2nd UPDATE: Doing a disk cleanup [View all]

Last edited Thu Mar 26, 2026, 09:34 AM - Edit history (2)

I noticed my laptop memory was filling up, and my laptop was getting really slow. I was patient today, and prepared for a long process. Over 3 hours into it, deleting almost 300gb of unnecessary files.
I just read that it's a good idea to turn your computer off. On startup, it'll clean up the files. I shut the lid, but don't power off. I'll do that now, and see if it makes a difference.
I read years ago that the hard drive should have at least 25% free space so programs like Windows work as good as they can.

I let the disk cleanup work overnight. I was up around 4, clicked on the delete files option, and went back to bed. When I got up, I saw that I cleared 11 Gb. I'll run it overnight again, just keep trying to clear up some space. I see it is a DDR3, so it's pretty old. I'll be replacing my modem, router and laptop soon. I was hoping for a drop in prices, maybe there will be a consumer forgiveness day or something.

Thanks for the advice and tips. I was in computer operations for many years, but I notice if you don't stay current, you can get left behind.




2nd Update: after running disk cleanup 2 times as myself, I ran it as administrator. The temp files didn't delete. At least, properties for This PC showed little if no change in used space. I found a way to delete the files manually, running %temp% to access the temp folder. There are 68139 items in the folder. I selected all, then deleted. Computer is in the process of collecting the files. Ideally, I can offer permission to delete soon and see a difference in unused space, and better performance.