While recording files to HDD, a “smart” system algorithm breaks them into fragments for the rational use of space. Unfortunately, when reading files consisting of many small fragments, computer performance inevitably decreases and Windows begins to slow down. Thousands of old system and user files also add problems. But there is a way out - regular cleaning and defragmentation system disk will avoid performance degradation.

Settings for Windows 10 | Windows 8 | Windows 7

We do not recommend performing defragmentation to solid state SSD drives . This may lead to errors and malfunctions. SSD defragmentation does not lead to improved performance. However, cleaning the disk from unnecessary files will still not be superfluous.

The number of fragments into which just one single file is divided can be in the hundreds and even thousands. Of course, such fragmentation does not contribute at all fast work hard drive and the computer in general. Particularly susceptible to this problem are laptops, into which very thoughtful hard drives are most often built.

To speed up data reading, it is necessary to collect all small fragments of files into one. For these purposes, very effective programs for defragmenting files have been created. Perform defragmentation regularly leads to an increase in the speed of accessing and reading data from the hard drive.

However, you should not immediately start defragmenting the disk. For achievement maximum effect from defragmentation , you must first completely clean your computer of various “file garbage”, the size of which on most computers can reach many gigabytes! And we are talking not only about old and unnecessary user data, but also about various system garbage: temporary files, outdated shortcuts, remnants of previously deleted programs, etc. Without first cleaning your computer of debris, defragmentation becomes meaningless.

For effective hard drive cleaning computer and optimize the performance of the entire system, we recommend using one of best programs in its class - CCleaner, immediately before defragmentation. After cleaning the system from junk files, defragmentation should be entrusted to another high-quality free program from this developer - Defraggler.

Step One: Install Defraggler and CCleaner

Defraggler and CCleaner work in versions Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10x86 and x64(32 and 64-bit).
For advanced users, paid versions or Defraggler Professional are available.

So for effective cleaning system, just click on the “Analysis” button, after which CCleaner will conduct a full scan of the disk for various file junk. During the analysis process, the program will ask you to close browsers if they are open - for example Google Chrome or Opera.

After the analysis is completed, you only need to click on the “Cleaning” button. Done - the disc has lost thousands of pounds. unnecessary files. Now, let's move on to cleaning larger user files.

To begin with, we recommend that you conduct a thorough audit of all user data on your hard drive. We bet you have a lot of unnecessary video files, audio tracks and images lying around on your hard drive. We hasten to please you - thanks to CCleaner, you don’t have to do all this manually!

Open the “Service” tab, then “Disk Analysis”. Here, select the drive of your computer you need to clean (the system drive is always designated as “C:”) or check everything at once. Also select the type of files you want to search for. Music, videos, documents and images take up the most space, so they must be turned on.

After performing the analysis, the program will provide you with a list of the largest files that are on your hard drives. The list is formed in descending order - the largest files are at the very top. If the file name doesn’t mean anything to you, right-click on it and select the “Open folder” menu item. Review the files in the folder and delete them if necessary. You can also select all files of the same type (for example, videos in .mkv format) and delete them at once - to do this, select the file in the list, right-click and select the menu item “Select by type”, then “Delete selected” .

So one day, I cleared my laptop's 70 GB SSD, which was not enough for the installation Photoshop programs Lightroom and GTA V from Steam. But be careful when deleting so as not to accidentally erase the necessary data.

It is equally important to remove from the system everything that is not necessary programs. I talked about this in detail in a separate article, but I won’t ignore it here either. Go to the “Service” section and to the “Uninstall programs” subsection, as shown in the screenshot. CCleaner will generate full list all programs installed on the computer.

Carefully study the list of programs and remove unnecessary applications one at a time by highlighting it in the list and clicking on the “ Uninstallation" (but not "Delete"). Uninstalling some programs may require you to restart your computer. We recommend doing it right away, without proceeding with deleting other applications.

Now that your computer is cleared of unnecessary files, programs and other garbage, you can safely proceed directly to hard drive defragmentation on your Windows computer.

