My disk C is almost full up, there are different files and other things on it. Can anyone tell me what I can or cannot delete from it without messing anything up? Thanks.

Have you got another drive in the PC? if so you could move all your libraries, docs, photos, videos etc etc from C:users/possum onto that other drive simply by right clicking, properties, location, move to drive.

You could do Disk Cleanup first and remove any Windows Update files.......windows.old on your C drive, and all but the latest System Restore files if that is turned on

Go to

 

- C:\Windows\Temp\

- c:\Users\<userid>\AppData\Local\Temp\

 

And delete everything there

 

That is just a location for temporary files, it could be that when trying to delete files in there it will say they are in use, if so skip those

glary Utilities is good for clearing junk.

Or you could simply buy a bigger SSD and clone the old C drive to it, or simply move all your data to the new one leaving only your OS on C

If you are still using disk drive indeed would highly recommend change to SSD if you can afford.  Will speed things up greatly and after clone you can mount your old C drive in external case to use for extra storage (for video/files and such no need for SSD.  But suspect you should have a computer shop do this for you - if you have sensitive information on drive stand over them during the process.

41 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

Can anyone tell me what I can or cannot delete from it without messing anything up? Thanks.

Leave the Following Directories (if you have  them) ALONE

 

c:\boot\

c:\$Recycle.Bin\

c:\ESD\

c:\Recovery\

c:\Program Files (x86)\

c:\ProgramData\

c:\$WinREAgent\

c:\Program Files\

c:\Users\

c:\Windows\

c:\System Volume Information\

 

If you have another drive (for example D:\) and it's BIG enough follow this guide to move the files from your Documents (Make sure you have a Backup before you DO ANYTHING)

 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/configuration-of-the-my-documents-folder-dfd9a90d-8f80-18d6-e7cc-f1566fc3b10b

 

Start from

 

"How to Change the My Documents Folder Storage Location"

 

Edit: Another one to follow

 

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-move-default-user-folders-new-drive-windows-10

3 minutes ago, MJCM said:

Leave the Following Directories (if you have  them) ALONE

Why leave the recycle bin alone?

It is the second directory that should be emptied after the Temp directory!

 

Before you do anything create a restore point if you have not done so recently.

Just type "create a restore point" in the search box and action the appropriate boxes etc; 

As a previous poster has stated go to "Disk Cleanup" and use it;

Right click on your "C" drive in explorer, click "properties" and on the general page click "Disk Cleanup" and select all the appropriate options.

Another one to check and empty is Downloads.  Obviously check contents first. 

Should appear under your "Quick Access" or "Desktop" directory lists.

 

16 minutes ago, DezLez said:

Why leave the recycle bin alone?

It is the second directory that should be emptied after the Temp directory!

I certainly do HOPE that the OP cleared that before posting a TOPIC here.

 

And touching the PHYSICAL directories of Recycle Bin on the HDD is not a GOOD idea IMHO, just use the tools on the Desktop (right click - Empty for example)

 

 

13 minutes ago, MJCM said:

I certainly do HOPE that the OP cleared that before posting a TOPIC here.

The fact that the OP had the need to post his question(s) suggests that the OP is not necessarily aware of the options some of us keyboard warriors take for granted!

 

He has asked for "positive" help for his problems not things NOT to do!

Depending upon the size of the files OP wishes to keep it may be possible to upload them to a free cloud storage account (Mega.nz for example) and simply continue after a bit of housekeeping? 

Some good advice, some not so good.

So I will add some more.

 

Before you start deleting or moving any files you should look for big files and/or folders which use a lot of space. There is no point in moving 10,000 files if maybe deleting one big useless file is bigger than all those little files together.

 

You can use a free program like the following to find out the locations which use up all that space:

TreeSize Free | JAM Software (jam-software.com)

 

And maybe you are lucky, and you see right away that that folder with those videos which you downloaded 5 years ago uses the most space. Or maybe it's more complicated. In that case just post a screenshot here from what you see.

My experience wayyyy back in my Window 3.1 Help Desk days is that no matter what we told the end users - they'd end up bricking their system.

Take it to a shop and buy a bigger hard-drive and have the tech reconfigure it for you.

