The new 2018 Windows 10 update leaves 10GB of junk files on our computer's hard drive for 10 days, here's how to get rid of them without waiting
Have you just updated Windows 10 with April 2018 and realized that there are about 10 gigabytes more space taken up? Don't worry, you didn't mess up anything: it's all the fault of the update, which created "recovery" files in case you had problems with the installation.
Unfortunately, there are a number of actions you can do to recover space on your device's memory. By default, Microsoft automatically deletes these 10 gigabytes of junk files 10 days after installing the update. If, on the other hand, our computer has little free space on the hard disk, you might have some trouble carrying all these junk files "on your back": an almost full hard disk, in fact, slows down the performance of the computer system, thus forcing us to waste time unnecessarily. Should you find yourself in this situation, you can recover space on your hard drive by manually deleting Windows 10 update files.
How to delete Windows.old folder
As mentioned, Windows 10 accumulates files related to the old version of Windows 10 in a system folder. The reason for this behavior is quickly said: in case of problems with the update, you'll be able to go back to the old version and continue using your PC without headaches.
These files, specifically, are saved in a folder known as Windows.old. To recover the space, however, you won't have to delete the folder as it is, but you'll have to use one of the tools made available by Windows 10. You'll have to access the operating system's Settings, click on System and then choose Storage. Here activate the option Memory sensor and click on the item below: "Change the way space is freed".
A new page will open: in the list of various options let's click on "Delete previous versions of Windows". If we don't see this option, it means that Windows 10 has already deleted them automatically. At this point we'll just have to click on the bottom item "Clean Now" to complete the cleaning process. Attention, the files in the Recycle Bin will also be deleted, so let's make sure you haven't moved any documents there that may come in handy.
Deleting 10GB of junk files with Disk Cleanup
If we don't like the process described above, we can perform the same operation using the Disk Cleanup tool. To find it, open the Start menu and search for the program, or go directly to the search bar in the lower left corner and type Disk Cleanup. At this point we'll be asked what we want to delete on a new tab. Among all the folders we look for the one indicated as Previous Windows Installations. Now click on System File Cleanup and then OK, and you're done.
.