Dear Techie
I have an older computer that keeps saying my disk space is low. I haven’t installed anything on my computer that takes up space. What should I do?Thanks,
Spaced Out
Dear Spaced,
Older computers face this problem a lot more often than newer PCs.
The easiest way to clear up some free space is clearing out the temporary files. These are often comprised of temporary internet files which your computer compiles as you surf online. The idea behind them is to help frequently visited pages load quicker by keeping the most commonly accessed files copied to the hard drive, but these days your internet connection is more of a factor. Other temporary files include the contents of the recycle bin.
The best way to clean out your temporary files is to use the “Disk Clean Up” feature found by going to “Start”, “Programs”, “Accessories”, “System Tools” and “Disk Cleanup”.
When I service computers, I delete many more files, but it is something that should only be done by an experienced computer technician. You can also clean out your “My Documents” and “Downloads” folders of things you don’t need anymore. If you have a lot of music, you can always move it to an external hard drive or thumb drive. Another thing that can be done is to remove programs that are not needed from the computer. This is done through the “Add/Remove Programs” function in the control panel, but if you are not familiar with some of the programs running, it’s often safer to take the machine into a qualified technician.
Thanks for the question!
The Techie