Step Three: Defragment the Hard Drive

Run Defraggler program with administrator rights. In the top window of the program, select the hard drive that needs to be defragmented, right-click and select " Disk Defragmenter» in the context menu. To select multiple drives, hold Ctrl key and highlight necessary disks. The program will run disk analysis and begin defragmentation.

Using the program you can run Windows. Defraggler allows you to view comprehensive information about defragmentation progress and fragmented files. The undeniable advantages of the program include the ability to defragment separate files by opening the “File List” tab.

Defragmentation may take quite a long time to complete the first time. You can use your computer during the defragmentation process, however, we recommend not doing this to speed up the task. In the program settings, you can check the “Turn off PC after defragmentation” item, which allows you to carry it out, say, before leaving for work.

Save yourself the hassle of performing routine tasks by setting up a defragmentation schedule by going to Settings > Schedule. After completing all recommended operations, restart your computer and enjoy a significant increase in speed Windows startup 7 and software. The overall performance of the system will also increase significantly. The effect will be especially noticeable on computers where defragmentation has not been performed for a long time.

You can reduce the number of calls to the paging file and thereby speed up the operation of your hard drive by using proprietary technology with a compatible flash drive.

To fully unlock the full potential of your computer, proceed to the next section of the course. And don't rush to delete CCleaner program- It will be useful to us more than once!

Defragmentation using standard Windows tools

If you don't want to download additional programs To defragment hard drives, you can use a standard utility that is already integrated into any operating system of the Windows family.

However, despite some advantages of a native defragmenter, we recommend using a software package that compares favorably with the standard solution in being more flexible and fine adjustments, convenient controls and advanced functionality.

To launch the standard utility, open the Start menu and type in search bar the word "Defragmentation". Select the link " Disk Defragmenter» in search results.

For Windows 8: open the search bar with the keyboard shortcut + (Win+Q) Type "Defragmentation", highlight the "Options" tab and select "Defragment and optimize your hard drives".

This program cleans various temporary files that are formed as a result of installing new programs and are stored on the hard drive.

To call the cleaning program, you need to open: All programs - Accessories - System Tools - Disk Cleanup.

From the list of components to remove, select groups of files that you think are not needed. After checking all the required items, click OK.

It is important to remember that by increasing the amount of free space on your hard drive, you will significantly increase the performance of your computer.

Disk Defragmenter

To improve the performance of your computer, you can defragment your disk. As a result of the hard work of the disk, scattering occurs different parts file on the disk surface.

File fragmentation occurs, which causes it to take longer to read a given fragmented file. Therefore, defragmentation just collects files into one whole.

When you start the program, select the drive on which you want to defragment.

It is important to remember that for solid state drives(SSD) defragmentation is not required, this also applies to various flash keychains and memory cards.

Disk archiving.

To protect and preserve important information, it is necessary to regularly archive data. Just like previous utilities, it can be activated from the main menu in the list of utilities; it is a wizard dialog.

There is no point in archiving all hard disk. Select for archiving specific directories and files in which you store your documents and other materials.

In the last article we looked at maximizing freeing up space on it, and in this article we’ll talk about how to properly configure the CCleaner utility to maintain free space on the disk and high speed his works. This will also slightly increase protection against viruses, which often like to hide in temporary folders. In addition, CCleaner has additional useful features, which we will also look at, and works on all versions of Windows (XP, 7, 8, 10).

1. Installing and configuring the CCleaner utility

CCleaner is one of the best disk cleanup utilities, I recommend using it on every computer and laptop. You can download the utility in the "" section.

Complete the installation by selecting the desired language.

Some options can be disabled during installation.

Run the utility, after which you need to configure it as described in this article, otherwise the utility will not clean up what you need, but leave what you need to remove. Also available special option, when enabled, the utility can be launched every time the computer boots and cleans the disk automatically.

Let me make a reservation right away that the utility itself determines your version of Windows. installed programs and based on this makes a list of what she can clean. Therefore, some settings may differ slightly from yours, but the differences are minor and intuitive.

