Phenquestions
We have already seen what are Temporary Files in Windows. Temporary Files in Windows are those junk files whose use is only temporary and become redundant once the task at hand is completed. These Temporary Files should get deleted once the program exits. But this is not always the case, leading to wasted disk space.
While the presence of these Temporary Files will not really affect the performance of your operating system, deleting them regularly is just a matter of good house-keeping practice, and one should do so, regularly. How frequently you should do depends on how aggressively you use your computer. But for most users, I believe, deleting such Temporary Files once a month at least should be good enough.
TIP: You can Free Up Disk Space using Storage Sense as well now.
Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows 10
Today, I am going to write about the steps to take to delete the temporary files in Windows 10/8, using the built-in Disk Cleanup Tool. This post has been written keeping in mind the beginners, who may not be aware of how to use the tool.
Let me describe it step by step:
Steps to Delete Temporary Files in Windows 10
Step 1 - Take your cursor to the top right of your screen and click on 'Search'. Go to settings and type Disk Cleanup in the search box. Then click on 'Free up disk space by cleaning unnecessary files' or 'Disk Cleanup Desktop app' as the case may be.
Step 2 - You will then come up with a box saying 'Disk Cleanup- Drive selection'. Select the drive you want to delete the temporary files from. Usually, the temporary files are saved in Drive C which affects the system performance. 
Step 3 - Now you will see a box asking for the files you want to delete. Select the files you want to delete from your system and click OK. As my system is just a few weeks old, my temporary files are occupying just 52.2 MB.
Step 4 - The Disk Cleanup system will now ask for the confirmation. Click on Delete Files to proceed. Do note that if you click on Clean up system files, you will see more options. Using this option, you will also be able to delete all but the latest system restore points, Windows Update Cleanup, Previous Windows installations, etc.
Step 5 - You are done with your job, and the Disk Cleanup utility will do the rest.
The Disk Cleanup utility in Windows 10/8 is almost similar to that we used to get in Windows 7.
The options to delete include:
- Downloaded program files
- Temporary Internet files
- Offline web pages
- Recycle Bin
- Temporary files
- Delivery Optimization files
- DirectX Shades Cache
- Thumbnails
- Windows Update Cleanup
- Windows Error Reporting files
- Zune temporary converted files.
You can also access the Disk Cleanup Utility by going into the properties of Drive C directly.
Step 1 - Go to My Computer and right-click on Drive C. Then click on 'Properties'.
Step 2 - You will come up with a box showing Local Disk C Properties. Click on 'Disk Cleanup'.
The rest is the same as Step 3, Step 4, and Step 5 mentioned above.
Need to clean more?
- Run cleanmgr /sageset:1. You will see more cleanup options
- Use CCEnhancer for CCleaner to clean more
- Remove previous Windows installations/Windows.old
- Make Disk Cleanup Tool delete ALL temporary files, including those created in the last 7 days
- Delete previous System Images and Backups. Open Control Panel > Backup and Restore (Windows 7) > Manage space.
- Delete $Windows.~BT and $Windows.~WS folders.
Go here to find out more ways to free up & increase hard disk space on Windows computers. You can also use freeware junk file cleaners like CCleaner or Quick Clean to easily delete the Cache Files in Windows.
See this post if the Disk Cleanup button is missing.
This post will help you if Disk Cleanup is stuck on Windows Update Cleanup.
