How to Free Up Storage Space on Your Computer — Windows 10 and 11 Guide (2026)

Windows tells you exactly what you can safely remove

Cleanup Recommendations is the fastest way to recover space on Windows 11. It automatically identifies temporary files, large unused files, cloud-synced files that can be stored online only, and apps you have not opened recently — and shows you exactly how much space each category will reclaim.

1. Go to Settings > System > Storage.
2. Click Cleanup recommendations under Storage management.
3. Review each category: Temporary files, Large or unused files, Files synced to the cloud, and Unused apps.
4. Check the items you want to remove — Windows shows the space saving next to each one.
5. Click Clean up for each section.

The classic tool still finds things the newer Settings panel does not

The Disk Cleanup utility has been part of Windows since Windows 98. It is still present in Windows 11 and, when run with administrator privileges to clean up system files, catches categories that Cleanup Recommendations sometimes misses — particularly Windows Update cleanup files and delivery optimisation files.

1. Press Win + R, type cleanmgr, and press Enter.
2. Select your C: drive and click OK.
3. Click Clean up system files at the bottom of the window — this restarts the tool with administrator access and shows additional categories.
4. Check Windows Update Cleanup (often 1–5 GB), Delivery Optimisation Files, Temporary files, Recycle Bin, and Temporary Internet Files.
5. Click OK then Delete Files to confirm.

Storage Sense runs cleanup on a schedule so you never have to think about it again

Storage Sense is Windows' automatic storage management feature. Once configured, it runs cleanup tasks on a schedule — deleting temporary files, emptying the Recycle Bin after a set number of days, and converting locally cached OneDrive files to online-only when they have not been opened recently.

1. Go to Settings > System > Storage > Storage Sense.
2. Toggle Storage Sense On.
3. Click the arrow to expand settings and configure the schedule — Every month is a sensible default for most users.
4. Set Delete files in my Recycle Bin if they have been there for over to 30 days.
5. Set Delete files in my Downloads folder if they haven't been opened for more than to 60 days (or Never if you prefer to manage Downloads manually).
6. Set OneDrive files to become online-only after 30 days of not being opened, if you use OneDrive.

Deleted files still take up space until the Recycle Bin is emptied

Files moved to the Recycle Bin are not deleted — they continue to occupy disk space until you empty the bin. A Recycle Bin that has been accumulating deleted files for months can hold several gigabytes. Right-click the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop and select Empty Recycle Bin. Alternatively, in File Explorer, right-click the Recycle Bin in the left panel and select Empty Recycle Bin.

If you are frequently surprised by how full the Recycle Bin gets, configure Storage Sense to empty it automatically after 30 days as described in Method 3.

Unused applications sit on your drive consuming space indefinitely

Modern games frequently occupy 50–150 GB each. A couple of unplayed games from two years ago can easily account for more storage than all your temporary files combined. Applications in general are worth auditing annually — software you installed once for a specific task and never opened again is a recurring drain on a drive that has no awareness of your change in interest.

1. Go to Settings > Apps > Installed apps.
2. Sort by Size (click the Sort by dropdown) to see the largest apps at the top.
3. Click the three-dot menu next to any app you no longer use and select Uninstall.
4. For apps that do not appear in Settings, open Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features, right-click the app, and select Uninstall.

Sort your drive by file size to find what is actually consuming the space

The Downloads folder alone can accumulate gigabytes of installer files, ZIP archives, video downloads, and other large files that served a purpose once and have not been opened since. A systematic size-sorted review often recovers more space than any automated tool.

1. Open File Explorer and navigate to This PC.
2. In the search box (top right), type size:>100MB and press Enter — this lists every file on the drive larger than 100 MB.
3. Switch to Details view (View > Details) and sort by Size to see the largest files at the top.
4. Review the list and delete or move anything you no longer need.

Common large-file offenders: old game installer packages in Downloads, ISO files for operating systems no longer needed, raw video footage from a project that is finished, duplicate photo libraries, and database backups from applications that have their own cleanup settings.

Files you access rarely do not need to live on your main drive

Photos from previous years, old project files, video recordings, and music libraries that you keep for sentimental or archival reasons do not need to occupy your main system drive. Moving them to OneDrive (where they can be stored online-only) or an external hard drive reclaims significant space without deleting anything permanently.

To make OneDrive files online-only: Right-click any file or folder in your OneDrive directory in File Explorer and select Free up space. The file remains accessible — it downloads on demand when you open it — but no longer occupies local storage. A blue cloud icon indicates online-only; a green checkmark indicates downloaded locally.

To move files to external storage: Connect the external drive, select the files in File Explorer, press Ctrl + X to cut (or right-click and Cut), navigate to the external drive, and press Ctrl + V to paste. Moving rather than copying ensures the files are removed from the main drive, not duplicated.

The hibernation file is often 4–8 GB and can be safely removed if you do not use it

Windows creates a file called hiberfil.sys on your system drive to support hibernation — a power state that saves your session to disk and powers down the computer completely. On older systems or machines with large amounts of RAM, this file can be 4–8 GB. If you use Sleep rather than Hibernate, or if you shut your computer down normally, you can disable hibernation and reclaim this space.

Open Command Prompt as Administrator (search for cmd, right-click, Run as administrator) and run:

This disables hibernation and deletes hiberfil.sys immediately. To re-enable it later, run powercfg /hibernate on. Do not disable hibernation if you use a laptop and rely on the PC saving its state when the battery runs low — that function requires hibernation.

System restore points can accumulate significant space over time

Windows automatically creates system restore points before major changes — driver updates, software installs, Windows updates. Over time these accumulate on disk. You can limit how much space is reserved for restore points or delete old ones while keeping the most recent.

1. Search for Create a restore point in the Start menu and open it.
2. Select your C: drive and click Configure.
3. Drag the Max Usage slider down — 3–5% of a 256 GB drive (roughly 8–13 GB) is sufficient for meaningful recovery without excessive space consumption.
4. Click Delete to remove all existing restore points except the most recent, then click Apply.

Direct new downloads, documents, and apps to a different drive

If your computer has a second internal drive or a regularly connected external drive, redirecting new files there prevents the system drive from filling up again after cleanup. Go to Settings > System > Storage > Advanced storage settings > Where new content is saved and change the default save location for new apps, documents, music, pictures, and videos to your secondary drive. This does not move existing files — it only affects where new ones land.