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How to Use Windows Disk Cleanup to Free Up Space and Improve Performance

Use Windows Disk Cleanup (and Storage Sense) to free disk space and improve performance. Step-by-step with safe selections, cautions, and command-line options.

4–6 min read Windows
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Why Disk Cleanup helps

  • Frees space: low free space degrades performance and can cause update/app failures.
  • Clears stale files: old temp/cache files can cause conflicts and “Bad Image” errors.
  • Smoother updates: removing Windows Update leftovers reduces future installation issues.

Open Disk Cleanup

  1. Open the Start menu and type Disk Cleanup, then launch it.
  2. Select the drive you want to clean (typically C:).
Windows Disk Cleanup
Launch Disk Cleanup and choose a drive.

Select items to clean

Tick the items you want to remove. Common, safe choices include:

  • Temporary files and Thumbnails
  • Recycle Bin
  • Delivery Optimization Files
  • DirectX Shader Cache
Disk Cleanup - select items
Select items, then click Clean up system files for more options.

Clean system files

Click Clean up system files (requires elevation) to add deeper options like:

  • Windows Update Cleanup
  • Windows Upgrade Log Files and Temporary Windows Installation Files
  • Previous Windows installation (Windows.old) — only if you don’t plan to roll back
Disk Cleanup - system items
System items often reclaim the most space.

Run the cleanup

Click OK → Delete Files to start. Disk Cleanup will close when finished.

Disk Cleanup - cleaning in progress
Cleanup in progress—large Windows Update cleanups can take a while.