IS YOUR PC starting to creak under the weight of all your folders and installed apps? Before reaching for the nuclear ‘clean reinstall’ button, there’s plenty you can do to spruce up your current installation.
The obvious solution is to perform a cleanup of key files, and naturally that’s where we’ll start with this feature. But we’ll also show you how you can optimize Windows itself to reduce the strain and free up much-needed system resources to give your PC a welcome shot in the arm.
Throughout the course of this feature, we’ll examine both Windows’ own tools and the best third-party apps that money—well—can’t buy. You see, we’ve gone the extra mile to track down only free system-cleaning and optimization tools. Not only will we show you how to tame your personal folders, we’ll look at curbing some of Windows’ worst excesses, too. You’ll delete gigabytes of temporary files, learn how to thoroughly remove virtually all traces of a program from your hard drive, reclaim system resources at startup, and ensure that no unruly programs or processes can bring your PC grinding to a halt through their excessive demands. Ready for that spring clean? Don your oven gloves and turn the page…
LET’S START
our clean-up with a look at the tools offered by Windows. In the past, this would have involved the Disk Cleanup tool, which used to be accessible via the Tools tab of a drive’s properties. That option is gone in Windows 11 (although the tool still exists—type ‘disk cleanup’ into the Search box to access it), to be replaced by the Storage Sense tool, which is baked directly into Settings under System > Storage.
Storage Sense is capable of cleaning everything Disk Cleanup can, and more besides. If its switch is set to On, it’s pre-configured to automatically clear out temp and app files when your drive is almost full. Click Storage Sense to alter this behavior—you can change it to a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule if you prefer, plus configure how long items remain in the Recycle Bin before they’re automatically removed (30 days is the default, but
