disk cleanup Archives - Rick's Daily Tips

How (and why) to run Windows’ Disk Cleanup tool

Posted on June 23, 2024

Over time Windows PCs can gather a lot of clutter, and all that junk takes up valuable disk space.

And on rare occasions it can cause the Windows installation itself to slow down and become unstable.

As you can see, it’s very important to keep your machine as free of clutter as possible.

Luckily, all recent versions of Windows come with a handy tool called Disk Cleanup that will quickly and easily remove most of the accumulated digital clutter for you. All you have to do is run it. Here’s how: [Read more…]

Q&A: Is cleanmgr.exe a virus?

Posted on January 9, 2023

Question from Melinda: I have a question about my Acer Windows laptop, Rick.

Yesterday morning I asked a friend on Facebook a computer question and his reply was that I need to run a file called cleanmgr.exe.

I’m a little leery about running .exe files because I remember reading that they can be dangerous.

Here’s my question: Is cleanmgr.exe a virus or is it safe for me to run? And if it’s safe, do you think I should run it? [Read more…]

Windows 10: Free up wasted space by deleting the Windows.old folder

Posted on March 24, 2017

Did you upgrade your computer from an older version of Windows to Windows 10?

If so, your computer’s hard drive or SSD contains a Windows.old folder that contains the files from the previous Windows installation.

The storage space taken up by this now-unused folder is wasted space, but with today’s massive hard drives that isn’t really an issue for most users.

But that being said, it can be a very serious issue if your PC has a small hard drive or SSD that’s running out of available storage space. [Read more…]