Cleanup in Windows 10:

  1. In the search box on the taskbar, type disk cleanup, and select Disk Cleanup from the list of results.
  2. Select the drive you want to clean up, and then select OK.
  3. Under Files to delete, select the file types to get rid of. To get a description of the file type, select it.
  4. Select OK.
 
Joined
Apr 22, 2017
Messages
5,477
Reaction score
684
Open Windows Start Menu by pressing the Windows symbol (
windows logo.png
) on your keyboard and type the word "disk", you will then be presented with the tool "Disk Clean-up", open the tool and select which boxes you want to tick and then on "OK":
:)

Already shown in the guide above!. ;)
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top