Your computers storage capacity is determined by the hard disk drive that it came installed with. Hard Drives vary in size, type, manufacturer, and more. Utilizing the storage in your computer efficiently can not only help improve the performance of your computer overall, but it can also prolong the life of your hard drive as well.
There are several ways to keep your computer’s storage organized and efficiently use the space available on the hard drive. With cloud options as well, there are ways you can access your data without even needing to take up the space available on your computer.
Keeping Diskspace Available
If your computer seems to always be running low on storage space, there are a few things you can do to try and free up storage space. Windows has several built-in tools that you can use to free up more drive space and there are also online tools that you can use to help clean up disk space as well.
Disk Cleanup is one tool that your Windows based computer has built-in which can delete unnecessary files and help your computer run better overall. Disk Cleanup allows you to view the overall storage usage on the drive to remove cache files and other built-up system files that can be deleted to free up space. You can run Disk Cleanup by going the Start Button and typing ‘Disk Cleanup’, then select the Disk Cleanup application. In the Disk Cleanup window select Clean up System Files to begin the process.
You can also free up more space on your drive by uninstalling unnecessary applications and deleting unnecessary files. You can easily find a list of installed programs by going to Control Panel in Windows and selecting Programs and Features. A list of your installed programs will appear, and you can go through this list to delete any programs you are no longer using. The list also tells you the last date that the program was used in case you’re unsure. You will also likely find several files that you no longer need in your downloads folder. Most programs store all the files you download in the downloads folder by default. If you download a lot of files from the web, or from email, it’s likely they’re in the downloads folder.
Other Ways to Free Up Space
Another popular third-party application that can help keep clean up space on your computer is CCleaner. This application is free to use for the basic version, which is all you need for cleaning up disk space and it includes other useful utilities that allows you to fix common registry errors and see your overall health of your PC.
If you find yourself still running low on disk space, there are other ways to keep and store data that won’t take up disk space on your computer. OneDrive is a Microsoft based cloud storage application which allows you to sync and store your data online, keeping the data accessible to you on your computer while not having to take up physical storage space on your computer. OneDrive is great for storing documents, downloads, and pictures in the cloud, so you can view them from any of your OneDrive linked devices.
Natural Networks is a Managed IT Services provider, and we work with our users to help keep their storage space free and always performing optimally. If you’re interested in learning more about how Managed IT Services can help your office, give us a call today!
