Windows 10: how to clean up bloated windows folder

Discus and support how to clean up bloated windows folder in Windows 10 Performance & Maintenance to solve the problem; I have a windows 10 laptop with a bloated windows folder -- almost 40 gb. on my windows 10 desktop it is just 15 gb. that's reasonable. back to the... Discussion in 'Windows 10 Performance & Maintenance' started by shmu26, Mar 19, 2016.

  1. shmu26 Win User

    how to clean up bloated windows folder


    I have a windows 10 laptop with a bloated windows folder -- almost 40 gb.
    on my windows 10 desktop it is just 15 gb. that's reasonable.

    back to the problematic laptop: I ran windows disk cleanup, with system files cleanup, and it doesn't find anything big.

    I checked the temp folder inside windows folder, and it's small.

    The WinSxS folder is a reasonable size: 6 gb.

    I can't figure out what's bloating this windows folder. any ideas how to fix it?
    The system is upgraded from windows 8.1. But the windows.old folder is gone, so that's not it.

    :)
     
    shmu26, Mar 19, 2016
    #1

  2. Windows 10 folder size is too big

    If you ended up with Windows.old that means you didn't do a clean install i.e. after formatting the drive (or at least the system partition). Perform a clean install for best results.

    TreeSize Free run as admin can tell you exactly which folders on your system are the most bloated.
     
    RobertJWin, Mar 19, 2016
    #2
  3. Rohn007 Win User
    free up disk space

    What size drive you have is important. If it is a 32GB drive, it will be very difficult to free up enough space.

    Here is a collection of information about freeing up space on your HD.

    System / HD Cleanup / Clean Up / DiskClean / (wiki in devel)

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/for...

    DECRAP- DISKCLEAN- FREE UP SPACE / DISK CLEAN

    If you are looking to identify what is taking up the most space, there are free tools you can download the provide a “treeview” or “treemap” display of your HD. Basically, they display the relative file and folder sizes graphically. I’ve used this tool in the
    past: WinDirStat but there are other similar tools.

    If you want to do a general cleanup you can use the built in diskclean tool. Here are a couple of articles on using the tool

    http://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-clea... 2016 04 04 How to clean up system files with the Windows 10 Disk Cleanup
    tool

    https://www.howtogeek.com/256594/how-to-enable-...

    If you want to do more “advanced” cleanup, including cleaning up some application specific temp files a tool like CCleaner is what I use. You can get it here:

    Download CCleaner | Clean, optimize & tune up your PC, free!

    When you download CCleaner, make sure you get version 5.34 or later

    Finally, most computers come with unwanted “demonstration” applications which the builder is paid to install. Technically it is called “crapware” (really). There are a number of free tools you can download. I have used PCDeCrapifier in the past. This article
    reviews a couple of applications. Look for newer reviews too:

    https://www.digitalcitizen.life/removing-bloat-...

    http://www.7tutorials.com/how-remove-crapwarebl...

    http://www.7tutorials.com/removing-bloat-crapwa...

    http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-apps/five...

    https://www.technibble.com/free-precious-time-t... Free Up Your Precious Time With The Tron Script- 2015 02 03
     
    Rohn007, Mar 19, 2016
    #3
  4. how to clean up bloated windows folder

    You can use this software to see, what is taking space:

    TreeSize Free - Quickly Scan Directory Sizes and Find Space Hogs

    Have you run an advanced disk cleanup? Run this command as admin, additionally component cleanup:

    cleanmgr /sageset:65535 & cleanmgr /sagerun:65535

    Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup /ResetBase
     
    TairikuOkami, Mar 19, 2016
    #4
  5. shmu26 Win User
    thanks. the command line didn't do anything new, but treesize found that my installer folder has 23 gb in it. How to safely clean it?
    edit: I ran PatchCleaner. I didn't have enough room to save the deleted files in another location, so I hope everything is okay. So far, so good. It freed up 20 gb. I am good now.
     
    shmu26, Apr 4, 2018
    #5
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