Why is My Computer Very Slow? Is Low Disk Space the Culprit?

Is your computer taking ages to start up, applications running sluggishly, or everything just feeling slow and unresponsive? You’re not alone. A slow computer can be incredibly frustrating, impacting your productivity and overall experience. One common, and often overlooked, reason for a slow computer is low disk space. When your hard drive or SSD is nearly full, your computer can struggle to operate efficiently. Think of it like trying to work in a cluttered room – it’s harder to find things and move around.

This article will guide you through simple steps to check if low disk space is slowing down your computer and, more importantly, how to free up space and potentially speed things up significantly.

Checking for Low Disk Space on Your Windows PC

The first step is to quickly check how much free space is left on your computer’s drives. Windows makes this easy to see directly in your settings.

1. Click on the Start button, which is usually located in the bottom left corner of your screen. Then, click on the Settings icon, which looks like a gear.

2. In the Settings window, select System.

3. Next, click on Storage. This will take you to the Storage settings page where you can see an overview of your drive usage.

4. In the Storage area, you’ll see a list of your drives. For each drive, note the amount of Free space and the Total size. If the free space is very low compared to the total size (for example, just a few gigabytes left), then low disk space is likely contributing to your computer’s slow performance.

Note: If you have plenty of free disk space, and your computer is still running slowly, the issue might be something else. However, freeing up disk space is still a good general maintenance step for your computer.

Freeing Up Space Using Storage Sense

Windows has a built-in tool called Storage Sense that can automatically help you manage disk space. Storage Sense can delete temporary files and manage files in your Recycle Bin to keep your storage optimized.

Deleting Temporary Files with Storage Sense

Temporary files are created by applications and Windows for short-term tasks. Over time, these files can accumulate and take up valuable disk space. Storage Sense can easily remove these unnecessary files.

1. If you’re not already there, go to Settings > System > Storage as described in the previous section.

2. Click on Temporary files in the storage breakdown. If you don’t see “Temporary files” listed, click on Show more categories to see all storage categories.

3. Windows will take a moment to scan your system and determine which temporary files can be removed.

4. Review the list of file types. You can select or deselect items like “Temporary Internet Files”, “System error memory dump files”, and importantly, “Recycle Bin”. Choose the items you want to delete and then click Remove files.

   Note: While deleting temporary files is generally safe, be cautious about emptying your Recycle Bin if you’re not sure you want to permanently delete those files. Open the Recycle Bin from your desktop to review its contents before emptying it. You can search for “recycle bin” in the taskbar search if you can’t find the icon on your desktop.

Turning On and Configuring Storage Sense for Automatic Cleanup

For ongoing maintenance, you can configure Storage Sense to run automatically and free up space regularly.

1. Navigate to Settings > System > Storage.

2. In the Storage area, toggle the switch to turn Storage Sense On.

3. Click on Configure Storage Sense or run it now.

4. In the Storage Sense settings, you can choose how often Storage Sense runs from the dropdown menu under “Run Storage Sense”. Options typically include “Every day”, “Every week”, “Every month”, or “When disk space is low”.

5. Under the Temporary Files section, check the box next to Delete temporary files that my apps aren’t using.

6. You can also configure Storage Sense to automatically empty your Recycle Bin and delete files in your Downloads folder after a certain period (e.g., “1 day”, “14 days”, “30 days”, or “60 days”). Select your preferred time intervals for these options.

7. To run Storage Sense immediately with your chosen settings, scroll down and click Clean now.

8. Windows will run Storage Sense and then display a message indicating how much disk space was freed up.

Using Disk Cleanup to Free Up Even More Space

If your system doesn’t have Storage Sense, or if you want to perform a more thorough cleanup, you can use the Disk Cleanup tool. Disk Cleanup is a classic Windows utility that can remove temporary files and system files.

1. In the search box on the taskbar, type disk cleanup, and then select Disk Cleanup from the search results.

2. In the Disk Cleanup dialog box, select the drive you want to clean up (usually your main system drive, often labeled as C:).

3. Disk Cleanup will calculate how much space you can free up.

4. In the “Files to delete” list, check the boxes next to the types of files you want to delete. Common options include “Downloaded Program Files”, “Temporary Internet Files”, “Thumbnails”, and “Temporary files”. You can click on each file type to see a description. Make sure to uncheck any boxes for file types you don’t want to delete.

5. To free up even more space, click on Clean up system files. This option requires administrator privileges and can remove system files like previous Windows installations.

   Important Note: If you recently upgraded to a new version of Windows, Disk Cleanup’s “Clean up system files” option might include “Previous Windows installation(s)”. Deleting this will remove the “Windows.old” folder, which contains files that allow you to revert to your previous version of Windows. Only delete this if you are sure you don’t want to go back to the older version, as this action is irreversible.

6. After selecting the file types, click OK, and then click Delete files in the confirmation window to start the cleanup process.

Uninstalling Unused Applications

Applications you no longer use can take up significant disk space. Uninstalling these apps can free up a considerable amount of space and potentially improve performance.

1. Click the Start button, then go to Settings > Apps > Apps & features.

2. You’ll see a list of installed applications. You can sort the list by size by clicking on the “Sort by” dropdown and selecting “Size” to see which apps are using the most space.

3. To uninstall an app, select it from the list and click Uninstall. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the uninstallation.

4. After uninstalling apps, restart your computer to ensure the changes are fully applied and to see if performance has improved.

Moving Files to an External Drive

If you have large files like photos, videos, or music that you don’t access frequently, consider moving them to an external hard drive or USB drive. This can free up space on your main computer drive while still allowing you to access these files when needed.

1. Connect your external drive to your computer.

2. Open File Explorer from the taskbar.

3. Navigate to the folders containing the files you want to move (e.g., your Pictures, Music, or Documents folders).

4. Select the files you want to move. You can select multiple files by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking.

5. Go to the Home tab in File Explorer, then click Move to and select Choose location.

6. In the “Select a location” dialog, choose your external drive from the list and click Move.

7. Once the files are moved, restart your computer and check if you notice an improvement in performance.

By following these steps, you can effectively check for low disk space and take action to free up storage on your Windows computer. Often, simply freeing up disk space can make a noticeable difference in your computer’s speed and responsiveness. If your computer is still running slowly after trying these steps, there may be other factors at play, but ensuring you have adequate disk space is a crucial first step in troubleshooting and maintaining a healthy, fast computer.