Free up space on your hard drive: FAQ

Computer Basics, Computer Cleanup

One the most annoying problems facing a lot of computer owners is the issue of running out of space on a hard drive. This is a problem because a hard drive can be used to substitute for RAM when a computer runs out of memory. If the drive is near capacity, this can cause performance problems and often crashes. So here are some tips to help you free up space. Or you can skip all the steps and back up your data to web via Carbonite.

Before you start the manual process, maybe you’d prefer to get a tool to do this for you. Try Disk Space Recovery Wizard. To get you started, here’s a link to a handy program that has a download of a fully functional free trial. It’s called:
Disk Space Recovery Wizard Trial. If that’s not of interest, here’s what to do on your own:

Clear your web browser cache.

Your web browser collects data as your surf web pages on the Internet. One of the first things you should do is to clear the cache. Learn how here: Wipe adult content from your PC.

Empty your recycle bin.

When you delete a file on your Windows computer, it goes into your recycle bin, but it doesn’t go away until you clear the Recycle Bin manually. Right-click on it and choose Empty Recycle Bin.

Uninstall unneeded programs.

You can get rid of a lot of unneeded data by removing unused programs you may have installed but now no longer use. Go into your Control Panel (click Start button and then Settings, then Control Panel, or Start, then Control Panel). Click Add/Remove Programs, then click Add/Remove Windows Components. Go through the list of installed programs and click Remove for the programs you no longer need. You might be prompted to insert a CD for some programs to remove them. This is especially true of Microsoft Office programs. By the way, removing unwanted components in Microsoft Office (maybe you never use Excel!) can free up massive amounts of space.

Uninstall unneeded Windows components.

You can get rid of a lot of unneeded data by removing unused Windows components. Go into your Control Panel (click Start button and then Settings, then Control Panel or Start, then Control Panel). Then click Add/Remove Programs then click Add/Remove Windows Components. A list of optional Windows components will be listed. Uncheck the items you don’t need. They will be uninstalled. Some items have sub-items. Click them and click Details to choose and unselect the sub-items.

Delete emails from Deleted Items folder in Outlook or Outlook Express.

Right-click on your Deleted Items Folder and click on Empty Deleted Items Folder in Outlook or Outlook Express. In Outlook 2003, click on the Spam folder and hit Ctrl-A to select all items and then hold down Shift and hit your delete button to wipe out all items in the Spam folder and bypass the Deleted Items folder.

Delete temporary files.

When Windows crashes, it sometimes saves files in TMP or temporary files. Use you Search function in Windows to locate and delete these files. Type in *.tmp in the search box. This is used to tell Windows to find all temporary files. When they are listed, delete them. Be sure to clear your Recycle Bin afterwards or hold the Shift key down when you delete them to bypass the Recycle Bin. Here’s an older article on How to delete temporary files to free up hard drive space — it’s may prove useful to those using Windows 95, 98, 98SE, and ME.

Delete spyware.

You may have cookies (little tracking files from web surfing) and spyware … unwanted software that has been secretly installed on your computer. Sometimes, this is installed just by surfing to a web page, sometimes via email attachments and, in some cases, it is installed secretly by programs you download. Remove this unwanted data using a program called Spyware Doctor.

Defragment your hard drive.

You may want to defragment your hard drive to reorganize the way the data is stored to optimize the space you do have. To start the defragmenter, close all unnecessary programs and disable your spyware and anti-virus programs, then click START, then Programs, then Accessories and then System Tools. You’ll find Disk Defragmenter in that folder. Click on it to start it and it let run. In Windows XP there is an Analyse button to test to see if your disk does need defragmenting. or just click “Defragment” to start the process. For an advanced guide to defragmenting your hard drive see this article on Hard drive grinding?

Buy an external hard drive.

An external hard drive is always a good idea if you want to add lots of storage to your computer. This is especially a good idea if you have a newer computer with USB 2.0 ports as data will flow to and from the external hard drive at 480 Mbps as opposed to 12 Mbps on USB 1.1 ports. If you bought your computer in 2003 or later, you probably have USB 2.0 ports. Even if you don’t, an external hard drive will still work for you. We recommend the Seagate external hard drive. Read this TechnologyTips review on Hard drive backup made easy or get a Seagate external hard drive from [link removed].

Need more tips? Check out our How to Clean out Unwanted Files Hidden on Your Hard Drive.