Free up space on Windows

Plain-English guides. Each one shows how to do it yourself, step by step.

• C: drive full? 8 safe ways to free up space

  Your C: drive is full and Windows is complaining. Here are 8 safe ways to free up space on Windows 11 and 10, what's fine to delete, and what you should never touch.

• How to delete temporary files safely

  Step-by-step: how to delete temporary files on Windows 11 and 10, where the Temp folders are, why some files won't delete, and what's safe to remove.

• How to clear the shader cache (NVIDIA, AMD, DirectX)

  What the shader cache is, whether it's safe to delete, and how to clear the NVIDIA, AMD, DirectX and Steam shader caches on Windows to free up gigabytes.

• Can I delete Windows.old?

  Windows.old is a backup of your previous Windows version that can take 15–30 GB. Here's when it's safe to delete and the right way to remove it on Windows 11 and 10.

• Is it safe to delete Windows Update files?

  Windows keeps old update files in SoftwareDistribution and the Delivery Optimization cache. Here's what's safe to delete, how to do it properly, and what to leave alone.

• How to see what's taking up space on your PC

  Find out exactly what's using your disk space on Windows: the built-in Storage page, hidden space hogs like hiberfil.sys, WinSxS, restore points and WSL, and how to find the biggest folders.