The screenshots will immediately show not the default program settings, but already optimal settings. After each screenshot there will be short description what, why and why.

2. Cleaning Windows

First of all, we see the cleaning settings of standard browsers.

If you are using a standard browser Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer, then here you can configure their cleaning.

Internet Cache/Temporary Files
Visit log
Cookie(Cookie)
Download history
Session and Index.dat files
List of entered addresses	Cache of addresses entered in address bar browser. Allows you to quickly substitute addresses that you have already entered, which is convenient. To increase privacy, you can check the box.
Autofill forms
Saved Passwords

Use the scroll bar to see the Explorer and System cleaning settings.

Recent Documents	List recently open documents for their quick search. Clear only to increase anonymity.
Run from START menu	Execute the last commands on the line. Clear only to increase anonymity.
Other recent objects	Various temporary files that store information about the last time you used your computer. Can be cleaned.
Thumbnail cache	Stores thumbnails of pictures and photos for quick display. It is recommended not to clean.
Quick Access Lists	List recently open folders and files for quick re-opening. It is recommended not to clean.
Network passwords	Passwords for access by local network To shared folders other computers. It is recommended not to clean.
Emptying the Trash	It is not recommended to empty the recycle bin automatically, only manually. Because otherwise it loses its function of protecting against accidental deletion of files. It is better not to empty the recycle bin at all, but to set a limit on its size.
Temporary files	Lots of files in temporary folders that are absolutely unnecessary and take up a lot of space. It is recommended to clean them.
Clipboard	There is no point in clearing it, since it is cleared when the computer is restarted.
Memory dumps, file fragments, log files, error reports	It is not recommended to clear it, as this data will help solve problems in case of system and program failures.
CacheDNSand fonts	They speed up the Internet and the system; cleaning is not recommended.
Shortcuts in the START menu and on the desktop	It is recommended to remove unnecessary shortcuts manually.

A little lower there is a section “Other”.

Event logs	They help solve problems; cleaning is not recommended.
Old Prefetch data	Outdated cache can be cleared to speed up application launch.
Menu queue cache	When clearing, programs in the START menu and shortcuts in some panels will be sorted alphabetically, which is convenient.
Notification area cache	Stores a history of messages that pop up in the corner of the screen. It is better not to clean it, as this will require restarting the explorer, which may not always happen correctly.
Window size cache	Windows remembers the last window size for folders and programs. If you want windows to always open at their default size, check the box.
Encirclement path	Do not clean anything whose purpose you do not understand or are unsure of.
List of recent programs	Shortcuts in the START menu for quick launch recently used programs. It's convenient and doesn't take up much space, so there's no need to clean it up.
Your files and folders	Cleaning any files and folders specified by the user in the “Settings / Inclusions” section. We'll look at this section next in order.
Clearing free space	Thorough removal of files without the possibility of recovery. It is not recommended to enable this as this procedure is time-consuming and is only necessary for exceptional privacy.

On the Applications tab, you can configure settings for cleaning third-party browsers and other programs installed on the system.

Internet cache	Text, pictures and other files of visited sites. Takes up a lot of space, cleaning is recommended. But if you have a slow, limited Internet, then you don’t have to clear the cache; this will speed up the loading of sites and reduce traffic consumption when visiting the same sites.
Log of visited sites	You don't have to clear it to make it easier to find previously visited sites. Check the box if you do not need your browsing history or if you do not want anyone with access to your PC to know which sites you visited.
Cookie-files (Cookies)	Individual settings for each site and automatic login to them using your login. It is recommended not to clear it so as not to set up new permanent sites and not enter passwords on them. To improve security and privacy, you can enable clearing cookies.
Autofill forms	Substitutes into fields like Name, E-mail, etc. on the sites you previously entered the data, which is convenient. If you don’t need this or want to increase privacy, you can check the box.
Download history	A log that stores the addresses of files downloaded from websites. You don't have to clear it, but if you don't need your download history or want to increase your privacy, you can check the box.
Last download location	The last folder into which you downloaded a file from the Internet is remembered. The next time you download, you are prompted to save the file to the same folder, which can be convenient.
Session	Cache of open tabs in the browser. If you open tabs manually, it is recommended to clear them. To automatically open old tabs when you start the browser, uncheck the box.
Site settings	The scale and some other settings for each site are remembered, which is convenient and not advisable to clear.
Saved Passwords	Passwords that you save in your browser when you visit sites to automatically log in to them. This is convenient, but if you want to increase security or use another password manager, you can check the box.
Compact databases	Defragmentation of files in the browser cache to speed up loading. Doesn't make much sense when clearing the cache.

