Free Up Disk Space in Windows 11: A Quick Guide

This post shows students and new users how to free up disk space in Windows 11 when running low.

If your computer runs low on free disk space, you cannot install important security updates or upgrade Windows OS, and your computer’s performance will suffer. It is important to ensure you don’t run out of free drive space on your computer.

Learning how to free up drive space in Windows can help improve the performance of your computer. When your computer runs low on free disk space, it can significantly slow down, making it difficult to run programs or complete tasks promptly.

Additionally, ensuring you have enough free disk space is crucial for installing important security updates or upgrading your operating system. Following the steps outlined in the post, you can keep your computer running smoothly and avoid any performance issues caused by low disk space.

Use Disk Cleanup Tool

You can use Window’s built-in Disk Cleanup tool to delete temporary and system files from your device and free up some disk space.

To use Disk Cleanup, follow the steps below:

Select the Start button, type disk cleanup, then select Disk Cleanup from the results list.

To delete unused files, select the check box next to the type of files you want to delete. (To view a description of each file type, select the name.)

Downloaded Program Files, Temporary Internet Files, and Thumbnails are selected by default. To free up even more space, select Clean up system files, and then select the type of system files you want to delete.

When you’re done selecting the types of files to delete, select OK, then select Delete files in the confirmation window to start the cleanup process.

That should free up some disk space.

Use Storage Sense

Windows 10 comes with a built-in tool called Storage Sense. If you turn on Storage Sense, Windows will automatically perform the above steps by freeing up space, deleting unnecessary files, emptying the recycle bin, and others based on how often you’ve chosen to run Storage Sense.

To set up Storage Sense on Windows, follow the steps below:

Select the Start button, and then select Settings.

Then, Navigate to System > Storage and turn on Storage Sense.

Next, click the Storage Sense tile to expand it.

Configure more options to allow “Storage Sense” to automatically clean up user content and help keep Windows running smoothly.

Based on your configurations above, Windows should automatically clean up temporary files. You can configure more advanced settings, but the default above should be enough in most cases.

That’s it!

Conclusion:

To effectively free up disk space in Windows 11 and maintain optimal performance, consider the following steps:

• Utilize the Disk Cleanup Tool to remove temporary and unnecessary files.
• Enable Storage Sense for automatic management of disk space.
• Regularly delete files you no longer need, including documents and media.
• Empty the Recycle Bin frequently to reclaim space.
• Uninstall applications that are not in use to reduce clutter.
• Transfer large files to external storage or cloud services as needed.

By following these tips, you can ensure your computer runs smoothly and efficiently while minimizing issues related to low disk space.