A Guide to Freeing Up Your PC's Disk Space

Today, hard drives are getting larger and larger when it comes to memory space. However, figuring out that your computer is running out of room can be stressful. Running with a full memory can slow down your computer's speed.

The good news is that there are a lot of tips and tricks to help you save some room in your computer memory. Consider these options when freeing up disk space. Keep in mind that when doing these methods, you must perform a system backup for security purposes.

1. Clear application and browser caches.

To start your disk clean up, you must first clear out the application and browser caches that still exist. These caches contain a lot of information that take up a lot of memory. Clearing them regularly can help in saving up space.

2. Uninstall applications that are not in use.

Every Windows PC is installed with applications that are not really used that often, or not at all. You can uninstall them since they also take up space. Go to the Control Panel and remove applications that are unnecessary.

3. Look for any signs of disk corruption.

A corrupted hard disk can waste a lot of memory. If you suspect that this is what is happening to your disk, you should run Windows disk check ("CHKDSK") to scan your disk for any problems and repair them immediately.

4. Execute Disk Cleanup.

Running this utility will free some memory and will help your system run in a better condition. Windows Disk Cleanup will scan your disk to identify programs and applications that are safe to be removed. To run this tool, just follow these steps:

* Right click one of your hard drives then select properties.

* A dialog box will appear. Click the Disk Cleanup button at the bottom right side of the prompt box.

* Select the files that you want to delete. These include temporary files, files in the recycle bin, and other unnecessary files. Then, click OK. You can also clean up system files. Just click the Clean up system files button to do this.

* After doing these steps, click the More Options tab and click the Clean up button under system restore to delete system restore data.

5. Have your disk space analyzed.

It is important that you are aware of what files and programs are using up your computer's memory space. There are applications that let you see these files by scanning through them and show you how much space they are taking up. You can delete some of them that are space-hungry yet unimportant. Just make sure to not delete important system files.

6. Locate duplicate files and delete them from your computer.

There are times when there are duplicate files that are stored in your computer's system. These are unnecessary and can be deleted. You can do this manually or you can install applications that will scan your hard drive for duplicate files and automatically remove them for your convenience.

7. Disable Hibernate mode.

Leaving your computer in hibernate mode still takes up memory space without using power supply. To save disk space, you can disable hibernate entirely.

8. Use external storage.

One way to save a lot of space from your RAM is to use external storage. Here are some of the possible options for a removable storage.

* "USB" and external drives - Most PCs are built in with two to three USB ports where you can connect flash drives and external hard drives to transfer data and files.

* Secure Digital or "SD" cards - There are SD ports in your computer that support SD cards. There are different types of cards: the standard SD card (32x24mm), the miniSD (21.5x20mm), and the microSD (15x11mm). Just make sure to use the right SD card that is suited for your unit.

* CDs and DVDs - If your computer has a disc drive (CD, DVD, and Blu-Ray) that can perform read-and-write to a blank disc, then you can use these to store data and files to save space from your computer memory.

* Use cloud storage - Windows supports applications that use online storage. You can use this to save files and programs.

It is essential to always keep your computer memory updated to avoid encountering problems. Always do a regular check-up with your disk to let you know its current state. These guidelines can save a bit of space from your RAM, but if you want to save a significant amount of memory, it is advised to consider hard drive defragmentation.