Use the scroll bar to see the application cleaning settings.

The utility knows what programs you have installed, what temporary files they create during their work, and where they are stored. Typically, these files do not take up much space and cleaning them is not necessary, especially if your computer takes a long time to boot. But sometimes the temporary files of some programs can take up a lot of space and, in principle, you can leave all the boxes checked; this should not harm the system.

A little further down there are sections “Utilities” and “Windows”.

Utilities are special-purpose programs that, in principle, are not much different from regular programs, but it’s better to disable cleaning temporary antivirus files. There may be log files that may be needed for diagnosis if your computer becomes infected. In addition, it is unknown how the antivirus will react to interference in its work.

IN Windows section There are standard system utilities such as the management console, search and registry editor.

You can leave the checkboxes here, only unnecessary ones will be deleted text files with work reports and logs of user-entered commands.

In any case, you can click the “Analyze” button and see how many files and their volume will be cleared.

When you click on a specific item, a complete list of files to be deleted and where they are located will be displayed. Clicking the Clean button will delete all temporary files. But keep in mind that this may require you to close your browser and some other programs, so it's best to set up temporary files to be deleted when you boot your computer.

Hard drive A-Data Ultimate SU650 120GB

4. Cleaning the registry

In the "Registry" section, you can configure settings for cleaning and repairing the system registry.

5. Service

In the "Service" section there are various additional tools to clean the system and keep it in good condition.

On the “Uninstall Programs” tab, you can remove programs that are no longer needed. This will not only free up disk space, but will also generally speed up the system.

Select the program you want to remove and click the Uninstall button. The “Delete” button is used if, after “Uninstalling” or removing the program in another way, it still remains in this list.

There are three more tabs here.

On the “Windows” tab, you can manage programs that are automatically loaded when the system starts.

Select the programs that you want to remove from startup and click “Turn off”. This will speed up the computer boot time and make the system work faster. Any program can be launched manually whenever you need it. To return a program to startup, select it and click “Enable”. The “Delete” button will remove the program from the list and you will no longer be able to manage its startup through this menu.

On the Scheduled Tasks tab, you can disable scheduled tasks.

In our example, Driver Booster created a task for automatic search new driver versions at some intervals. If this is not needed, you can turn off this task using the “Turn off” button. This way you can not only get rid of annoying offers to update drivers, but also speed up the system a little. But be careful, don't disable anything unless you're sure. The “Advanced mode” checkbox enables the display of system tasks and it is highly not recommended for inexperienced users to go there.

On the “Context Menu” tab, you can disable certain elements that appear when you right-click on a file or folder.

Here you can enable or disable items added to the context menu by various programs. This will also speed up the explorer a little and make the system more responsive.

On the “Browser Add-ons” tab, you can enable and disable various extensions that “fit” into the browser during installation various programs or directly from the Internet.

This way you can get rid of annoying panels and other nastiness. As you can see, there are also several additional tabs here for different browsers installed on your system.

A useful tool that allows you to determine which files take up the most disk space and where they are located.

Select all file types, the required disk partition and click “Analyze”. As a result, you will receive a list of files sorted by size, you will be able to select those no longer needed and delete them using the right mouse button.

Allows you to find copies of the same file in several places on the disk.

Select the required disk partition and click "Find". As a result, you will receive a list of duplicate files, you will be able to select unwanted copies and delete them.

In the System Restore section, you can delete intermediate system restore points.

If you are using the built-in tool Windows recovery leave the very first and most recent restore point.

