This guide shows how to use the Disk Cleanup tool for the following Windows versions: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, and 10.
- Disk Diet Clean Your Drive 5 4 1 3
- Disk Diet Clean Your Drive 5 4 1 25
- Disk Diet Clean Your Drive 5 4 1/2
- Disk Diet Clean Your Drive 5 4 16
- Disk Diet Clean Your Drive 5 4 1 2
- Disk Diet Clean Your Drive 5 4 1 Recipient Address Rejected
- Disk Diet Clean Your Drive 5 4 1/4
The Disk Cleanup tool, part of Windows, will perform a search on the hard disk for files that can be deleted from your computer without affecting its functionality or your personal files:
- Temporary Internet Explorer files (related: How To Clear Internet Explorer 6-to-11 Cache)
- Java applets or ActiveX controls
- Files from Recycle Bin if Recycle Bin has not been emptied
- Windows temporary files (related: How to delete temporary files. You can also read how to clear the thumbnails cache and how to clear the icons cache)
Get more free space with Disk Diet. With over 5000 international five-star ratings and world class support, Disk Diet a must have tool for every Mac user.Features: Removes unused language translations from applications. Cleans up caches. Cleans out the downloads folder. Apr 17, 2020 After learning about the 4 questions, you may know whether it is worthwhile to check Disk Cleanup Compress your OS drive. 4 Questions Related to Compress Your OS Drive. Q 1: What is Compress your OS drive? “Compress your OS drive” is not a file but an option you can check to free up your C drive. Sometimes this is easy, although most of the time a lot of the files that are hogging your Mac of much needed space can be tricky to find and remove safely. That’s why almost 100,000 people trust Disk Diet to safely and easily clean their Macs. Here’s what you can clean with Disk Diet:. Removes unused language translations from applications. If you've committed clean command on a disk or a partition, don't worry. Stop using your hard drive or storage device and apply provided solutions on this page to undo the disk clean command and rescue your important files and disk partitions immediately. Restore Data after Accidentally Cleaned Disk using DiskPart. This guide shows how to use the Disk Cleanup tool for the following Windows versions: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, and 10. The Disk Cleanup tool, part of Windows, will perform a search on the hard disk for files that can be deleted from your computer without affecting its functionality or your personal files.
Contents
- 1 Run Disk Cleanup in Windows XP
- 2 Run Disk Cleanup in Windows Vista and 7
- 3 Run Disk Cleanup in Windows 8 or 8.1
- 4 Run Disk Cleanup in Windows 10
- 5 Troubleshooting
- 6 More Information
Run Disk Cleanup in Windows XP
To run Disk Cleanup on a Windows XP computer, you can run it from My Computer or from Command Prompt.
Run from My Computer
Method #1
- Click Start
- Click Run
- Type
cleanmgr
- Click OK or press Enter
Method #2
- Click Start
- Go to All Programs
- Go to Accessories
- Go to System Tools
- Click Disk Cleanup
Method #3
- Open My Computer
- Right-click on the drive you want to run Disk Cleanup. This is usually
C:
, the drive where
Windows XP is installed. - Click Properties
- Go to the General tab
- Click Disk Cleanup
Run from Command Prompt
To open Disk Cleanup via Command Prompt, follow these steps:
- Open Command Prompt
- Type this command:where
c:
is where Windows XP is installed. - Press Enter
Run Disk Cleanup in Windows Vista and 7
Run from My Computer
To open Disk Cleanup on a Windows Vista or Windows 7 computer, follow these steps:
- Click Start
- Go to All Programs > Accessories > System Tools
- Click Disk Cleanup
- Choose what type of files and folders to delete at the Files to delete section
- Click OK
- To delete system files that are no longer needed, click Clean up system files. You may be
prompted by UAC (User Account Control) to confirm the action. - Click Delete Files
To free more space, go to the More options tab:
- Click Clean up at the Programs and Features section to remove program files that are no longer needed
- Click Clean up at the System Restore and Shadow Copies section to remove restore points, except the last one
Run from Command Prompt
To open Disk Cleanup via Command Prompt (command line) on a Windows Vista or Windows 7:
- Open Command Prompt
- Type
cleanmgr
- Press Enter
Windows 7 Disk Cleanup screen
Run Disk Cleanup in Windows 8 or 8.1
Run from My Computer
To open Disk Cleanup on a Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 system, follow these instructions:
- Click Settings > Click Control Panel > Administrative Tools
- Click Disk Cleanup
- At the Drives list, select which drive you want to run Disk Cleanup on
- Select which files you want to delete
- Click OK
- Click Delete files
To delete system files that are no longer needed on your computer, click Clean up system files.
