Windows: Managing Disk Space and Storage Sense

When the C: drive fills up, Windows slows down and may stop working correctly. Here's how to check your storage and free up space. How to check your disk space: Open File Explorer > click "This PC" in the left panel. Under "Devices and drives," you'll see the C: drive with a bar showing how full it is. Less than 10–15% free space causes performance problems. Quick cleanup with Disk Cleanup: 1. In the Start menu, search for "Disk Cleanup" and open it 2. Select the C: drive and click OK 3. Check all available boxes (Temporary Internet Files, Recycle Bin, Temporary files, etc.) 4. Click "Clean up system files" for additional options (Windows Update cleanup can free up several GB) 5. Click OK > Delete Files Enable Storage Sense for automatic cleanup: Storage Sense automatically frees up space by deleting temporary files and emptying the Recycle Bin on a schedule. Settings > System > Storage > Storage Sense > Toggle On Configure it to run weekly or monthly and set how long to wait before emptying the Recycle Bin automatically. Find what's taking up space: Settings > System > Storage > click on the C: drive > Windows shows a breakdown by category (Apps, Temporary files, Documents, etc.) Click any category to see details and delete items you don't need. Large file finder — manual approach: Open File Explorer > This PC > search bar > type size:>500MB and press Enter. This finds all files over 500MB across the drive so you can identify space hogs. Uninstall unused programs: Settings > Apps > Installed apps — sort by size (click the sort button) to find large programs you no longer need. Click any app > Uninstall. Move large files to OneDrive: Documents, photos, and videos stored only on the local drive take up space. Enabling OneDrive backup (Desktop, Documents, Pictures) moves them to the cloud while keeping them accessible. Files you haven't opened recently can be set to "cloud only" to free local space — right-click a OneDrive folder > Free up space. When to call us: If the drive is full but you can't identify what's using space, there may be large log files, Windows update leftovers, or other system files we can safely clean up remotely.