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Even though the Disk Cleanup utility shows that it’s removing temp files, you can save even more space by deleting them manually. If you have a computer that’s running low on disk space, manually removing temp files in addition to running Disk Cleanup can clear more space on your HD.

When running Disk Cleanup in Windows, it shows that it’s removing temp and Internet Temp files, unfortunately it’s not removing them all. Here is an example of just running Disk Cleanup…notice there are not temp files listed.

Really Remove Temp Files

Before removing Temp Files using this method, make sure you’ve saved your data, and are closed out of all programs.

1. Click Start then type the following into the Search box and hit Enter.

%temp%

2. This opens the Temp folder in Windows where any program that’s been running stores its files. Or maybe you had an installer or video encoding program store temp files there. Hit Ctrl + A to highlight all the files in the Temp directory, right-click, then click Delete.

3. Agree that you really want to move the files to the Recycle Bin…click Yes.

4. You might see that certain system files cannot be deleted, just check Do this for all current items, then click Skip.

5. Then empty the Recycle Bin.

Run Disk Cleanup

1. Now to reclaim even more space on your hard drive, run the Disk Cleanup utility. Click Start >> Computer.

2. Right-click on your local drive (typically C:) then click Properties.

3. In Local Disk Properties, click the General tab, then the Disk Cleanup button.

4. Wait while the utility calculates what can be removed.

5. Scroll through Files to delete and check the ones you want gone. In this example, we didn’t clean the Recycle Bin after moving the files from the Temp folder to it…so it includes 147 MB of files. After you’ve checked what you want to delete, click OK.

6. Click Delete Files when the dialog comes up asking if you’re sure.

7. Then wait while the files are permanently deleted from your local hard drive.

That’s it. If you have a desktop PC with a ton of hard drive space, you probably don’t need to run these procedures very often…maybe every 3-6 months. However, for machines with a smaller drive like a Netbook, you may want to reclaim disk space on a more regular basis.