Shadow copies and restore points (except the last ones) can be deleted by going to the More options tab > Click Cleanup.
Run Disk Cleanup in Windows 10
Run from My Computer
To open Disk Cleanup on a Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 system, follow these instructions:
- Type Disk Cleanup in the Search Bar
- Press Enter
- At the Drives list, select which drive you want to run Disk Cleanup on
- Select which files you want to delete
- Click OK
- Click Delete files
To delete system files that are no longer needed on your computer, click Clean up system files.
Shadow copies and restore points (except the last ones) can be deleted by going to the More options tab > Click Cleanup.
Windows 10 Disk Cleanup screen
Troubleshooting
Disk Cleanup is stuck
If Disk Cleanup is getting stuck at a certain deletion process (deletion of temporary files or deletion of Windows updates), try any of the following tips:
- Run Disk Cleanup as an Administrator
- Delete the files and folders manually, but be logged in as an Administrator.If Disk Cleanup is getting stuck at deleting Internet Explorer temporary files, delete the temporary files manually. Be logged in as Administrator or as any user with administrative rights to the system when doing so.
- Run a
sfc /scannow
command. To do so, follow these steps:- Open Command Prompt
- Type
sfc /scannow /offbootdir=D: /offwindir=D:Windows
, where D: is your Windows drive letter, and D:Windows is your Windows installation path - Press Enter
More Information
Linked Entries
Support Links
- Easy Recovery Essentials for Windows – our repair and recovery disk.
It’s an easy-to-use and automated diagnostics disk. It’s available for Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista. It’s also available for Windows XP and Windows Server.Read more at Windows Recovery Disks. - The NeoSmart Support Forums, member-to-member technical support and troubleshooting.
- Get a discounted price on replacement setup and installation discs: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10.
Applicable Systems
This Windows-related knowledgebase article applies to the following operating systems:
- Windows XP (all editions)
- Windows Vista (all editions)
- Windows 7 (all editions)
- Windows 8 (all editions)
- Windows 8.1 (all editions)
- Windows 10 (all editions)
Contents copyright Herb Johnson 2020. Last update April 21 2020. Quoted material is copyright by the respective authors of that material and used with permission. For more info or for reuse or questions, email me via this Web link. Corrections are appreciated.
Old floppy diskettes often accumulate dust and mold (mould) over years and decades. The oxide coatings can become brittle. Crud on a floppy drive read head can scrap up the oxide and ruin not only the bad diskette, but subsequent disks. Here's some notes about diskette surface problems and how to clean them, and here's further notes about diskette quality by brand.here's how to clean the dirt from the floppy drive heads,
For other issues and technical information about floppy drives and diskettes, review my Web document at this link.
- Herb Johnson.
Diskette media damage from mold and head scraping
A common problem with floppy drives is a consequence of old diskette media becoming brittle and scraping away. The iron oxide coating actually strips away, as its binders become brittle. Other media problems include mold, growing on the plastic surface. A sharp ear can hear the difference in sound, when the drive head starts to drag or even scrape the diskette. It can cause damage not just to the 'bad' diskette with fragile coatings, but to subsequent diskettes read on that drive.
Here's some photos of diskette media with mold damage. It's hard to see unless you use bright reflective light and possibly a magnifier. In these photos, I've removed the disk media from the envelope. In photo #1, the mold is widespread andlooks like spilled and dried dirt. Mold can grow in that fashion. Or, in photo #3 it can look like filaments or an irregular web. When a moldy disk is read, the drive heads can smear the mold along tracks; in photo #2 you can see the circular traces where the diskette surface is marked, roughed up, or abraded.
