

Windows 10 allows you to arrange them by various statistics - if you have a long list, organize them by the amount of hard drive space they are taking up. Here, you can see all the apps downloaded. Some apps can take up a lot of space - the trick is finding which hog the most room on your hard drive and which you can live without.įrom the Start menu, go to Settings, select Apps, and then select Apps & Features. Too many apps can lead to an eventual slowdown or lack of space for other content, especially on smaller, lighter Windows devices (looking at you, Surface tablets). This method is a great way to clear out space manually without accidentally deleting something you’ll need later.

Go to your Downloads folder via File Explorer > This PC > Downloads and delete any files that you no longer need by highlighting them in groups or individually. These files pop up in your downloads and tend to stick around - which means they can quickly stack up if you are downloading a lot of content to your Windows 10 desktop. Digital TrendsĪnother time files are automatically created occurs when you download anything from the internet. Please get rid of them all by ticking the box next to each file type, then clicking on the Remove Files option at the top of the screen. These files are usually automatically deleted, but sometimes they hang on. What exactly are you getting rid of here? Well, Windows temp files manage document editing, some application processes, various printing tasks, and so on. Remember how emptying the recycle bin took you through the temporary files section? If you want to broaden your hard drive cleaning activities, then you can delete all temporary files. How to delete temporary files and downloads A few GBs worth of data can still make a difference. If you aren’t sure, take a peek inside your bin and see how full it is first. When you first download Windows 10 - and long afterward, depending on your desktop habits - emptying it may not affect your hard drive much at all. It should be noted that emptying your recycle bin will only help clean your Windows 10 hard disk if there’s a lot of stuff in that bin. Tick the box next to Recycle Bin, select the Remove Files option at the top of the screen, and confirm your decision.

Doing so will bring up any locations for temporary files, including Recycle Bin.

You will be able to select local storage under This PC - look for and click Temporary Files. If you can’t find the icon, then head to the Start menu, and go to Settings > System > Storage. You can right-click on the Recycle Bin icon for the option to empty it directly.
