How to Delete Junk Files in Windows 10 to Free Up Disk Space

Sometimes, Junk Files in Windows 10 might be the prime reason that you face “your computer is low on memory” error on your Windows computer.

Junk files are those unnecessary files (temporary files and folders) that remain on your system after a task has been performed. Several temporary files are created whenever any Windows software or any application start performing some specific task and then forgets to delete all the temporary files it created once the task is done.

how to delete junk files in windows 10

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As a result, after some point of time your computer is completely full of junk files in the form of various temporary files, log files, downloaded files, unwanted files, and many unnecessary Windows registry entries.

So, if you want to free up disk space on your PC or want to make Windows 10 faster and improve its performance then you must clean your computer by removing junk files, temporary files, internet tracks and all other unwanted items that take up unnecessary space on your hard drive. A complete list of files and folders you can safely remove to clear the most space in Windows 10 computers are explained below.

Do you want to delete temporary files and folders to free up drive space in Windows 10 using Disk Cleanup Tool? Learn How to Free Up Disk Space on Windows 10 Computer

How to Delete Junk Files in Windows 10 to Free Up Disk Space

If you are using Windows 10 computer from a long time and want to free up disk space on your PC then deleting unnecessary files, uninstalling apps, and moving files to other drives are extremely needed. This guide talks about which files and folders you can safely delete in Windows 10 to free up hard drive space.

So, are you ready to find and delete temporary files in Windows 10 computer? Here’s the list of file and folder locations to delete junk files in Windows 10 PC:

Temporary Internet Files & Folders

Temporary internet files and folders (Browser temp folders) are the data from web pages which is cached to make web pages loading time quicker. But don’t worry, all these temporary internet files (or cache) folders are safe to delete.

Likely safe locations to delete temporary internet files and folders from:

  • Google Chrome: C:\Users > username > AppData > Local > Google > Chrome > User Data > Default > Cache
  • Internet Explorer: C:\Users > OfficePower > AppData > Local > Microsoft > Windows > INetCache
  • Mozilla FirefoxC:\Users > username > AppData > Local > Mozilla > Firefox > Profiles > randomcharacters.default > cache2 > entries
  • Microsoft EdgeC:\Users > username > AppData > Local > Packages > Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe > AC > MicrosoftEdge > Cache

Removing temporary internet files Windows 10 saves a lot of hard disk space, so don’t hesitate to check “Temporary Internet Files” box in Disk Cleanup Tool (if you use) to tell the operating system that you want to delete them.

Windows Temporary Files

In most of the cases, Windows applications use the Windows temporary files and folders to temporarily write data. You can safely remove anything available in the Windows temp folders except all those items that are in current use.

Here are the safe locations to delete Windows temporary files and folders from:

  • C:\Windows > Temp
  • C:\Users > username > AppData > Local > Temp

Windows Log Files

Log Files are thoese files that is recorded when something happens in an operating system. In simplw words, Windows Log Files are the files that store data about what action certain applications performed.

These are the safe locations to delete ONLY FILES THAT END IN “.LOG”.

  • C:\Windows
  • C:\Windows > Debug

It’s really safe to delete all log files and folders in this location:

  • C:\Windows > Logs

Old Prefetch Data

All the advanced Windows files used by Windows operating system to run or open commonly used programs quickly called Old Prefetch Data. Windows uses the prefetch files to keep information about all those software or applications that you frequently use.

Can i delete old Prefetch data in Windows 10? The answer is “Yes” if you want to delete old prefetch data.

You can delete old prefetch data files and folders from:

  • C:\Windows > Prefetch

Fundamentally, the prefetch folder is a subfolder of the Windows system folder. The prefetch folder is self-maintaining folder too. So if you delete prefetch folder or empty its contents, the Windows software or other applications will take longer to open the next time you turn on your computer. That’s it.

Crash Dumps Files

Crash Dumps Files are those files containing a copy of the computer’s memory at the time of the crash (For example: Blue screen of death “Page Fault in Nonpaged Area” error). Windows memory dump files can be used to help diagnose and identify the actual problem that led to the crash in the first place.

If you don’t want to keep crash dumps files for troubleshooting Windows crashes then you can delete them.

You can safely delete Crash Dumps files and folders from:

  • C:\Users > username > AppData > Local > CrashDumps
  • C:\ProgramData > Microsoft > Windows > WER > ReportArchive

Windows.old Folder

Windows.old folder is created when you upgrade from one version of Windows to another. Basically, the Windows.old folder contains all the files and data from your previous Windows installation. This folder can be used to restore the old version of Windows on your system if you don’t like the new Windows operating system.

Can i delete Windows.old folder? Yes, you can delete Windows.old folder. If you have recently performed the Windows 10 upgrade from previous versions of Windows and feeling very comfortable with this new operating system then Windows.old folder is totally a waste of your disk space for you.

In this situation, you must delete windows.old folder from your Windows 10 PC to free up plenty of hard drive space. Here’s How to Delete Windows.old folder in Windows 10

Conclusion

So, these are some of the most helpful (easy to access) file and folder locations to delete junk files in Windows 10 PC. We hope, now you are able to safely remove junk files, temporary files, internet tracks and all other unwanted items that take up unnecessary space on your Windows 10 hard drive.

There are also many other files locations which can be accessed regularly to clear and free hard drive space in Windows 10 computer. If you have a Windows 10 junk files location you know about, please let us know about it via comments.