Mold may also appear as small black dots. In general, any irregular pattern or off-color material on media may be mold. however, some brands of diskette coatings have regular pattern in the iron oxide coating. Look at several disks of the same brand and kind to make a determination.
When the head accumulates even a little iron oxide, it acts as a scraper, and picks up more material. A dirty or damaged read/write head, produces these scratches on media.Crud on the floppy disk drive head requires cleaning with Q-tip in alcohol. you can see in this photo, a Q-tip with oxide from a floppy head.
diskette dirt and cleaning
In the sections below, I discuss that method and other methods for inspection and cleaning, and notes about mold or debris on media. Note: a 5.25 inch or 8-inch diskette consists of a doughnut of plastic with the magnetic coating called 'the media', which rotates in a sleeve or jacket. - Herb
Inquiry about stored diskettes
Lee Hart wrote the following on Aug 22nd 2002, in posts on comp.os.cpm (quoted with permission):
Lee Hart responded: I've been having the same problem. It appears that certain brands turned out to hold up much better in storage. There is also a significant [inverse] correlation between amount of data on the disk and how easy it is to read. Single-density 40-track are the easiest; double-density 80-track the worst, etc.
If a disk has not been stored in a closed sealed package, then it is likely to have collected dust, or worse yet, mildew from storage in a damp environment. Attempting to read such a disk is likely to leave crud on the disk drive's read/write heads. Not only is this disk unreadable, but any subsequent disk you put in that disk drive may be contaminated, ore even destroyed!
Cheap disks can also have the oxide coating flake off. Some old discount brand disks I've found can only be read a few times before they become unreadable, and the heads get plugged with oxide dust. Head cleaning time, again!
Here's what I've started doing to test the disks and 'refresh' the data on them:
1. Read the disk with a [CP/M] utility like FINDBAD that reads every single sector and marks bad ones.
2. Copy the intact files to a newly-formatted known good disk. Phoneexpander 1 1 1.
3. Erase, and reformat the old disk. 4. Run FINDBAD on it again, and insure that there are no bad sectors. If 100% good, then copy the original files back onto it.
I also try to use the lowest density format that is sufficient for the files that need to be stored.' -- Lee Hart Theme lab 5 4 2 – beautiful themes for keynote.
A subsequent poster (Aug 2002) suggested that a 'moldy' diskette can be recovered as follows. Remove the diskette'doughnut' by cutting the edge of the jacket and removing the doughnut.Wash the doughnut in warm soapy water, CAREFULLY, and let it dry. Insertthe cleaned doughnut in a SUBSTITUTE jacket that is known clean. (Details later onthis Web page.)
Another respondant suggested that the 'mold' may in fact be glue from sealing theoriginal jacket. I myself (Herb Johnson) have had diskettes clearly with moldon them from dampness; I've also seen residues from glues on lables cause problems. Many diskettes were sealed using ultrasonic 'welds' on the plastic, so that's not 'glue'. I'm notaware that 'glue' is a notible cause of media contamination.
Soap and water as cleaner
In Aug 2009 I (Herb Johnson) responded to comments about the idea of 'soap and water' and problems with 'noisy drives' as follows:
'Soap and water' is not crazy, waterwith a very small bit of soap is a very benign cleaner. A few minutesor a slight NOT HOT breeze of air will dry the surface. DO NOT USE AHAIR DRYER - [the media] is thin plastic, it will MELT. With care you canclean a diskette's media without removing it from the envelope, justwork on a section at a time and rotate the 'doughnut' in the envelopeby hand. [Details above.]
How does damage occur? How can you stop it?
Diskette media surfaces are essentially a coating of iron oxide in aplastic binder with embedded lubrication, on mylar or similarmaterial. Unfortunately, this is also a great surface for mold. Also,the binder material can degrade over decades and become brittle, thelubricants can dry out. Read my Web page at the link above for moreinformation.
