Windows 8: Clean Your HP PC?s Hard Drive

I just reclaimed 10GB of hard drive space on my laptop this morning. I don?t know why I?m surprised by that. There are so many simple things you can do to sweep up those crusty corners inside your PC ? I?ve just been lazy about it. Now, it?s your turn. I?ve got a couple key protips for you to try right now.

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HOW DOES IT GET THIS BAD?

You get a big hard drive when you buy your PC ? and it?s time to party! Every song I own? Time to drop em on this computer. My favorite videos? Why not?!? Games? OH, yes. Look at those free apps that I can download and try! Before you know it, you get a ?Low Disk Space? warning. All that stuff you?re installing chews not only into your storage space, but your speed as well since that means you?ve got no virtual memory back up your PC.

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Don?t worry, I got your back.

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TIP 1: WHAT THE HECK IS THE SWSETUP FOLDER?!?!
On HP computers I find this folder called SwSetup. What this folder does is essentially make a backup copy of drivers, installers and updates to components in your PC. That?s great for CYA-ing while you?re on the road and you need to reinstall drivers in a hurry. And if you don?t install a ton of stuff, really it is a non-issue. But if you?re anything like me, you?re in a perpetual state of downloading SOMETHING. Over time that adds up. In my case, that math goes something like this: 6 months with a PC = 7.5GB of files stashed in the SwSetup folder.

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If you?ve got room, no problem. HOWEVER, it?s totally fine to ditch that folder provided you back it up. I don?t care if you park it on your server at home, on a USB flash drive or some external drive you have sitting around. (Heck, do all three). Space can be a premium on your PC, so I?m taking that 7.5GB back for the cause.

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TIP 2: MY GOD?.IT?S FULL OF APPS
It?s an easy trap to fall into with any app store. You experiment with some free app to see how it works. Then you try another. And another. Pretty soon, your Windows 8 PC has rows and rows of Tiles for apps you?ve installed that you?ll ?get back to later.? For God?s sakes ? DELETE SOME! You?d be surprised how much space you get back from doing that alone. In fact, try this:

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Go to the Win 8 Charm bar -> Settings -> Change PC Settings -> General. Scroll down to Available Storage. Then click to see how much space each app is eating up.

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As a corollary to that, I also happen to install a bunch of apps the ?olde fashioned way? ? through the Windows desktop. Like a lot of your probably do as well. So you need to track things that you installed through the app store and through traditional methods.

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Take me, I have 40 games ? 4. 0. Games ? installed on my PC through Steam right now. I only see that if I open up Steam?s list or go into the Control Panel?s ?uninstall? option. Right there, are at least 50GB worth of apps. Some that I haven?t played in months.

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TIP 3: GIVE SOFTWARE A TIME OUT
Think of this as the logical extension of Tip 2 ? if you have an app on your computer that you haven?t used in over 3 months, be honest with yourself. Will you ever use it again? Do you need to keep it installed on your PC? Or can you just keep the installer handy and re-install it when you need it?

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TIP 4: GO BACK TO THE BASICS
If you think you?ve installed some bum apps that are dragging your system down, you?ve got a couple options within Windows 8. Here?s where you find ?em:

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Go to the Win 8 Charm bar -> Settings -> Change PC Settings -> General. Scroll down and you?ll see the ability to ?Refresh your PC without affecting your files? (which deletes all settings and removes non-Win 8 apps, but retains all your documents) or to ?Remove everything and reinstall Windows.? The later is a slightly harsher approach that basically wipes your PC and starts you with a barebones install of Windows and nothing else.?If you do this, you?re losing stuff like HP?s Support Assistant and some overlooked apps that actually help your HP PC run better.

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If you need to do as system wipe, I?ll tell ya what I tell everyone: Backup your important files to a hard location and a secure place on a cloud service. THEN, reinstall to your heart?s content. Just type ?Recovery Manager? at the Windows Start screen and it?ll point you to the right app.

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TIPS 5, 6, 7?.OH YOU GET THE IDEA?.
There are some other meat ?n? potato tips that we often take for granted. I?m just going to quickly shoot out a couple others here:

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• Check your temp folders! They are probably (hopefully) gonna be empty, but still?.check!
• If you?re using a cloud service like Skydrive or Box.net, make sure that you?re only sharing / using the files that you need. Also make sure that you aren?t duplicating folders and taking up 2x the room because you?ve also got the same files stashed locally in a different folder. (I?ve done this one.)
• Defragment the drive! The hard drive doesn?t always efficiently allocate file locations. Defragging fixes that. Defragging is your friend. (Except if you have an SSD. There have been cases made that defragging on an SSD isn?t as effective for reclaiming space since it?s already pretty efficient.
• Archive old files you?re not using anymore! Same rule that I used above for apps holds true for files as well. If it?s been kicking around, unused for too long, save it offline and buy back some space.
• Consider adding additional storage. I don?t care if it?s an external USB drive, something you install inside the PC or you just want to park a high-capacity SD card into the open slot.
• Type ?Clean? in the Start Screen and you?ll have quick access to being able to clear histories and finding the Disk Cleanup tool.

Welp, that?s my grip of tips for you today. Let me know if that answers your questions or causes more. Or, if you got some of your own Windows 8 wrangling tips, I?d love to hear ?em in the comments!

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Source: http://h20435.www2.hp.com/t5/The-Next-Bench-Blog/Windows-8-Clean-Your-HP-PC-s-Hard-Drive/ba-p/82259

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