Hard drive free space

The importance of free space

A lack of free space on your computer's hard disk drive may cause problems.

For example:

Your computer will slow down
You risk not being able to save files
Your operating system may not work adequately

Checking hard disk space

Check your the space on your hard disk drive by"

Double click on the "My Computer" icon on your computers "Desktop"
Right-click on C Drive (your hard disk presumably)
In the right-click menu select "Properties"
This will give you a graphic such as on the right.

If your computer falls below 10Gb then you should take notice. At 10Gb you do not yet have a problem however you could quite easily fall to critically low levels of space if you install software.

Once you reach 5Gb then you really do need to start conserving space or freeing up space as per strategies listed below.

If you have reached 2Gb of space then your computer will probably exhibit a tendency to slow or take too long doing things. You must definitely take action and free up space.

Strategies for freeing up space on your computer's hard drive.

There are many strategies.

Empty the Recycle Bin
Use ScanDisk to check for errors that may be using up disk space without any benefit to you.
Find and delete temporary files (files with an extension of TMP i.e. *.tmp)
Delete your temporary internet files (go to Tools on Internet Explorer browser, and then click on Internet Options). You will see "Temporary Internet Files and a Delete button".
Uninstall programs that you don't need (i.e. games) by going to Add/Remove Programs in your Control Panel)
Back up unneeded files and remove them from your hard disk
Remove Windows components that you don't use (see Add/Remove Programs in your Control Panel)
Create more disk space by using DriveSpace disk compression (last resort)