The "Erase Disks" section is designed to delete confidential files without the possibility of their recovery.

You can only wipe free place after deleting some files from the disk, after which no one can restore them. Or you can completely clean the disk and the utility itself will delete all files from it without the possibility of recovery.

6. Program settings

The “Settings” section contains settings for the utility itself and also has several tabs.

6.1. Main settings

Here you can change the language of the utility if you installed it in English, and some other parameters that you could select during installation.

But the most important thing to do here is to check the box “Clean up when the computer starts” and select drive “C” for cleaning, since all temporary files that take up a lot of space are located there.

Here you can add cookies to exceptions that you do not want to be deleted during clearing.

As we have already said, cookies store information about the settings of each site and are used to automatically log into sites without entering a password. If you left clearing cookies in your browser enabled, but want to ensure that the settings of several specific sites are not lost, then select them and add them to the list of exceptions using the arrow. But it’s much easier and more convenient not to enable cookie cleaning, as I advised you.

In the Inclusions tab, you can add any folder or specific files that you want cleaned upon boot.

This may be necessary if, as you work during the day, you accumulate temporary files (for example, downloaded from the Internet), which you will no longer need the next day. Just save these files to some folder and add it to this list. For me this is the “TEMP” folder on drive “D”.

On the “Exceptions” tab, on the contrary, you specify folders or specific files that you do not want to clear when downloading.

For example, if you like to experiment with different versions drivers for video cards, then you can add the “NVIDIA” folder on drive “C”, where the drivers are unpacked before installation.

When tracking is enabled, the utility will be constantly running and will monitor changes in the system. At the same time, it will consume CPU, memory and disk resources, which takes away some performance. But since we enabled boot cleaning, we don't need it.

In the paid version of the utility, you can specify users who will have the right to clean the system.

I think many people can do without it

6.7. Additionally

On last tab Settings contains options regarding various notifications and program behavior.

The most important thing is to check the box “Delete only files older than 24 hours from the Temp folder.” The fact is that some programs require a computer restart during the installation process. After the reboot, installation continues using the files unpacked into a temporary folder. If CCleaner deletes these files during download, the program installation will not complete. That's why a 24 hour delay is needed. Temporary files will not be deleted immediately, but the next day after creation, which will allow programs to install normally.

The rest of the settings are understandable in principle, but you don’t need to touch anything that is not clear

7. Links

Hard drive A-Data Ultimate SU650 240GB
Hard drive Transcend StoreJet 25M3 1 TB
HDD Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EZEX 1TB

No matter how modern your computer is, no matter how much memory it has, no matter how good its processor, over time it begins to work worse and worse. As a rule, this is not due to the fact that you began to use more demanding software. And not because your computer is broken. And with the fact that you have not done preventive maintenance on your PC for more than a year. A computer and its operating system, just like a car, require periodic attention. You can work on your PC every day for a long time (a year, a year and a half, two, ...) without taking absolutely any action. You can install and uninstall programs, copy files, surf the Internet, and so on. And suddenly you begin to notice that there is not enough space on the hard drive. The operating system takes longer to load than when it was first running. Programs start slower, to install a new one, you need to remove the old one, more annoying error windows appear, and so on. This may be the result of the fact that you did not perform systemic maintenance of the operating system. You can do something drastic. Remove the OS and software and install everything again. But this can take a lot of time and effort. It is also connected with such little things as settings, saved passwords, etc. Although this method is very effective, I want to tell you how to do without removing the OS and all software, but freeing up space on the hard drive and improving the performance of the PC. Depending on your employment and intensity of computer use, I recommend performing preventive maintenance once every six months or year. The need for and degree of effectiveness of the measures described below depends on a large number of factors. This includes hardware, software, the file system, the intensity of your work on the PC, the presence of malicious software in the system, and so on. Therefore, which of the following will help you specifically and to what extent, decide for yourself. I will review the operating room Windows system(the version is not important), but some of the tips will apply to any OS.