The description of NOISE while reading diskettes means either 0) thedisk media is rubbing in the envelope - a distinctive noise; 1) therotating hub which grabs the center of the diskette is dry and noisy;2) the motor which drives the hub is dry and noisy or - worse - 3) theread/write head is digging up iron oxide and scraping it off the diskand chattering in the process.
LIFT THE DRIVE DOOR IMMEDIATELY if these noises occur, inspect thediskette, and see if there is physical damage to the diskette's media.Inspect the drive - use a 'scrap' diskette to determine a source forthe noise. Clean the heads with a long QTip and alcohol.
Inspection of the diskette may show some circular scuffing, whichsuggests the heads are dirty and/or the media is fragile. Good mediahave lubricants to reduce scuffing. Scuffs won't lose data (much).Close inspection will show if the 'tracks' are just scuffs, or gougesof removed material (fatal damage to the data and diskette). CLEAN THEHEADS, clean the heads, clean the heads - crap on the heads willdamage your diskettes, you will kill five disks to 'test' the driveafter one of these 'dirty head' events.
I can't stress enough, the value of knowing the sounds and sights ofyour system when working 'normally'. Odd noises, odd smells, oddsights - these are all diagnostic of problems which, if resolvedpromptly, will extend the life of your ancient systems and data.
alcohol for heads, clean pads also
From an independent discussion in Usenet newsgroup comp.sys.tandy in Sept 2009, Mike Yetsko made the following comments. They are quoted here with permission. - Herb
There was .a problem in that some of the early [8-inch floppy] drives, like the Shugart [800], had a 'DC balanced' amplifier on the front end for the read head, and as such, had to be adjusted so that pulses were symetrical for flux changes. Later drives had an AC coupled amplifier and no adjustment was necessary.
One thing to warn you about though is the 'head load pad' [on single-sided drives]. This is the little fiber pad that pressed on the diskette and caused the media to deform properly across the head. If they picked up particulate matter (and they did a LOT!) they could score a diskette. What makes them really bad is that if a diskette is scored and there is a 'hard spot' in the pad the diskette will deform slightly the WRONG way over the head and not be read. Or worse, it can physically damage a diskette. A hard spot on the pad can cause material to build up on the head in a coresponding spot. While that wasn't as bad in the 5.25' drives as it was in the 8' Model II's (I've seen Model II diskettes that you could SEE through in a ring from the drive spinning all day long on one track!) it could still cause problems.
I always cleaned my heads with a Q-Tip and denatured alcohol. Don't use rubbing alcohol as it has too much water in it. And make sure the head is clean and dry before you let the arm back. Do NOT let the load arm 'snap down' against the head after you've cleaned it. Finally, I always used an X-Acto knife on the pad. No, not to 'cut' anything, but to 'pet' it like you would do to a cat with your hand, keeping the blade at a small angle to the surface and taking it BACKWARDs across the fiber, not so that it could cut anything, but to dislodge any particulate matter and to 'fluff up' the pad a bit. Then I'd put in a diskette rotated so that the window was NOT over the head, lower the arm, and PRESS it gently to 'pack' the fiber slightly.
Replacement pads used to be available (I think about 15 cents) and were easy to snap out and replace, but I think anything like that are long gone as replacement parts. Oh, I should say, make sure you even HAVE a pad! I've seen drives where the pad has fallen out! If that happens, go to a hobby shop and get some of those felt pad to glue onto the bottom of metal box. Then go to a stationary store and get a 'punch' (looks like pliers) a bit bigger then 1/8'. Punch out a pad, and stick it in there. If you can't get a punch, go to WalMart and buy a 'leather punch'. Looks like a big pair of pliers with a 'star' wheel on the end with all different sizes of holes.
Disk Diet Clean Your Drive 5 4 1 3
- Mike Yetsko
Disk Diet Clean Your Drive 5 4 1 25
PS from Herb: The above physical practices may be hard to do. Glues maycontaminate the working surface of the replacement pads. My experiences with head pads,is that if the pad surface is not parallel to the diskette media, it will distort the physical media and tracks written will have errors on other drives - likely due to displacement of the track on the media.
