How to Clean Up Windows 7 with 5 Methods

Like any other computers, your Windows 7 computer also collects files from various sources and stores them on your storage. Over the time, you will find that your computer has gained a lot of files and many of which are not relevant or useful at all. If that is exactly what you are in, this post will tell you of the files that are occupying your memory space and how to clean up Windows 7 system.

Finding out what is occupying your storage and removing useless items will make your Windows 7 system clean and the system will run at its optimum level. The guide shows multiple methods of cleaning up your system and you may use as many of these methods as you want for your computer.

Let’s check out the guide:

Items Occupying Memory in Windows 7

The first thing you will want to find out is what is cluttering your Windows 7 computer. Is it leftover files or something else? This section will reveal all of that information for you.

Item 1. Files Downloaded from Internet

Many of the users download large files from the Internet and they keep these files in the downloads folder even though they are of not any use after a single usage. These files occupy a large amount of memory space on your system.

Item 2. Temporary App/Internet Files

Many of the apps that you install on your computer create various temporary files for the app functions to work. These files also add to the clutter of your machine as they often do not get deleted after the app that uses them has done its tasks.

Item 3. Recycle Bin Files

Each time you delete a file from your system, it goes to the Recycle Bin and gets stored there. Over the time, you will find that your Recycle Bin has collected a number of files creating a lot of clutter on the system.

Item 4. Thumbnail Files

Thumbnails files are usually generated in the folders where you have stored your images. These files contain a list of all the thumbnails to be displayed in that particular folder. Over the time, as the number of your images grows, thumbnail files grow adding to the clutter of your computer.

Item 5. Web Browser History

Whether you use Chrome, Firefox, or any other web browser for your browsing sessions, all of these browsers save your browsing history locally on your computer. These files may reside deep down in your system but they do use a lot of your memory space especially when you have not deleted your browsing history for a long time.

Item 6. System Restore Points

All the points that you create using the System Restore utility take your memory space as they store previous versions of your files and settings. Eventually as more and more points are created, you have a large number of files and data sitting in the utility.

How to Clean Up Window 7 with 5 Methods

If your Windows 7 PC is too cluttered and you can’t think of any methods to clean up your system, this section will help you out. The section covers five methods that you can use to get rid of any unwanted stuff from your computer making your computer more cleaner and faster.

Method 1. Use Disk Cleanup Tool

If you have noticed, your Windows 7 PC does come with a tool called Disk Cleanup that lets you clean your disks of any unwanted files and data. It lets you selectively delete the files that you no longer need on your system.

Most importantly, it works and lets you clean up your Windows 7 PC with a few clicks.

Method 2. Empty the Recycle Bin

If you find that your Recycle Bin has collected a lot of files that you are never going to use again, it is time to empty the Bin of these files. Emptying the Recycle Bin means deleting all the files in the Bin permanently.

It is pretty easy to do that as all you need to do is right-click on the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop and select the option that says “Empty Recycle Bin”.

Method 3. Delete System Restore Points

If there are a lot of restore points in the System Restore utility on your computer, please launch the utility and delete the older restore points you do not want to use. It will free-up the memory space by removing previous versions of your useless files and settings from your computer.

Method 4. Organize the Desktop

A cluttered desktop is not a good thing and you need to work on organizing your desktop so it only has those items that you regularly use. You may want to add the apps or other icons that you frequently use and remove the ones that you have not used for a long time.

Method 5. Clean Up Junk Files with Ashampoo WinOptimizer

As you can see, most of the methods mentioned above ask you to manually find and delete redundant files. What if you had an app that could automatically find and delete junk files from your Windows 7 computer?

Well, there is an app. It is called Ashampoo WinOptimizer and it allows Windows users to clean up their machines of any unwanted files with just a few clicks. It scans, finds, and removes junk files for you – all automatically.

Some of the reasons why you may want to use this app:

• A couple of clicks and your PC is optimized.
• Dedicated built-in features for each cleaning task.
• Fix the registry entries without knowing a thing about registry.
• Defrag your drives with minimum efforts.

The app is definitely worth giving a try and the following is how you use it to clean up your Windows 7 system:

Step 1 Open the Ashampoo WinOptimizer website and download and install the app on your computer.

Step 2 Launch the app on your PC and click on the option that says “Maintain system” in the left sidebar. Then, choose the “Drive Cleaner” option from the right panel to clean up your system.

Step 3 Review the file types that are going to be deleted on the following screen. Then, confirm your action by clicking on the Delete now button given in the bottom-right corner of your screen.

Step 4 When the app has deleted junk files from your PC, you will see the following message on your screen.

The useless and redundant files have been successfully deleted from your computer.

The Bottom Line

If your Windows 7 PC shows any signs that it is not clean, the above guide will help you clean up your computer so you have less clutter and you can be more productive with your tasks. Give those methods a try!