I advise you to first remove and/or burn to CD\DVD all personal information(photos, videos, documents, music, ...) that you haven’t used for a long time. This will help you free up space on your hard drive and reduce the time it takes to perform preventative measures.

Then, after removing everything unnecessary, move on to unused programs. Remove all software that you have not used for a long time and do not intend to use. Then perform system disk cleanup. In Windows OS, right-click on the drive containing operating system and select Properties. In the window that appears (picture below), on the General tab, click the Disk Cleanup button.

After some time, you will see approximately the following window, shown in the figure below. It configures disk cleanup.

You can check all the boxes (except for Compressing Old Files). Then go to the Advanced tab and clear all restore points and shadow copies by clicking the corresponding Clear button. Don't worry, none of your important files will be deleted. Disk Cleanup removes only outdated system data. In Windows XP, when you clean up your disk, you will see the option Compress old files. This means that the system will analyze which files have not been accessed for a long time (30 days by default) and will compress them. This will free up additional disk space, but will increase the file access time and make it somewhat more difficult to recover in the event of a failure. After all, click OK to confirm disk cleanup. Wait a little (1-5 minutes). If you nevertheless turn on compression and it is performed for the first time, then the time may increase to 10-20 minutes.

You can do the same disk cleaning operation with the remaining partitions. But the effect will be less visible on them.

Disk Defragmenter

Then I recommend defragmenting all local hard drives. To do this, go to the built-in defragmentation utility (Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Disk Defragmenter) (in the case of Windows 7) and perform disk analysis (picture below) by clicking the Analyze disks button.

Computer prevention is the key to your normal operation with this device. Disk defragmentation is an important step in computer prevention. I recommend setting aside time to do it. After analyzing the disks (2-5 minutes), the system will give you recommendations on which disks need to be defragmented. There are many opinions about after what percentage of fragmentation the defragmentation procedure should be performed. This depends on a very large number of parameters. Without going into further speculation, I would like to recommend on my own behalf that if you do not trust the results of the analysis, then perform defragmentation if the fragmented files exceed 10-15%. As you can see in the picture below, my results are quite good. In this case, I will not perform defragmentation.

I would like to note that there are a large number of paid and free programs defragmentation. They have a different set of functionality and can lead to different results from each other. However, if you do not want to experiment, then the defragmentation utility built into the OS will be sufficient. During defragmentation, I do not recommend performing any significant actions with the file system (copying, deleting, moving folders, files). This may negatively affect the speed and result of defragmentation. The time required to defragment a disk can range from several minutes to several hours. Depending on the degree of defragmentation, software and hardware, number of files, and so on. For normal defragmentation, I advise you to free up 13-15% or more on the disk that is being defragmented.

In addition, you can use the disk defragmentation program O O Defrag Professional edition.

After defragmentation, I recommend checking the system disk. And complete. To do this, in the same disk properties window, on the Tools tab, click the Run scan button. In the window that appears (picture below), select both options. And Automatically fix system errors and Check and repair damaged sectors. This will help your OS find and fix some systemic problems, which it is not able to correct in the “booted” state. She will try to find and restore damaged system files. This may remove some errors when working in the OS. Checking and restoring damaged sectors will make it possible to correct (if any) errors file system. It is even possible to restore damaged disk sectors.

Checking the disk may take from a few minutes to several hours. And you will need to restart your computer. You will not be able to work with it during verification. For all disks except the system one, I recommend (unless absolutely necessary) to only run Automatically fix system errors. These and other system prevention measures must be performed with Administrator level access rights.

Cleaning and defragmenting the registry

To implement this recommendation, you will need an additional utility (for example, TweakNow PowerPack 2011). The procedure for cleaning and defragmenting the registry can be omitted in most cases. But if you have already spent time on prevention, then optimize your registry. It doesn't matter which utility you choose. The meaning remains the same. First, you need to automatically scan the system registry for errors (picture below).

Then remove the “safer” errors (picture below). And then defragment the registry. This may take 5-10 minutes and may require a reboot. I would like to note that the effect of this procedure may be negligible. But in combination with everything else, it will also bring benefits.

