Know My PCPublished October 13, 2026. Steps are for Windows 11 and 10.
Start with Windows' own view
Open Settings → System → Storage. It shows what's using space by category, and Cleanup recommendations lists big files, unused apps and files already in the cloud. Turn on Storage Sense on the same page to clean temporary files and the Recycle Bin automatically.
Windows leftovers
- Windows Update files and old Windows versions. Search Start for Disk Cleanup, click Clean up system files, and tick Windows Update Cleanup and Previous Windows installation(s). This can free several gigabytes.
- Temporary files. Settings → System → Storage → Temporary files.
- Recycle Bin. Files you deleted still count until it's emptied.
- Hibernation file.
hiberfil.syscan be as large as several gigabytes. If you never hibernate, runpowercfg /hibernate offin an administrator Terminal to remove it. This also turns off Fast startup.
Leave pagefile.sys alone. Windows needs it.
Your own files and apps
- Downloads. Installers and zip files you've already used.
- Installed apps. Settings → Apps → Installed apps, sorted by size.
- Games. Steam, Epic and Xbox can move a game to another drive from their own settings instead of reinstalling it.
Developer caches, WSL disks and AI models
- Package caches.
npm cache clean --force,pip cache purge,dotnet nuget locals all --clear. Cargo keeps downloads in%UserProfile%\.cargo\registry. - Docker.
docker system pruneremoves stopped containers and unused images. - WSL disks. Each Linux distro lives in an
ext4.vhdxfile that grows but doesn't shrink on its own, so deleting files inside Linux doesn't give Windows the space back. Recent WSL versions can fix that withwsl --manage <distro> --set-sparse true. - Ollama models. Stored in
%UserProfile%\.ollama\models. Runollama listto see them andollama rm <model>to delete one.
See it live on your PCKnow My PC's Storage view maps your folders, checks all of these places for you, and moves anything you clear to the Recycle Bin, never deleting outright.
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