Technology Tips – Published December 2019 in the Guide and Digest
By Don Trauger – Kennett
In June’s 2019 Tech Tips, I wrote about how Microsoft will possibly remove their built-in Disk Cleanup program in Windows 10. I’ve written over the years about how to use it along with CCleaner to clean up your PC. In that article I also included information about a separate program that can replace Disk Cleanup called Cleanmgr +.
You can review it here: http:\\\\www.hersheysmill.org//?s=cleanmgr.
Disk Cleanup doesn’t always run well on Windows 10 so Microsoft has reinvented it and placed an updated version in Settings under System > Storage category.
Directions: Click “Start” click Settings (gear icon above Power icon), click “System” and click “Storage”. At the top click the “Storage Sense” switch to turn it on. Just below click “Storage Sense or run it now”. In first field click the little down arrow at the right and choose to run “Every week”. Under Temporary files put a check mark next to “Delete temporary files that my apps aren’t using”. Next, choose when to delete discarded files from the Recycle bin. One day is a good choice or 14 days if you aren’t sure. The last configuration is to choose when to delete files from the Downloads folder. The Downloads folder will contain apps that you have downloaded and installed. Be cautious with this as you may want reinstall an app that no longer is running correctly. Otherwise, it’s safe to delete files from this folder. Lastly, click the “Clean now” button under “Free up space now” to clean your computer’s disk drive based on the previous settings. Wait for the Done! message and the check mark next to the “Clean now” button. Click the back arrow at the top left corner to return to the previous page.
For a deeper customized cleaning click “Temporary files”. If you don’t see it click “Show more categories”. When you click “Temporary files” it will scan your disk drive looking for other areas to clean. Put a check mark in the categories you want to clean. It’s safe to check everything. However, read the notes under each category. Two areas to be cautious are items that contain the word update or upgrade. If it’s been more than 10 days since you upgraded to version 1903 then it’s safe to delete anything leftover as Windows automatically deletes version upgrade installations after 10 days. Windows updates are a little different. Should a bad update be installed then keeping these files will allow an update to be uninstalled. The alternative is to wait for Microsoft to fix the bad update. Other items in the list are safe to check. After you have made your selections click the “Remove files” button near the top of the page.
The best time to clean up your Windows 10 PC is just after the first Tuesday of the month. This allows time for Microsoft to fix bad updates and get ready for the major updates on the second Tuesday of the month. You can still use CCleaner and Cleanmgr + as these two programs dig even deeper into your system to effect a more thorough cleaning. Remember to optimize/defrag your disk drive after cleaning to speed up your computer. Just type “defrag” (no quotes) in the “Type here to search field” and press the Enter key.
You can use either Cleanmgr + or Storage Sense to remove junk files from your PC. In addition you can still run CCleaner (free version) as it will clean the remote areas of the disk drive the others miss.
We will discuss this topic at the PC Club meeting on Tuesday, December 17 at 7 PM upstairs in the Community Center.