How to use Windows Disk Cleanup and Make your Computer Faster

Have you ever experienced that your Windows computer or laptop is lagging and response time is not the same as it was when you purchased it? Do you have a similar experience when you open multiple applications and your Windows computer becomes very sluggish? There are many reasons why your computer responds slowly. Listed below are some of the most common reasons.

• Your PC is running out of RAM (Random Access Memory). Nowadays, the minimum RAM is 4 GB. This is enough for you to run simple applications properly. This is ideal for light browsing and light office productivity only. Demanding applications such as Adobe Photoshop or Auto CAD will run very slowly on 4 GB RAM. It is recommended to upgrade to at least 8 GB.
• Your PC has been infected with a virus or malware. You may have accidentally accessed a link or installed unauthorized software which caused the infection to your PC, but having viruses or malware will also cause sluggishness. This is because viruses and malware tend to use your computer’s resources and corrupt data and programs.
• You have opened too many apps at the same time. With very limited RAM, your computer will run slow if you open apps at the same time. Your computer recognizes this activity and schedules the opening of the applications on a priority basis. 
• You have an outdated hard drive. When buying a new laptop or desktop, consider buying SSD (Solid State Drive) hard drives as this is much faster than HDD (Hard Disk Drive). The technology using SSD makes it faster to store, load, and access data.
• You have too many programs opening during startup or boot up. If there are so many programs opening during boot, you have to check these out and disable those that are not necessary. Remember that your computer prioritizes tasks when you manually or automatically started them. When there’s too much to open, your PC will slow down.
• Your Windows PC is not updated. Not updating your Windows is one of the reasons why your PC is slow because it’s missing out on the updates that it should be getting. Updating your PC fixes bugs, enhance security and prevent your computer from viruses and other malware.
• You are running out of disk space. This last in our list is one of the underrated techniques to make your PC respond faster. When you ran out of disk space you will not be able to open applications properly nor save them in the local drive. Your files such as photos, videos, applications, or documents are not the only things stored on your hard drive. It also contains cache and temporary files that are downloaded from the web when you access websites. Maintaining ample disk space will result in good computer performance.

Windows Disk Cleanup

Aside from the reasons stated as to why your computer is slow, it’s because you haven’t had a Windows Disk Cleanup. Microsoft introduced this utility tool in Windows 98 and has been around for all versions of Windows. This is a process of safely deleting temporary files, cache files from when you access the internet or other program files created by apps you installed on your computer. When all of these are accumulated, you will notice that your computer will be lagging. In Windows 10 and 11, you may follow these steps:

1. Open File Explorer from your taskbar or search via the Start Menu.
2. Under This PC, look for the hard disk icon labeled Local Disk (C:).Click Properties then go to the General tab
3. Click the Disk Cleanup button
4. It will take a while to calculate the space you will be able to free.
5. Once it is done calculating, tick the list of files you want to remove. Click OK.
6. Click the Delete Files button upon confirmation.
7. Wait for the Disk Cleanup to finish. This will depend on your disk size and PC performance.

Alternatively, you can also access the Windows Disk Cleanup tool by pressing the Windows button on your keyboard, type cleanmgr, and press the Enter key.

This cleanup is recommended to ensure the optimized performance of your computer for at least a month. This process will delete temporary files and empty your Recycle Bin which your computer no longer needs to run properly. You will notice the difference when you’re accessing files, and opening apps when you complete this activity.