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Free up disk space

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Running out of disk space? Don’t have what other programs or files to delete? Fortunately, there is a way! We’ll find out how Vista’s Disk Cleanup will step in and lend a hand.

Do I need to worry about my disk space?

Of course you do! Though hard drive capacities are in constant growth, you are still limited. Most people owning a large capacity hard drive think that they do not have to worry about free space because they’ve got plenty of it. Well, this is quite untrue: the more space you have, the less likely you will clean up, and the more likely your stuff will pile up. And then who will be surprised when the notification balloon in the right, lower edge of the screen will appear, announcing that You are running out of disk space? You will, of course.

Your disk space is very likely to suffer constant shrinking, thus constraining you to free up some more. You can try deleting unused files, uninstalling programs, and you will see the free space bar taking shape, but what if it isn’t enough?

How do I free up some disk space?

If you have reached the conclusion that uninstalling programs and deleting files isn’t enough, you should be aware of the fact that there is an application in Windows which can make your tasks easier. It is called Disk Cleanup and it will help you free up your disk space by searching for files you can safely erase, letting you choose to delete some or all of them.

Using Disk Cleanup

Disk Cleanup can be accessed by clicking the notice balloon that will appear if you start running out of disk space or if that doesn’t occur, you can follow these steps:

  • Go to Computer or Windows Explorer - right click the partition you want to free up some disk space - select Properties - on the General tab click the Disk Cleanup button. A window will appear asking you what files you want to clean - you have the possibility to clean your files only or to clean files from all users on that computer.
  • Another way to access Disk Cleanup is to press Start - All Programs - click on Accessories - select System Tools. This method will also prompt you to choose which files you want to clean, but it will also ask you to select the drive you want. When Disk Cleanup starts, your only task is to choose what files to delete. The categories to be chosen contain descriptions and the space they take up is also shown. Select what you want to delete and press OK.

The More Options tab is available if you choose to clean files from all users on the computer. Note that you may be prompted for an administrator password or confirmation. This tab includes two options that free even more disk space:

  1. The Programs and Features option lets you uninstall programs that you no longer use. The size of each program is shown.
  2. The System Restore and Shadow Copies option enables you to delete all the restore points (besides the most recent ones) and backup images on the disk.

Now you will know what to do when your hard disk will suffer from the Low disk space syndrome.