The end of Disk Cleanup? Free Up Space Now appears in Windows 10 Settings
Disk Cleanup is a handy system utility that is built-in to Windows. It can be used to delete temporary files, some logs, the Recycle Bin, and previous Windows installations.
The latter is extremely useful, as it allows you to free up Gigabytes of disk space after upgrades. Windows keeps a copy of the previous version of Windows on the disk after upgrades to provide rollback functionality.
Microsoft introduced the Disk Cleanup tool in Windows 7. Disk Cleanup was never as good at freeing up disk space than third-party solutions such as CCleaner, but the built-in nature of the tool made it useful in situations where third-party programs cannot be used.
Windows 10: Free up space now
Windows 10 Version 1803, the Spring Creators Update version of the operating system, comes with a new "free up space now" option in the Settings application that replicates the functionality of Disk Cleanup.
Here is how you open the new tool:
- Use the keyboard shortcut Windows-I to open the Settings application.
- Go to System > Storage.
- Activate "free up space now" on the page.
The utility runs a scan when you open it and displays its findings in the interface. This works similarly to how Disk Cleanup handles this but with the difference that system files such as previous Windows installations are included by default.
Tip: You can run Disk Cleanup in clean up system files mode automatically as well.
Some file locations are selected by default, others are not. The list of locations and descriptions appear to be identical for all supported file locations. A minor difference between both tools is that Free up disk space omits locations with 0 bytes.
Disk Cleanup is still part of Windows 10 version 1803. You can run it just like before, and use it or the Settings application.
Closing Words
Microsoft revealed back when it released Windows 10 that it had plans to move all Control Panel items to the Settings application, and that it wanted to migrate tools to Settings as well.
The process is still ongoing and if the company keeps the current pace, it will probably take a decade or more before all Control Panel items are moved to the Settings app.
As for Disk Cleanup, it is unclear if Microsoft plans to remove the program from Windows 10. Considering that it moved the functionality to the Settings app in the Spring Creators Update, it seems likely that this is going to be the case.
Now You: Do you use Disk Cleanup or third-party tools?
Related articles
- How to clean up the Windows Program Files folder
- PatchCleaner: remove orphan Windows installer files to free up disk space
- Windows 10 Disk Cleanup includes file compression option
What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?
Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.
If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.
5. Rufus
6. Ventoy
PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.
I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.
bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.
ps…. time travelling?
written. Jan 15, 2023
Updated • Jan 13, 2023
This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.
Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.
I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:
1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)
2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)
3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””
4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows
5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss
Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:
6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now
Have I missed any group off this list?
You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.
Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.
Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update
only from windows update though
KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site
1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.
2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.
3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.
This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.
Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.
Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.
Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215
check out the following recent articles:
Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/
BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/
While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.
My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277