Have you come to a place where your Windows computer seems sluggish or says you have a Low Disk Space error? Is there a free program to clean up my computer? Yes, there is, and did you know that Windows 10 and 11 come with a Free Windows Disk Cleanup App that gives you back some much-needed disk space?
With the Free Windows Disk Cleanup App, you can remove up to eight types of files. These are everything from downloaded program files to thumbnails and user file history that take up too much space on your Windows 10 or 11 computer. This method is a super easy and fast way to free up space on your computer at no cost to you.
Let us show you how to clean up disk space and remove unused data on your computer in one minute or less with some easy steps for free. This will work on a Laptop or Desktop computer.
Free Windows 10 and 11 Disk Cleanup App
The best way to get rid of wasted space that lets Windows figure out what programs are unnecessary to clean up, so you don’t have to, is to go to the Start Menu on your desktop and type in Disk Cleanup.
To delete files in Windows with the Disk Cleanup App:
- On your Home Screen, at the left-hand bottom corner of your screen, type disk cleanup in the search box on the taskbar.
- The Windows Disk Cleanup App Selection screen will open and click on one of the options shown by the red arrows below.
- The Disk Cleanup Utility Box will show up and select the drive you want to clean up. On most Windows computers the “C” Drive will show up automaticly and you can just click ok.
- Under Disk Cleanup for OS (C:), files to delete, check and select the boxes for the file types you want to dispose of. When you highlight a section iit also give a descxription of the type of file that can be removed.
- Click the boxes as shown with the red arrow below to put check marks on all the items you want to clean up, then select ok. Once you click ok it will confirm and begin the cleanup process.
- Once you click ok, the Windows Disk Cleannup App will give you one last chance to cancel the file deletion.
- You will then see the box showing you and confirming the files are being removed.
- You can check to see how much of the files were cleaned up by following the first four steps above.
Please see some of our other relevant articles, such as “Why Are Hard Drives Getting Smaller?” and “Will the Internet Ever Run Out of Space?”
Cleanup System Files
If there are still files showing up that you would like removed after following the above steps, then you can use the Clean Up System Files feature provided by the Free Windows Disk Cleanup App. You can do the following steps and remove additional leftover data by doing the following.
- As described above in the first four steps, on your Home Screen, in the search box on the taskbar, type Disk Cleanup.
- The Disk Cleanup Drive Selection box will appear.
- Select a drive.
- Click on the “Clean up system files” box indicated by the red arrow below.
- Select the Disk Cleanup top tab. Then select from the expanded Windows Disk Cleanup App, Clean Up System Files, file selection screen file boxes list you want to check and delete.
- Click Ok. Once you click ok, the Windows Disk Cleannup App will give you one last chance to cancel the file deletion.
- Disk Cleanup Utility Cleaning up Unnecessary Files and just like that you are done.
Eight Types of Files the Free Windows Disk Cleanup App Allows You to Remove
Apps need some temporary files and other files, but this process should clean up most of the files you do not need and take up precious space on your Windows computer. You can also repeat the above list of processes, and it will delete more files each time you do it.
The Free Windows Disk Cleanup App allows you to remove eight types of files as described by Microsoft. They are in the following table:
| Free Windows Disk Cleanup App Files Descriptions | |
| File Type | Description |
| Downloaded Program Files | Downloaded Program Files are Active X Controls and Java Applets downloaded automatically from the Internet when you view certain pages. They are temporarily stored in the Downloaded Program Files folder on your hard disk. |
| Temporary Internet Files | The Temporary Internet Files folder contains webpages stored on your hard disk for quick viewing. Your personalized settings for webpages will be left intact. |
| DirectX Shader Cache | Clean up files created by the graphics system which can speed up application load time and improve responsiveness. They will be re-generated as needed. |
| Delivery Optimization Files | Delivery Optimization Files are files that were previously downloaded to your computer and can be deleted if currently unused by the Delivery Optimization service. |
| Recycle Bin | The Recycle Bin contains files you have deleted from your computer. These files are not permanently removed until you empty the Recycle Bin. |
| Temporary Files | Apps can store temporary information in specific folders. These can be cleaned up manually if the app does not do it automatically. |
| Thumbnails | Windows keeps a copy of all of your picture, video, and document thumbnails so they can be displayed quickly when you open a folder. If you delete these thumbnails, they will be automatically recreated as needed. |
| User File History | Windows stores file versions on this disk before copying them to the designated file history disk. If you delete these files, you will lose some file history. |
Conclusion
The Free Windows Disk Cleanup App is a computer maintenance utility that was designed by Microsoft for its Windows operating system. In addition to the utility Storage Sense, it scans your computer’s hard drive for unnecessary or no longer needed files.
With this easy-to-use app, you can uninstall application files that take up too much space on your computer’s hard drive. Applications or “Apps” often take up a lot of space and cause storage issues in your hard drive, and this is one simple answer to alleviate that.