Know About the Facts That Take Up Space on Your PC

Most of us think of computers as external storage devices. Computers not only store the personal data but also generate useless files over a period of time.

These files affect your entire PC by taking up unnecessary storage and decrease the system performance in many ways. The storage space is wasted and these useless items also eat up critical system resources as well.

If you are looking for a list of items that take up computer storage then this article will walk you through some elements that take up huge storage without your knowledge. 

Let us check some issues that you may face.

Items that take up huge space on your PC

1. Duplicate files:

Duplicate files are the heaviest burden on the storage of any PC. These files occupy the largest chunk of storage space on your PC. Files such as word documents, excel sheets, pictures, gifs, photos, identical items and duplicate videos accumulate on your PC over time. 

The worst part is not knowing anything regarding these. While files get accumulated over time, these start to take up tons of disk space. This is the worst case scenario where you have no idea if some duplicate files are taking up space on your PC.

One way is to clean all the junk manually and the best way is to deploy a duplicate photo finder to remove such duplicate files permanently. These special applications scan your entire system for identical items and generate a detailed list. You can easily get rid of duplicate files.

2. Recycle Bin:

Recycle bin is the most neglected place on your computer that keeps unnecessary files, programs, apps and items that you have deleted. Certain items that are bigger than the limit set by you are permanently removed from the hard disk. 

But small apps, items, programs, images, videos, shortcuts and documents that do not take up more storage, when deleted, are moved to the recycle bin. There, these files stay for a long time.

These unwanted files eat up storage space. If you decide not to restore the items back, then it is time to delete them from the Recycle Bin. Simple click on the 'empty the recycle bin' will clean up this data permanently. Doing this restores large volumes of storage. 

3. Outdated and old apps:

With a plethora of applications becoming available in the Microsoft store on a daily basis, it is very easy to get apps and utilities with more and more features. But have you ever thought of the old apps that are just sitting idle in a folder, generating cache files every day?

If you do not use any particular application or program, then it is really important to remove it permanently from the system. Doing this will not only restore chunks of memory but also save your PC from old apps that can possibly corrupt the critical system files.

Always follow a proper uninstallation procedure to permanently remove a program or app. Follow these steps to properly uninstall an item that you do not use anymore:

• Go to the control panel.
• Click on programs.
• Click on features and apps.

Go through the list of programs and click on the uninstall button next to the app you want to uninstall.

4. Internet files and browser history:

Do you know that on an average, a PC accumulates over 12 GB of browsing history and cache in a year? Browsing history generates a detailed log of each and every page visited, passwords, login credentials, details about downloads, location of the downloaded files and much more.

The browsing and download logs are literally huge and may take tons of unnecessary gigabytes on your computer. It is very necessary to clean the entire browsing history every 6 months to restore some storage space on your PC.

5. Registry files:

 Windows registry option is pretty helpful in storing all the low level configuration settings and useful information whenever you create or delete or even move a file. This creates a system generated file every time you edit some file. 

However, the more changes you make in your computer, the more registry files are generated. These files are unwanted and just take up huge storage after some time. Cluttered performance, slower response times and system lags are some issues you may notice because of these registry files.

6. Temporary files:

Temporary files are system files that are generated by the system itself. These files get deleted permanently from the system when you properly shut down your system. But in case when you perform a power reset or turn your PC off during an active session, these temporary files do not get deleted.

In such a case these files remain on your system. These accumulate on your PC over time and affect a huge number of applications and also take up valuable disk space.

Conclusion:

So this article is about the several types of items and files that take up huge system space on your PC. However, there are some apps and utilities that can help you clean up the storage on your Windows.

Old and unwanted apps, programs, utilities that take unnecessary storage on your PC are more harmful than any virus or malware as these programs stay for a longer time and continuously use up tons of valuable disk space.