9 minutes ago, DezLez said:

The fact that the OP had the need to post his question(s) suggests that the OP is not necessarily aware of the options some of us keyboard warriors take for granted!

 

He has asked for "positive" help for his problems not things NOT to do!

He also asked

 

1 hour ago, possum1931 said:

Can anyone tell me what I can or cannot delete from it without messing anything up?

And that is why I posted that list (which included the c:\$Recycle.Bin\ DIRECTORY which INCLUDES all users on the system)

OP, a great little utility program is windirstat. It scans your drives then gives a graphical display of whats on the drive and its relative size. https://windirstat.net

 

Blue is photos, red is videos etc. Once you realize what is using the space, it can be deleted from within the program.

Most of the time its videos.

 

Also, start by looking at installed applications and remove what you no longer use.

 

3 minutes ago, connda said:

My experience wayyyy back in my Window 3.1 Help Desk days is that no matter what we told the end users - they'd end up bricking their system.

Take it to a shop and buy a bigger hard-drive and have the tech reconfigure it for you.

What a useless post!

5 minutes ago, MJCM said:

He also asked

 

And that is why I posted that list (which included the c:\$Recycle.Bin\ DIRECTORY)

Sorry, 

I missed that part of the OP!

38 minutes ago, DezLez said:

What a useless post!

But it is the truth. If you look at the OP post history regarding techie questions I do think that is the smartest things to do.

 

Just take it in to a respectable shop (JIB has always been good to me) and if you tell them the symptoms they will deal with it (and someone said, if you have sensitive stuff on there, just watch what they are doing)

 

There are programs to deal with cleaning stuff of your HDD's (CCleaner I personally like but it also has its issues (being hacked is one for example) but you have to know what you are doing before deleting stuff before you get the

 

"Help, I usually dont have to login to <insert site> and NOW I must" question

2 minutes ago, MJCM said:

Just take it in to a respectable shop

Or a younger tech savvy relative/friend!

1 minute ago, DezLez said:

Or a younger tech savvy relative/friend!

or on AN ????

48 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

Depending upon the size of the files OP wishes to keep it may be possible to upload them to a free cloud storage account (Mega.nz for example) and simply continue after a bit of housekeeping? 

with W11 you have One Drive.

15 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

with W11 you have One Drive.

Thanks. Good advice. I don't think the OP mentioned his operating system. Some of us don't yet have PC's capable of running Windows 10/11 properly. But the time will come.

7 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

Thanks. Good advice. I don't think the OP mentioned his operating system. Some of us don't yet have PC's capable of running Windows 10/11 properly. But the time will come.

If your PC cannot run W10..........get a new one. Almost ANY PC can run W11 if you follow Microsoft's work around.

Right click on the drive icon, select properties from the pop-up menu, go to the "tools" tab and select "disk cleanup". This will provide you some safe options for recovering space.

46 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

with W11 you have One Drive.

I  have had One Drive since Win7! 

16 minutes ago, JayClay said:

Right click on the drive icon, select properties from the pop-up menu, go to the "tools" tab and select "disk cleanup". This will provide you some safe options for recovering space.

Why do you not read a topic in total before posting?

 

Have you read the previous posts here where there is some more detail on the same procedure?

22 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

If your PC cannot run W10..........get a new one. Almost ANY PC can run W11 if you follow Microsoft's work around.

The topic is storage on his HDD, not Operating systems!

The newer the Operating system the less storage as it need more space!!!!

1 minute ago, DezLez said:

I  have had One Drive since Win7! 

Yes of course. and with365 you, and 5 others, can have 1TB storage. Move all libraries from users to a separate D drive, nominate that whole drive as your One Drive folder. Done, easy and all your data is backed up automatically.

33 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

Thanks. Good advice. I don't think the OP mentioned his operating system. Some of us don't yet have PC's capable of running Windows 10/11 properly. But the time will come.

Microsoft OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) is a file hosting service operated by Microsoft. First launched in August 2007!

27 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

If your PC cannot run W10..........get a new one. Almost ANY PC can run W11 if you follow Microsoft's work around.

Where is the useless advice emoji when you need it!