How to clean a hard disk with Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows XP

At some time you will find yourself with very little space available on your hard disk. Simplest thing to do is to empty your Recycle Bin. This will remove some of unwanted files. But there is much more clutter around your hard disk, like temporary Internet files, downloaded program files, office setup files, setup log files, temporary files, offline files, compressed old files….

Remove all that clutter with Disk Cleanup Tool (included with Windows XP)

Using Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows XP:

1. Double click on “My Computer” icon on your desktop

2. Right click on disk that you want to clean and select properties

3. Click “Disk Cleanup” button

4. System will search for files that can be deleted. This can take few minutes

5. On “Disk Cleanup” main window you will see a list of deletable file categories. For each category that you want to delete, check box next to it. You can see files in every category by clicking on “View files” button. Categories are:

Downloaded program files – ActiveX controls and java applets downloaded by browser

Temporary Internet files – browser’s cache ([Clearing Internet Explorer cache->how-to-clear-cache-cookies-history-auto-complete-and-passwords-in-internet-explorer])

Office setup files – installation files used by Microsoft office

Recycle Bin – deleted files

Setup log files – files created by Windows

Temporary files – located in temp folder

WebClient/Publishers Temp files – cache of accessed files on disk

Temporary offline files – copies of network files that are automatically cached

Offline files – copies of network files that you specifically made available offline

Compress old files – windows can compress old files that are not accessed in a while

Catalog files for Content indexer – The Indexing service index files

6. Click “OK” to start deleting

Additional deleting options in Disk Cleanup Tool

1. Click on “More Options” tab in Disk Cleanup Tool

2. There are three more options for freeing hard disk space:

Windows Components – you can uninstall windows components that you do not use

Installed Programs – you can uninstall applications that you do not use

System Restore – all but most recent system restore point will be removed