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[] ]DEEP CLEAN YOUR WINDOWS PCA light clean can free up drive space and
improve your PC’s performance without
involving hard work or even third-party tools.
Your first step should be to check that your
storage drive is in good working order.
Right-click the Start button and choose
Command Prompt (Admin). Then in the
command prompt window, type the following
and hit Enter: $ chkdisk /f /r c:
You’ll be told the drive can’t be locked
(because it’s in use), so press Y and then when
you next restart, Windows will perform a
complete check of your hard drive, attempting
to correct any errors it comes across. If it finds
and fixes any, you may get a speed boost.
Repeat for any other drives you have attached.
If you get a warning about forcing a dismount,
we suggest hitting N, then hitting Y to run the
check when you next reboot. Once your drives
check out, it’s time to begin cleaning.REMOVE UNWANTED APPS
Now’s the time to go through all the programs
and Microsoft Store apps you have installed,
cleaning out those you no longer need or use.
To do this, click ‘Start > Settings’. Select
‘System’ followed by ‘Apps & features’.
All installed apps and programs are listed
alphabetically. You can, however, sort by size
or installation date. Go through the list,
clicking any programs you no longer needA light cleaning
DISCOVER HOW MUCH SPACE AND RESOURCES YOU CAN RECLAIM
ARMED WITH NOTHING MORE THAN WINDOWS 10’S BUILT-IN TOOLS.MANAGE BACKUPS
Hopefully you are making good use of either File History or Windows Backup
to ensure that your critical files are kept safe and sound. Both methods
store multiple versions of your backups, giving you the option of rolling back
the changes you have made to individual files should you wish to roll back
to an earlier version at any point.
This protection comes with its own price, however, namely increased
consumption of drive space. If you’re starting to feel the squeeze, you can
reclaim some much-needed breathing room by removing the oldest
backups. Right-click the Start button and choose Control Panel. If you use
File History click “Save backup copies of your files with File History”, then
click ‘Advanced settings’. From here you can change the frequency of your
backups (to reduce drive consumption going forward), plus set a time limit
for how long backups are kept (‘Until space is needed’ is the safe option,
but you can specify your own time). Click ‘Clean up versions’ to quickly clear
out space by choosing what backups to delete (anything from all but the
most recent version up to those backups older than two years).
If you use the Windows Backup tool, select ‘Back up and Restore
(Windows 7)’ and click ‘Manage space’ followed by ‘View backups...’to manually select which backups to remove. Remember that older
backups may contain files you’ve subsequently deleted, so be sure
you’ve not mislaid any critical old files before cleaning up.then use Uninstall to remove them. Some
uninstallers will leave Registry entries and
program files behind — for a more thorough
way to remove programs, turn the page.PERFORM A DISK CLEAN
Open File Explorer and select ‘This PC’ from
the left pane to reveal a list of all your hard
drives. Right-click your C drive (or the drive
Windows is installed on) and choose
Properties, then click the Disk Clean-upClear out unwanted apps and files
to give your PC a new lease of life.Windows 10 ’s uninstall tool
covers both desktop programs
and Microsoft Store apps.Backups taking up too much
space? You can clear out older
versions to give your more room.