How to Clean Up Disk Space in Windows 11

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Make your device faster by decluttering your drive

Co-authored by Hannah Dillon Reviewed by Stan Kats

Last Updated: December 20, 2025 Fact Checked

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Using Disk Cleanup

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Using Storage Sense

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Using Cleanup Recommendations

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Using WizTree

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Using BleachBit

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Deleting & Moving Old Files

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Is the disk on your Windows 11 computer getting a bit too full? A full hard drive or SSD can make it hard or impossible to install new programs, save large files, or update certain apps. In this article, we go over how to use the built-in Disk Cleanup tool in Windows 11, plus we include steps for some other utilities, some third-party programs, and more. Read on to learn how.

Quick Ways to Do Disk Cleanup on a Windows 11 PC

Use built-in utilities like Disk Cleanup, Storage Sense, and Cleanup Recommendations to clear out old files.
Try a third-party program, such as WizTree or BleachBit, to locate and remove large files.
Manually delete or move old files and uninstall old programs to free up some disk space.

Method 1

Method 1 of 6:

Using Disk Cleanup

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To do this, type disk cleanup into the taskbar search bar and click on Disk Cleanup in the Start menu.
2
Choose the drive you want to clean. It will choose your main drive by default (which is typically your C: drive), but you can change it by clicking the drop-down menu and selecting another drive.
- Click OK to progress to the next step.
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3
Choose which files you want to clean up. Disk Cleanup will analyze your drive and see which files it can clean up. These files include temporary internet files, various caches, the Recycling Bin, and more.
- To choose a file type to delete, click the check box next to it.
4
Click OK. Disk Cleanup will start cleaning up your files. Depending on how many files you have to clean up, this might take a few minutes. Once Disk Cleanup is done, it will close.

Method 2

Method 2 of 6:

Using Storage Sense

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1
Open your storage settings. The fastest way to do this is to type storage into the taskbar search bar, then click Storage settings in the Start menu that opens up.
2
Toggle on Storage Sense. It's located under the breakdown of how your drive's space is being used.
- If Storage Sense is already enabled, you can skip to the next step.
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Click Storage Sense. Ensure the following settings are set:
- Check the box next to "Keep Windows running smoothly by automatically cleaning up temporary system and app files."
- Toggle on "Automatic User content cleanup."
- Choose your preferred settings under "Run Storage Sense," "Delete files in my recycle bin if they have been there for over," and "Delete files in my Downloads folder if they haven't been opened for more than."
4
Click Run Storage Sense now. This will force Storage Sense to run, which can easily clear up some disk space for you.^{[1]
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Method 3

Method 3 of 6:

Using Cleanup Recommendations

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The fastest way to do this is to type storage into the taskbar search bar, then click Storage settings in the Start menu that opens up.
2
Click Cleanup recommendations. It's located under the breakdown of how your drive's space is being used, and it's the option under "Storage Sense."
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Expand each tab on the page. There are four tabs: temporary files, large or unused files, files synced to the cloud, and unused apps. Each tab will have options you can choose for files to clean up.
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Choose the files you want to clean up. To choose a type of file, click the checkbox next to it. Some tabs may not have any suggestions in them; in this case, the window will display "No recommended files/applications to clean."
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Click Clean up [x] [bytes]. You'll have to do this for each tab; there isn't one button to clear out all of the options you selected. The [x] will be replaced by how many bytes you're deleting, and [bytes] will be replaced with the unit of measurement in bytes (such as GB or MB).^{[2]
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Method 4

Method 4 of 6:

Using WizTree

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1
Download WizTree. WizTree is a free disk space analyzer that lets you easily see what the largest files on your system are. This can help you determine which programs to uninstall or which files to delete.
- To download WizTree, go to diskanalyzer.com/download.
- We recommend downloading the portable version of WizTree, but you can download the installer if you prefer.
2
Unzip the WizTree folder. If you downloaded the installer, install WizTree using the installer.
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Run the WizTree app. If you downloaded the portable version, double-click the WinTree.exe program in the WizTree folder. If you downloaded the installer, you can open WizTree from the Start menu like the other programs on your computer.
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Click Restart as Administrator at the top, if necessary. If you don't see this button, you can skip this step.
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Choose your drive in the drop-down in the top-left corner. Next to the label that says "Select," choose the drive you want to scan. By default, it will pick your main drive, which is usually C:.
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Click Scan. It will take a few moments for WizTree to fully scan your computer, depending on how much storage you've used up.
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Click Size. Under the "Tree View" tab, there will be a table. Clicking Size will sort all of your folders by size.
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Locate and delete large files and programs. However, don't delete anything until you've confirmed that it's not an important file for your computer. Avoid deleting anything from the System32 folder.

Method 5

Method 5 of 6:

Using BleachBit

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1
Download BleachBit. BleachBit is a free program that clears out old files that clutter up your system. BleachBit can dig a bit deeper than some of the built-in Windows tools, so it's a good program to use if you need to clean up some disk space.
- To download BleachBit, go to bleachbit.org/download and choose your operating system.
- We recommend downloading the portable version of BleachBit, but you can download the installer if you prefer.
2
Unzip the BleachBit folder. If you downloaded the installer, install BleachBit using the installer.
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Run the BleachBit app. If you downloaded the portable version, double-click the BleachBit.exe program in the BleachBit folder. If you downloaded the installer, you can open BleachBit from the Start menu like the other programs on your computer.
- You may be asked if BleachBit is allowed to make changes to your device. If so, click Yes.
4
Check the files you want to delete. In the left pane of BleachBit, you'll see all the file types you can delete. This includes caches, temporary files, thumbnail files, and more. To learn what deleting each file type does, click on the name of the file type. BleachBit will display more info about the files you can delete in the right-hand pane.
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Click Preview. It's in the upper-left corner. BleachBit will then scan your disk for all of the file types you selected. It will take a few minutes, but once it's done, BleachBit will show you how much space it can save.^{[3]
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6
Click Clean. BleachBit will now clean out all the files you selected. This will take some time, but if you need to stop before BleachBit is done, you can click the Abort button at the top of the screen.
- Once BleachBit is done, you can close the app. Your computer should now have more space available on the disk.

Method 6

Method 6 of 6:

Deleting & Moving Old Files

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This is usually your Documents, Pictures, Videos, or Downloads folders. While you can do this in conjunction with WizTree, you can also look for files on your own.
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Find files that you want to delete or move. If you have a bunch of old files that you aren't using anymore, consider deleting them to free up some space. While it might not seem like deleting a bunch of small files will be helpful if your drive is seriously clogged up, it can add up quicker than you realize! If you have files that you want to keep but you're not using at the moment, consider moving them to an external drive or free online cloud storage (like Dropbox, MEGA, or Google Drive).
- If you delete files, make sure to clear out your Recycling Bin once you're done! If you don't clear your Recycling Bin immediately, the storage space won't actually be available to you yet.
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Uninstall programs you're not using. If there are programs on your computer that you're not using, uninstalling them can save some space. Make sure to only uninstall programs you actually know you won't use, as it might be difficult to reinstall them later if you end up filling your drive with a different program or some files.
- To uninstall programs, right-click on the Windows icon in your taskbar and click Installed apps. Then, click on a program in the list and choose Uninstall.