Coolest Windows 7 Tips and Tricks

Posted by: Umair H. Peracha

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Today, we have come up with another interesting episode from the series of Coolest Windows 7 Tips and Tricks. We’ll be talking about tips and trick that save hard disk space. Below are the 10 killer tips that you can use to free up your hard disk space if you are running windows 7.

Disk Clean up

The most important and easiest way to free disk space is to use a built-in tool of Windows 7 called the Disk Cleanup. It cleans up your disk by deleting temporary files that are piled up over a period of time. These files include:

• Temporary Internet files
• Recycle Bin
• Downloaded Program files
• Windows temporary files

You can start Disk Cleanup, by doing the following:

1. Click Start
2. Type “Disk Cleanup” (without quotes)
3. Select the drive you want to clean. Then click “OK”
4. Select your Desired Files
5. Click OK
6. System will ask to delete files. Click Delete files

Remove Unwanted Programs

Over the period of time one has to install different programs for different needs. If there are some programs installed on your machine that are not required any more, it is recommended that you un-install those programs to save disk space. Below is the method to un-install unused programs:

1. Click Start
2. Type “Uninstall a Program“
3. Hit Enter
4. Now select the program you want to un-install and hit Uninstall

Remove Unwanted Windows Features

Your Windows 7 OS is a complete package containing more solutions than you have problems. It has a bundle of built-in programs that you might not want to use. It is better to un-install those programs to save disk space. To do so, do the following:

1. Click Start
2. Type “Uninstall a Program“
3. Hit Enter
4. Click “Turn Windows features on or off“
5. Now un-check the feature you want to disable and hit OK

Disable Page File

Although this method is not recommended but if you are low on disk space you should go for it. Windows utilizes hard disk space when it gets low on memory. If you are in dire need of hard disk space then you can disable this feature. In order to disable the page file

1. Click Start
2. Type “Advance System Setting” (without quotes)
3. Hit Enter
4. Advance System Settings Dialogue Box will appear,Click Settings under Performance 
5. In the Performance Options Dialogue box, click the Advanced tab and then click the Change button under the Virtual Memory option.
6. Now in the Virtual Memory dialogue box, un-check the  Automatically manage paging file size for all drives option, and choose No Page option.

Again, I should remind you that this is not a recommended step. Only do it if you are in dire need of disk space.

Disable System Restore

Its better to disable system restore on drives other than C: drive. It will not have an effect on the size of C drive but you can find space in Drives other than C:. If you are in dire need of space in C drive too, then disable System Restore on All Drives. To do so:

1. Right Click Computer Icon on Desktop or Start Menu
2. Click Properties
3. Click System Protection
4. Select the drive on which you want to disable System Restore and Click Configure
5. Select Turn off system protection from appearing dialogue box and Click OK.

Disable Hibernate

This is my favorite way of freeing disk space. Hibernate is a windows feature that allows you to save your pc state before you shut down your computer. Hibernate is a good feature and is very helpful but unfortunately it takes 2-8 GB of precious disk space. There are cases when you don’t need this feature so it is recommended that you disable hibernate. To disable hibernate do the following:

1. Click Start
2. Type “cmd” (without quotes)
3. A list of files will appear, Right Click cmd and select Run as administrator
4. In the command prompt type “powercfg -h off” (without quotes)and hit enter.

You can get your wasted space back.

Remove All But The Most Recent Restore Point

Windows 7 keeps a record of Restore Points in the disk in case of emergency to retrieve your settings and data back. These restore points are created at particular time intervals as well as when you install some software such as device drivers.

1. Click Start
2. Type “Disk Cleanup” (without quotes)
3. Select the drive you want to clean. Then click “OK”
4. Click on “Cleanup System Files” button.
5. Select the drive in which you have installed Windows. Then click “OK”
6. Click on “More Options” tab.
7. In the “System Restore and Shadow Copies” section, click on “Clean up..” button.
8. Click on “Delete” button.
9. Click “OK”.
10. Windows will now ask for confirmation to delete files. Click “Delete Files”.

You are done. Now only the latest restore point will be saved in your PC. All the old System Restore points will be deleted.

Delete %TEMP% Files

Although Disk Clean up is suppose to clean up TEMP folder, sometimes it just doesn’t work. To overcome this, you can delete these files yourself. The method is easy, just do the following

1. Click Start
2. Type %TEMP%
3. Hit Enter
4. A folder will appear, select all files by pressing CTRL + A
5. Now Hit the delete button. All the temp files will be deleted.
6. To ignore Recycle Bin press SHIFT + DEL

You might get a warning that a file cannot be deleted. It is because some programs are using those file. You should simply ignore those file and continue with the deletion.

NTFS Compression

The NTFS file compression option can compress files on your hard disk. This allows you to get more space on the disk. This is an effective option and can save a lot of disk space. To do so, just do the following:

1. Just right click a folder, hit Properties
2. Click the Advanced Button
3.