Windows’ Drive Cleanup frees drive space that’s storing junk data such as temporary files, files in the Recycle Bin, and Web page elements cached by your browser. Run it on each User Account except as noted.

WinXP. To launch Windows Explorer, press WIN (the Windows logo key)-E. Next, right-click the drive partition (storage section) you want to clean, such as Local Disk (C:). Select Properties. Click the Disk Cleanup button, and then wait a minute or two as Windows takes stock of files you can probably delete or compress (digitally compact to save space).

Disk Cleanup lists the amount of storage space you can reclaim in various categories, such as the Recycle Bin and Temporary Files. Select categories by clicking their checkboxes. It’s generally safe to select anything in the Files To Delete list except for Compress Old Files, which can cause your system to run more slowly later on. Click View Files if you want to preview the data on the chopping block. That’s a good idea for the Recycle Bin, in case you’ve changed your mind about a file you’ve deleted. Click OK and Yes when you’re ready to permanently delete things.

Click the More Options tab for additional areas to clean, namely Windows Components and Installed Programs. These launch different parts of Add/Remove Programs. The former lets you get rid of Windows utilities and applications you never use, and install others. Uncheck an item to remove it. Some items, such as Accessories And Utilities, have subitems, such as Games; double-click an item or click Details to explore these. A shaded checkbox means that not all sub-items in a category are selected.

When you’re ready to proceed, click Next. If you’re installing a Windows component, you may be asked to insert your installation CD or to browse to your computer’s recovery partition.

The Installed Programs section under Disk Cleanup’s More Options tab lets you uninstall third-party apps. Click Clean Up, click a program, and select Remove or Change/Remove. If the button has the word Change on it, you may be able to repair an installed application that isn’t working properly.

Vista. Use the instructions for WinXP. If you have more than one User Account on your PC, you may be asked whether you want to clean up files from the current account only or all of them at once. Choose the latter. Vista’s More Options tab now has a Programs And Features section. Click Clean Up to uninstall apps. The Turn Windows Features On Or Off link lets you activate or deactivate OS (operating system) components.

More Options also lets you get rid of older System Restore points. Under System Restore And Shadow Copies, click Clean Up and Delete.

Win7. In Win7’s Windows Explorer, be sure to right-click a drive letter on the left column of the panel, not in the middle under Hard Disk Drives, before you choose Properties. Otherwise, Win7’s Disk Cleanup resembles Vista’s. One difference is a Clean Up System Files button that deletes junk files on all User Accounts, Microsoft says, not just the account you’re currently using. Also, the More Options tab will appear after you click Clean Up System Files. Choose items to erase, and then click OK and Delete Files.

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