How to remove junk files on Windows

What files can be deleted?

Junk files can take up a lot of space on your computer, and to some extent, they can cause your PC to lag. Cleaning up junk files can speed up your PC’s performance, as well as release more space for important files and programs to be saved. However, you need to know the types of files you can delete so that you don’t end up deleting important files.

The junk files that can be deleted include Recycle Bin files, temporary files, thumbnails, caches, system junk files, and log files.

Method 1: Empty Recycle Bin

Basically, when you delete a file from your computer, the file doesn't get permanently deleted immediately. Instead, it moves to the "Recycle Bin" folder, where it would stay for sometime before getting permanently deleted. However, the Recycle Bin can contain a lot of trash files, which may likely slow down your PC performance; hence, you need to empty it routinely.

To empty the Recycle Bin, simply right-click on the “Recycle Bin” icon on your desktop screen and choose the “Empty recycle bin” option.

• Click on the search icon on the taskbar and type "Disk Cleanup".

• Select the option (Disk Cleanup) from the search results.

• Click on the disk you want to clean, and then click OK.

• In the dialogue box provided, ensure to check all the types of files to delete, then click OK.

• Launch Windows Settings page (Windows key + I).

• Go to “System” and click on “Storage”.

• Toggle the button to activate “Storage Sense.” Activating this feature will keep clusters, junk, and temp files out.

• Also, you will be able to delete unused (temporary) files from this settings page, too.

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