Disk Diet Clean Your Drive 5 4 1/2
Cleaning whole diskettes with alcohol
In 2013 I had to recover data from 5.25' diskettes with severe mold damage. Some photos of that media are above. To read the diskettes, here's what I did.
I cut the entire edge of the envelope, removed the entire 'cookie' or circular disk media from the envelope. Then I washed the surfaces with 90% isopropyl alcohol on a clean cotton ball (cotton with no oils or other chemicals). The disk was allowed to dry completely and I inserted it into a different clean envelope. The cleaned disk was read - but if any read errors occurred or the drive sounded like it was scraping, I immediately removed the diskette and cleaned the drive heads.
This very aggressive approach allowed me to recover most of the files and minimized further damage to the diskettes and 'junk' on the drive's head.
Diskette brands and media quality
A 2011 conversation with Stewart Kay (microbee emulator and diskette utility author, see my S-100 Web pointers of 2011 for details) included the following: 'I've also had problems with the disk heads removing the disk [coatings], and as we have both found this emits a sound from the drive. It's mostly been poor quality media where I have found this to be a problem. One hint I give in my [disk utility's] README file is that flaky disks can be tested for by scraping the disk surface from inside of the [center] mounting hole, which never comes in contact with the heads. All old disks will flake somewhat but the bad ones are quite obvious.'
Steward continues: 'I'm in the process of recovering data from some 8' disk. I've found that most read fine (Verbatim brand) but I have several disks where the head is removing the surface of the disk (Computer Resources Company and Wabash brands) and some of these disks I'm eager to recover. Has anyone played around with counter-weights on the drive heads?'
I advised not to do adjust the pressure on the heads, as the heads are designed to read with a certain amount of pressure on them, to make good contact with the coating which originally included lubricants. Less pressure will reduce signal and introduce errors. But the problem of scraping off coatings does depend on the head design: heads that are small and fragile and square will twist and SCRAPE the media. Heads that are large, rounded and massive can still scrape off media, by accumulating debris on the head which, again, acts as a scraper. I have no solutions at this point for 'flaky media' beyond these considerations of lubrication and head design.
Cleaning floppy drive heads
Disk Diet Clean Your Drive 5 4 16
In 2020 I noticed, I didn't describe on this Web page, head-cleaning diskettes. They were somuch a part of using computers in the 20th century, I didn't see a need to explain. In the 21st century of course, they are as unfamiliar as floppy diskettes and drives.
As explained on this Web page, diskettes get dirty. If that dirt gets on the floppy drive heads, 1) the heads can't read and write, 2) the heads may scrape the data off your diskettes and PERMANENTLY damage the diskette. So one bad diskette, can cause a drive to damage several diskettes. Thus, floppy drive heads must be cleaned at intervals.
One can use a Q tip (cotton swab) with alcohol to clean the heads, but that's inconvenient. For small floppy drives you could accidently twist or mechanically damage the heads. For convenience and safety,use a cleaning diskette.
Disk Diet Clean Your Drive 5 4 1 2
A cleaning diskette looks like an ordinary diskette, but ithas a paper-like replacement for the magnetic-Mylar disk inside the diskette envelope. When inserted into the floppy drive, that paper wipes the read-write heads as it rotates. For cleaning solution, oneuses isopropyl alcohol, which you can get at any drug store - buy 91% or 80% please. Apply the alcoholto the 'edge' of the paper, insert the prepared cleaning disk, and listen for the floppy drive to engage and wipe the heads with it. It will be noisy of course. Then remove the cleaning disk, wait a few minutes for the alcohol on the heads to dry. Then, try to read a diskette again.
Disk Diet Clean Your Drive 5 4 1 Recipient Address Rejected
These kits came with cleaning diskette, a bottle of alcohol, and some instructions. I've describedhow to use them. In the 21st century, look for them on used vintage computing sales Web sites. I have some3.5' cleaning diskettes available as part of my vintage Mac floppy drive sales. Ask me about other sizes. - Herb Johnson
Disk Diet Clean Your Drive 5 4 1/4
Copyright © 2019 Herb Johnson