If your computer feels sluggish when you switch it on, there might be a simple way to speed it up again by performing one command that also helps free up storage space
When you first get a new computer, the device is usually lightning fast and feels like a huge upgrade from your previous slow and sluggish model. But what if we told you that you don’t actually have to throw out your old PC if it starts to feel like it’s not performing at its best?
Computers can slow down over time for various reasons, including outdated drivers, software bloat, and hardware degradation. Some of these issues can’t be avoided and will eventually result in you needing a new PC if you want your fast speeds back again. But sluggish computers can also be caused by insufficient storage space – and that one can be fixed.
The easiest way to tackle storage space issues is to go through your programmes and files and delete or uninstall anything you no longer need. You can also move files to an external hard drive or USB stick if you want to free up some space, but don’t want to permanently delete things you might need in the future.
However, there is a way to free up some space without deleting any important files. According to the PC experts at RTC Tutorials on TikTok, there’s a simple command you can run to free up storage space by deleting temporary files.
These files are not essential for the computer’s operation and are usually created to help process large amounts of data. This makes them generally safe to delete, as your PC doesn’t need them to run applications.
The RTC Tutorials video explains you can delete this files by pressing the Windows key and R at the same time to bring up the “Run” programme. Then type “temp” in the box that appears, and click “ok”.
A list of files and folders will appear, and you can highlight all of these and delete them.
Then press the Windows key and R at the same time again, and this time type “%temp%” and follow the same steps, pressing “ok” and then highlighting all the files and folders that appear and deleting them.
The expert said: “Don’t worry, these are safe to delete, and you’ll be surprised to see how much space this actually takes up.”
Commenters on the post thanked the experts for the tip, with many saying they were able to clean several gigabytes of space from their PC by following the simple steps.
One person said: “After cleaning temp, [I have] 80GB free out of 237GB. Magic!”
Another added: “If only I’d known this years ago, I wouldn’t have wasted so many hours moving files and my parents’ bank records to an external hard drive.”
While this tip can help you clean up some space on your PC, you should never delete files unless you’re absolutely sure you don’t need them.
If you’re unsure, you can use a tool like Windows Disk Cleanup to safely manage and remove files without needing to type complicated codes into your PC.