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This wikiHow teaches you how to delete temporary and unnecessary files to free up memory on Windows. All types of temporary files are created by Windows on the hard drive. Although not harmful to the machine, these files will take up some precious space on the hard drive. You can also delete prefetch files created by the operating system every time an application is first launched. These files are designed to help applications open faster. Although it does not take up too much memory, if you feel the machine is running sluggishly, you can delete it without affecting anything.
Steps
Delete temporary files with Disk Cleanup
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Open Disk Cleanup on your PC. The fastest way is to type disk cleanup in the Windows search bar and then select Disk Cleanup from the search results.
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Click the Clean up system files button. This option is located in the lower left corner of the dialog window. After Windows scans the main hard drive (the drive where the temporary files are stored), a new window will appear.
- You may need to enter your administrator password (admin) to continue.
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Select the file to delete. Windows typically creates multiple types of temporary files, so click on each to see a description before selecting/unchecking something. The hard drive space used by each file type will be displayed next to it.
- Make sure you unmark the file types that need to be kept. For example, for files that you download from the Internet and save in the Downloads folder, you probably don’t want to delete them. In this case, uncheck the “Downloads.”
- Another folder that also takes up a lot of memory is “Windows Update Cleanup”, which contains a compressed version of all Windows Update updates that have not been installed. There’s no reason to keep these files forever, so consider that if you want to free up hard drive space quickly.
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Click OK to delete all selected files. This part can take a while if you are in the process of deleting at least a few GB of data. Once done, the amount of memory once occupied by these files will be freed.
Delete Prefetch . file
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Press ⊞ Win + R to open the Run dialog box. Or you can type run in the Windows search bar and then select Run from the results.
- Prefetch files are created automatically to speed up the launch of specific applications. These files don’t take up much disk space, so there’s no reason to delete them (unless you need to free up some memory).
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Type prefetch in the “Run” dialog and press ↵ Enter . The Prefetch folder will open in File Explorer.
- Depending on your security settings, you may need to enter your admin password or confirm action first for the folder contents to appear.
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Enable the option to show hidden files and folders. If a file list appears in the Prefetch folder, skip this step. If the folder is empty or shows a message that cannot be opened, you need to perform the following steps:
- If you can’t open the folder with the Run dialog, press Windows key + E to open File Explorer.
- Click the View tab at the top of File Explorer.
- If you are using Windows 7 or earlier, click Organize .
- Click the Options button near the upper right corner.
- On Windows 7 and earlier, you need to click Fpder and search options .
- Click the View tab on the Fpder Options window.
- Select Show hidden files, fpders, and drives .
- Click OK to close the window.
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Press Ctrl + A to select the entire Prefetch file. All files in the folder in the right panel will be highlighted. If nothing happens, click on the empty area of the first folder to activate the control panel.
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Press the Del key to delete the selected files from the folder.
- If there is a file you are using among them, an error that cannot be deleted will appear. Just click Skip on these messages. Note: you will not be able to delete unless you close all programs that are using these files.
- Files are not permanently deleted until you empty the Recycle Bin. You can proceed by opening the Recycle Bin and clicking Empty Recycle Bin in the upper left.
Advice
- Emptying the Recycle Bin is the final step to permanently deleting the files you want.
- If the prefetched files are deleted, the computer may run slowly. Don’t delete any content unless you really know what you’re doing.
X
This article is co-authored by a team of editors and trained researchers who confirm the accuracy and completeness of the article.
The wikiHow Content Management team carefully monitors the work of editors to ensure that every article is up to a high standard of quality.
This article has been viewed 1,222 times.
This wikiHow teaches you how to delete temporary and unnecessary files to free up memory on Windows. All types of temporary files are created by Windows on the hard drive. Although not harmful to the machine, these files will take up some precious space on the hard drive. You can also delete prefetch files created by the operating system every time an application is first launched. These files are designed to help applications open faster. Although it does not take up too much memory, if you feel the machine is running sluggishly, you can delete it without affecting anything.
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