Registry defragmentation is shown in the figure above. You can read more about TweakNow PowerPack in the article “Review of TweakNow PowerPack 2011 SP1. System utility."

Virus check

In any case, select the Full scan type. But this can take a very long time (up to a day).

Results

Preventive maintenance of your computer may consist of the following steps.

1. Deleting all unnecessary information (music, movies, documents).
2. Removing unnecessary software.
3. Cleaning the disk on which the OS is installed (including deleting recovery checkpoints).
4. Analysis of all disks in a defragmentation program.
5. Disk Defragmenter.
6. Full disk scan (Automatically fix system errors and Scan and repair damaged sectors).
7. Checking other disks on which the OS is installed (Automatically fix system errors).
8. Cleaning the registry.
9. Updates antivirus databases standard antivirus software.
10. Full scan of your entire PC for viruses.
11. Download an alternative anti-virus scanner (if necessary).
12. Scan the entire PC for viruses with an alternative anti-virus scanner (if necessary).

Utility Disk Cleanup (Disk Cleanup) checks drives for files that are no longer needed, it deletes temporary files, empty the Recycle Bin, and removes many system files and other unused items.

To launch the utility, press the key combination + R and in the window that opens Execute enter the command cleanmgr and press the key Enter↵

For systems with multiple hard drives, a dialog box appears. Disk Cleanup: Select Device (Drive Selection) to select the disk to be erased.

In the dropdown list Discs (Drives) select the desired drive, and then click OK

The initial verification process will begin.

The utility examines the selected disk for user files that can be deleted and files that need to be deleted. The more files the disk contains, the longer the search process takes.

Once the initial scan is complete, a window appears Disk Cleanup (Disk cleanup) with a list of file categories that can be deleted.

This list can be expanded by clicking the button Clean system files (Cleanup system files) at the bottom of the window.

The disk selection dialog box will appear again, select the disk, press the button OK

Disk check will start

When the disk check is completed, a window will appear Disk Cleanup with a choice of files to delete.

The list of files available for deletion may include the following categories:

 ● Downloaded program files. Contains files downloaded for use in the browser, such as ActiveX controls and Java applets. These are temporary files that can be safely deleted.

 ● Files Windows updates . Files saved from a previous installation of Windows that were not identified as Windows system files. After saving all the necessary data from previous installations Windows, including user data, you can check this category to delete these files.

 ● Clearing the hibernation file. Contains a file of the computer's state when it enters hibernation mode. If your computer does not hibernate, this file can be safely deleted.

 ● Temporary files Microsoft Office . Contains temporary Microsoft Office files and logs. You can also delete these files to free up disk space.

 ● Offline files. Contains local copies of network files that are dedicated for offline use. These files are used for battery life and they can also be deleted.

 ● Offline web pages. Contains local copies of web pages that are dedicated for offline use. These files are used for offline use and can also be deleted.

 ● Previous Windows installations. Previous files Windows installations, stored in the folder %SystemDrive%\Windows.old. Once you have saved all the necessary data from previous Windows installations, including user data, you can check this category to delete these files.

 ● Temporary offline files. Contains automatically cached shared files. These files are used for offline use and can also be deleted.

 ● Basket. Contains files that have been deleted from the file system but are available for recovery. Deleting these files from the Recycle Bin completely removes them from your hard drive.

 ● Temporary files. Basic temporary data and application files stored in the Temp folder.

 ● Temporary Internet files. Cached web pages that can be safely deleted.

 ● Sketches. Contains thumbnails of pictures, videos, and documents created in Windows 8.1. When you first contact Windows folder 8.1 creates thumbnails of the pictures, videos, and documents it contains. These thumbnails are saved so that the process of creating them is not repeated the next time you access the folder, thus speeding up their display. Deleted thumbnails are created again the next time the folder is accessed.

To delete files of the required category, select the corresponding checkbox, and then click the button OK

When prompted to confirm deletion of the selected files, click Delete files

The disk cleanup process will begin.

At the end of the disk cleaning process, the utility will automatically complete its work without displaying any additional windows.