Windows 10: Cleaning windows after update.

Today I did windows update. It said it may download 1.2 GB. I updated. But space went down by 3 GB.
I tried using disk clean up in properties of C: drive with system files. It could clean up only 18 mb.
I tried using dism as below
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup /ResetBase
Still cleaning did not improve space.
Finally, I deleted all in windows | software distribution | download folder.

Is there any good way to clean after update

:)

 

Windows 10 install files reappeared after cleaning with disk cleanup

Hello

I am having an issue where the Windows 10 install files ($Windows.~BT) folder keeps reappearing even though I deleted it with disk cleanup. I do not wish to install Windows 10 and plan to stay on 8.1. Why is does this folder keep appearing even though I
have not chosen to reserve my copy of Windows 10? I even uninstalled KB3035583 and hid the update to make to sure but the install files still download no matter what I do. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Windows 10 install files reappeared after cleaning with disk cleanup

Hi,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

We would be glad to help you with the issue you are facing today.

Method: 1

If you are not interested in upgrading to Windows 10 now, I suggest you to rename the
Software Distribution folder to Software Distribution.old and delete it. Downloaded updates will be deleted and a new folder will be created.



I suggest you to go through the wiki article by “Andre Da Costa” by visiting the below mentioned link and see if that helps:

How to free up disk space in Windows:

How to free up disk space in Windows



Hope this helps in resolving the issue. If the issue persists, do get back to us. We will be happy to assist you.

Thank you.

 

Do you have a Windows.old folder? Have you just upgraded to the Creator's build, which would create that? Or was this just a routine Windows update?

If you have that folder, it will be automatically deleted after a set time (that was 10 days for the anniversary build).
If you don't want to roll back to the previous build, and have that folder, just search for
How do I delete Windows.old
- plenty of results.

Use e.g. Windirstat (free) to see what's taking space.

 

You can use cleanmgr.exe to clean all the temperary installation files.

 

I use CCleaner + Wise Disk Cleaner (cleans downloaded files among others) + Windows commands:

Code: fsutil usn deletejournal /d /n c: chkdsk /scan winmgmt /salvagerepository del "%temp%\*" /s /f /q del "C:\$Recycle.bin\*" /s /f /q del "D:\$Recycle.bin\*" /s /f /q del "E:\$Recycle.bin\*" /s /f /q del "%systemroot%\temp\*" /s /f /q vssadmin delete shadows /for=c: /all /quiet Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup /ResetBase cleanmgr /sageset:65535 & cleanmgr /sagerun:65535[/quote]

 

I agree with swarfega 100%. Using cleanmgr.exe IS the Best and Safest way to delete your Windows.Old Folder!!!!!

 

If you run it as Admin, it will automatically clean system files.

 

Thank you.
I don't have that folder. I have deleted it quite long ago.

 

[/quote]

In stead of cleanmgr.exe, I obtained it from properties of C: drive. I am admin of my laptop. Still it has not cleaned it.

 

That is the same one, we are talking about....Worked for me and lots of others too. You could try entering this command in your Dos prompt ADMIN or even Power Shell Admin. Without the quotes.
"%SystemRoot%\System32\Cmd.exe /c Cleanmgr /sageset:35 & Cleanmgr /sagerun:35"

 

Thanks. I will try after next update.

 

While you can just delete large folders, the best way to regain space is by using the built in Disk Cleanup tool.
Click Start and type 'Disk Cleanup'. Right-click the application that appears, and select 'Run as administrator'. Select the drive you want to clean up -- this should be your system drive -- and click OK.
The tool will calculate how much space can be saved and then present you with a list of items that can be cleaned, including some very large ones.

 

Not quite. You still have to tick the boxes just not press the "cleanup system files" button.

That is why people do the cleanmgr /sageset:65535 & cleanmgr /sagerun:65535 as it saves ticking the boxes.

You can even script it to do the ones you want (if you didn't want it clear logs or empty the recycle bin or something).

I'd give credit for this script but I forgot who I copied it off. Code: $VName="StateFlags0032" $DirPath="HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches" # Folders Names which will been cleaned. Note some of these (for example "RetailDemo Offline Content") are deleted from # the registry after first run. Messages like "Key not found" are therefore not important and can be ignored. $TempFolders=@( "Active Setup Temp Folders", "BranchCache", "Content Indexer Cleaner", "Delivery Optimization Files", "Downloaded Program Files", "GameNewsFiles", "GameStatisticsFiles", "GameUpdateFiles", "Internet Cache Files", #"Memory Dump Files", "Offline Pages Files", "Old ChkDsk Files", "Previous Installations", #"Recycle Bin", "RetailDemo Offline Content", "Service Pack Cleanup", "Setup Log Files", "System error memory dump files", "System error minidump files", "Temporary Files", "Temporary Setup Files", "Temporary Sync Files", "Thumbnail Cache", "Update Cleanup", "Upgrade Discarded Files", "User file versions", "Windows Defender", "Windows Error Reporting Archive Files", "Windows Error Reporting Queue Files", "Windows Error Reporting System Archive Files", "Windows Error Reporting System Queue Files", "Windows Error Reporting Temp Files", "Windows ESD installation files", "Windows Upgrade Log Files") Write-Host "The following are selected to be cleaned by cleanmgr" -f cyan $error.clear() For($i=0;$i -lt $TempFolders.Count; $i++) { $RegKey=$DirPath + "\" + $TempFolders[$i] $StateValue=(Get-ItemProperty $RegKey).$VName If ($?) { If ($Error.categoryinfo) {write-host "Key not found " -f red -NoNewline; write-host ": " $TempFolders[$i] -f White} ElseIf (-not $StateValue) { New-ItemProperty -Path $RegKey -Name $VName -Value "2" -PropertyType "dword" | out-null write-host "Key added " -NoNewline; write-host ": " $TempFolders[$i] -f White } Else { Set-ItemProperty -Path $RegKey -Name $VName -Value "2" write-host "Key updated " -NoNewline; write-host ": " $TempFolders[$i] -f White } $error.clear() $RegKey=$DirPath Write-Host "End of List" -f cyan # 32 is a random number - just has to match $VName variable CLEANMGR /sagerun:32 Write-Host "Disk Cleanup running asynchronously..." -f white[/quote]

 

Deleting one large folder is obviously the best way to reclaim disk space. Deleting a 20GB Windows.old is more efficient than deleting lots of 3MB temp files.

Disk Cleanup is a way to delete junk you don't need. As are the various other temp places mentioned earlier by @TairikuOkami

I use CCleaner and TFC as well. They probably duplicate each other but never mind.

There are lots of other interesting things you can do (most of which make no difference) but I would suggest that compression is the best way to reduce disk space and that it also improves performance (unless you have an exceptionally fast SSD and a really really poor CPU.

Ignore what MS says and run Compact /compactOS:always

Then run from admin prompt compact /c /s /a /f /q /i /exe:xpress16k for all your folders containing games or documents.

It will certainly reduce the size and in my testing makes things faster in every situation (even with HDD)

You may need to change xpress16K toxpress 8K if your CPU is weaker than your disk but doing anything is better than nothing.

Just for your interest xpress4K is the default compression (which is used by /compactOS) and even that is faster in any situation I have tested.

Just to make it clear, I'll put it in bold.

Everything I've tested, including games, runs faster if it is compressed on disk irrespective of the hardware (SSD/CPU etc)

Going back to not bold, you may want to check different compressions. Even NTFS compression is better than nothing though.