94 PCWorld SEPTEMBER 2020HERE’S HOW HOW TO CLEAN UP YOUR PC
Apps typically
consume gobs
of gigabytes
at a time, so
look here first
for unwanted
old apps that
consume
space. Filter
by file size to
make the task
easier.unwanted files. Clicking the Temporary Files
subheading opens up a wealth of files that
even Windows thinks are unnecessary, from
temporary Internet files to the Recycle bin.
Click the Remove files button at the top to
clear everything out.
The OneDrive subheading is a bit more
subjective. By default, Microsoft’s OneDrive
cloud-storage service backs up your
Documents, Pictures, and even your Desktop
folder. But it keeps a placeholder—sort of a
file bookmark on your local hard drive. Files
that you’ve stored locally are maintained on
your local hard drives, but a copy is also kept
on OneDrive (provided you have the space).
Windows is smart enough to know if such a
copy exists, and can delete the local copy,
preserving the bookmark and maintaining thecopy in the cloud. (Note: don’t expect this
option to simply copy your hard drive into the
cloud. It won’t! It will simply clean up local
files that have been previously backed up,
which won’t be everything on your PC.)
A file that’s backed up in OneDrive can be
accessed by clicking it in File Explorer, just
like a local file. Before you can access it,
however, it must be downloaded from
OneDrive, which might be undesirable for
those users with slow or unreliable Internet
connections. You can save space, sure, but it
might not be worth the inconvenience.
Likewise, you may find that the remaining
Storage categories aren’t worth poring
through as part of your digital cleanup
routine. The Desktop and Videos folders
probably hold content you want to keep, and
The Temporary
Files section
usually
contains a
number of
files that can
be safely
deleted. There
will be some
who say that
you should
keep older
Windows
Update files
in case you
need to roll
back a flawed
update, but
this is rare.