4 Ways To Free Up Space on Your Computer
There’s nothing more frustrating than the feeling of trying to save a new file to your computer and it’s run out of space. Or maybe you’ve noticed that your performance has become slow, laggy, and hard to use. It’s not an issue with your internet provider: it’s likely that your disc is too full.
If you want your computer to return to its former glory, it’s essential that you take the time to clear up digital space. It’s not always easy to figure out how to free up disk space, and it can be frustrating trying to determine what can go and what you should keep.
If you need help sifting through your cluttered hard drive, read on. We’ll walk you through what you need to know.
Disk Cleanup Programs
Depending on what kind of operating system, you’re currently working on, there may be some built-in assistance to help you get through the difficult process of cleaning up your hard drive.
If you run a Windows PC, there’s a program available with your software known as the Windows Disk Cleanup. You can access this through the properties function on your computer, under the general tab.
The program is quite handy. It will scan your computer and give you a number ahead of time that indicates how much space you could save by using the program. It will look through your computer and bring up files that aren’t being used, old system features that are no longer necessary, and other unneeded stuff cluttering up your drive.
With a simple click of the select button, you can free up all of that space in an instant. Macs have a similar program, as well as almost any other operating system you may be using. The e-mail provider you use also might have email archiving ability, or you might be able to look into another service for help with that task.
Get Rid of a Few Programs
We use a variety of programs on our computers to do all sorts of things. Some of us, however, can get a little download happy and load up our PCs with all sorts of programming that we never use.
If there’s anything that can zap the storage space on your computer, it’s this kind of behavior. Programs require a lot of space and operating power. If there are programs that you aren’t currently using on your computer, getting rid of them as quickly as possible will save you a lot of trouble.
You can go to the programs tab on your computer and see all of the programs you currently have installed. Even more helpful, there will likely be a column that indicated the last time you used a program.
Be tough on yourself: if you haven’t used a certain program in the last two years, is there really a likelihood that you’ll need it anytime soon? Hit uninstall and you can clear up a lot of space from your computer in this way.
Organize Your Files by Size
You have a lot of files on your computer, and if you really need to clear up some space, the inevitable conclusion is that some need to go. But which ones will get the boot, and which can stick around?
One way to make this difficult and time-consuming process easier on yourself is to organize your files by size. This can be as easy as going to the All Files tab and hitting the column of file size. You will then see every file on your computer listed in order of file size from biggest to smallest.
The files at the very top (likely video files or something of that sort) will be the ones taking up most of your precious hard drive space. You might find that you can free up a huge amount of space by getting rid of or moving only a small amount of files.
That can make the process much less stressful and save you a lot of time in the process.
Empty Out the Trash
Sometimes, computer users can get mightily frustrated when trying to clean up their disc space. They may spend hours deleting things only to see that the available space on their drive hasn’t gone down at all! How could this be possible?
It isn’t magic or a trick of the devil: the simple solution is that many users simply forget to empty their trash. Deleting a file is actually a two-step process. Your first delete sends the file to your digital trash can, where it remains stored and continues to take up space.
This is really for your protection, in case you delete something on accident and need to go in and get it out. But if you want space freed up, you’ll need to delete all these items permanently.
Your trash can should have a clear all button that allows you to get rid of everything at once. You should also be able to go through the files individually and get rid of them one-by-one again. Once they’re cleared out of here, you should finally see the beautiful new space on your disk open up.
