How to Free up Disk Space (Windows 7)

Co-authored by Jeremy Mercer and Jack Lloyd

Last Updated: August 20, 2022 Tested

Using Disk Cleanup

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Removing Programs

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Video

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Q&A

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Tips

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Warnings

This wikiHow teaches you how to free up space on your Windows 7 computer's hard drive. You can use the built-in Disk Cleanup tool to remove temporary files and other unnecessary items, and you can delete unused programs from within Control Panel.

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:

Using Disk Cleanup

1
Open Start
. Click the colored Windows logo in the bottom-left corner of the screen. A pop-up menu will appear.
2
Click the search bar. It's at the bottom of the Start menu.

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3
Type in disk cleanup. Doing so will search your computer for the Disk Cleanup program, which is included in all versions of Windows 7.
4
Click Disk Cleanup. It should be near the top of the Start menu. This will open the Disk Cleanup window.
5
Click Clean up system files. This is in the lower-left side of the Disk Cleanup window.
- If you aren't on an administrator account, you can't clean up system files. Skip this step and the next one.
6
Click Yes when prompted. Doing so will allow Disk Cleanup to restart with additional options available.
7
Select items to delete. Click the checkbox next to each category of files or items you want to delete from your computer, making sure to uncheck any checkboxes next to items you want to keep. Some of the categories are as follows, though you may see more categories than these:
- Windows Update — Removes the last Windows Update files from your computer (this does not remove the current update).
- Downloaded Program Files — Removes unnecessary files from programs.
- Temporary Internet Files — Removes saved Internet files.
- System created Windows Error Reporting — Removes error reporting files.
- Recycle Bin — Removes any files stored in the Recycle Bin.
- Temporary files — Removes other temporary files created by programs or web use.
- User file history — Removes history of browsing (e.g., Windows Explorer searches).
- Everything in this menu can be deleted safely, but removing things like the Windows Update cache will prevent you from being able to roll back to the previous version of the Windows update.
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Jeremy Mercer
Computer Repair Technician
Jeremy Mercer is the Manager and Head Technician at MacPro-LA in Los Angeles, CA. He has over ten years of experience working in electronics repair, as well as retail stores that specialize in both Mac and PC.

Jeremy Mercer
Computer Repair Technician

Go through your download folder to free up even more space. Open your download folder and check all the files there to see if there's anything you no longer need. Especially look for files with the extensions .mov or .mp4, as these take up a lot of space. If you don't need it, put it in the recycling bin. Then, when you're finished, make sure to go into the recycling bin and empty it. Otherwise, those programs will still be taking up storage on your hard drive.
8
Click OK. It's at the bottom of the window.
9
Click Delete Files when prompted. Doing so will allow Disk Cleanup to begin erasing the selected items from your computer's hard drive. Once this process completes, Disk Cleanup will close itself.
- It may take anywhere from a few minutes to around an hour for Disk Cleanup to finish running.

Part 2

Part 2 of 2:

Removing Programs

1
Open Start
. Click the colored Windows logo in the bottom-left corner of the screen. The Start menu will pop up.
2
Click Control Panel. It's on the right side of the Start menu. Doing so opens the Control Panel window.
- If you don't see Control Panel here for some reason, type control panel into the text box at the bottom of the Start menu, then click Control Panel in the search results.
3
Click the "View by" drop-down box. You'll see this in the top-right corner of the Control Panel page. A drop-down menu will appear.
4
Click Category. It's in the drop-down menu.
5
Click Uninstall a program. This is under the "Programs" heading in the lower-left side of the list of options.
6
Select a program. Scroll down until you find the name of the program that you want to uninstall, then click the program's name to select it.
7
Click Uninstall. It's at the top of the window.
- Some programs will require you to click Change / Uninstall here instead.
8
Follow the on-screen prompts. You'll usually have to confirm that you want to remove the program and then follow the program's uninstaller's prompts.
- In some cases, you'll need to restart your computer before the program in question can be fully uninstalled.
- Some programs will uninstall immediately after you click Uninstall.
9
Wait for the program to finish uninstalling. Once the uninstall process completes, you can proceed with uninstalling another program if necessary.

Community Q&A

Question

How do I free you disk space on your phone?

Community Answer

Use CCleaner or do it manually by browsing through your settings and deleting programs, texts, media, etc. that you no longer need.
Question

I've upgraded from Win 7 to 10 and I need to recover a deleted desktop file containing a 3MB picture. How can I do that?

Community Answer

You can't. The most you can do is check the recycle bin.

Warnings

Be careful when removing programs from your computer. If you see that a program's publisher comes from your computer's manufacturer or Microsoft, leave it alone unless you know what it is.

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