Files & Folders You Can Safely Delete in Windows 10

If you’re looking to free space or just simply clean off the clutter on the hard drive of your Microsoft Windows 10 computer, here is a list of file and folder locations you can safely remove to clear the most space.

Windows Temp Folders

Applications use these folders to temporarily write data. You can safely remove anything in the folder, but you may not be able to delete items that are in use.

Likely safe locations to delete files and folders from:

• C:\Windows > Temp
• C:\Users > username > AppData > Local > Temp

Browser Temp Folders

Data from web pages. Cached to make loading time quicker.

Likely safe locations to delete files and folders from:

• Microsoft Edge – C:\Users > username > AppData > Local > Packages
  > Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe > AC > MicrosoftEdge > Cache
• Internet Explorer – C:\Users > OfficePower > AppData > Local > Microsoft > Windows > INetCache
• Firefox – C:\Users > username > AppData > Local > Mozilla > Firefox > Profiles > randomcharacters.default > cache2 > entries
• Google Chrome – C:\Users > username > AppData > Local > Google > Chrome > User Data > Default > Cache

Log Files

Files that store data about what certain applications did.

Likely safe locations to delete ONLY FILES THAT END IN “.LOG”.

• C:\Windows
• C:\Windows > Debug

Normally it’s safe to delete all files and folders in this location:

• C:\Windows > Logs

Old Prefetch Data

Data Windows uses to open commonly used programs faster.

Likely safe locations to delete files and folders from:

• C:\Windows > Prefetch

Crash Dumps

Files containing data about what was in memory when applications crash.

Likely safe locations to delete files and folders from:

• C:\Users > username > AppData > Local > CrashDumps
• C:\ProgramData > Microsoft > Windows > WER > ReportArchive

 

Surely, I don’t know it all. Others may have locations they regularly clear to free hard drive space in Windows 10. If you have a location you know about, please share it in the comments section.