Clear up the clutter with Disk Cleanup

As part of standard maintenance, Disk Cleanup should be scheduled to run at regular intervals, perhaps once a month, at some convenient time when your computer is not otherwise in use.

Here's how to run Disk Cleanup:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup.
2. Choose the drive you want to scan from the drop-down menu, and wait while the program calculates how much disk space is available for cleanup.
3. To delete obsolete files, click the Disk Cleanup tab, select the check boxes next to the files that you want to remove, click OK, and then click Yes.
4. To remove Windows components, click the More Options tab. In the Windows Components area, click Clean Up.

To see what is included in any component, select the component, and then click Details. If you want to remove individual items within any component, clear the check boxes of the items you don't need.

1. To remove installed programs, click the More Options tab.
2. In the Installed Programs area, click Clean Up. On the Install/Uninstall tab, click the program that you want to remove, and then click Add/Remove.
3. Follow the instructions on your screen to remove the program.