[PC Clean Guide] How to Find Hidden Junk Files on PC?
Do you know how to find hidden junk files on PC and thoroughly remove them? This tutorial will share a comprehensive guide with more practical ways to free up space for your Windows PC.
By Irene / Updated on July 8, 2025
How many hidden junk files are on a Windows PC?
Over time, your Windows PC quietly collects a surprising amount of digital clutter. Even if you're careful, there can be hundreds or even thousands of hidden junk files sitting on your system. These aren’t always visible in normal folders — they build up in the background as you browse the internet, install apps, update Windows, or even just use everyday software.
But what are junk files exactly? Junk files are unnecessary files that your computer no longer needs but hasn’t deleted. Think of them like packaging — useful during installation or loading, but pointless afterward. Here are some common types you might have:
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Temporary files | Created by Windows or apps during operations (e.g., Word autosaves, app installs). |
| Cache files | Stored to speed up loading, but often outdated (e.g., browser, thumbnail cache). |
| Log files | Diagnostic logs left after updates or crashes. |
| Old Windows updates | Residual files after system updates. |
| Prefetch files | Help speed up boot/app loading; older ones may no longer be needed. |
| Recycle Bin contents | Files you’ve deleted but not permanently removed. If you want to restore Windows Recycle Bin files after mistakenly emptying it, you can follow this article. |
| Installer leftovers | Remnants of uninstalled programs. |
If they’re not useful, why doesn’t Windows just delete them — or at least make them easy to see? There are a few reasons:
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To protect system stability: Some temporary or system files are important at specific moments. Windows hides them to stop people from deleting them accidentally.
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To keep things tidy: Constantly showing all system folders and files would overwhelm most users.
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Because apps assume they’ll manage it: Many programs store logs, cache, or temp files in hidden folders like AppData and don’t expect you to touch them.
If you want to delete these hidden junk files to free up space but don't know how, you can move to the next part to get the specific steps.
How to find hidden junk files on PC?
To effectively find and delete hidden junk files on PC, you can follow the 2 methods below.
Fix 1. Use a professional tool
Since many junk files are hidden deep in the system, built-in tools can’t always catch everything. Some files — like broken registry entries, leftover shortcuts, or old update fragments — are hard to remove manually. That’s why it’s a good idea to use a professional cleaning tool like AOMEI Partition Assistant for Cleanup.
It can do a full scan of your hard drive, find all kinds of junk files, and safely remove them with just a few clicks. It works on all versions of Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7, and Windows Servers, and it supports popular brands like Dell, HP, and Lenovo. Now you can download AOMEI Partition Assistant and follow the steps to clean up all the junk files from your computer.
AOMEI Partition Assistant for CleanupThe Best Windows Disk Partition Manager and PC Optimizer
Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant for Cleanup. Click the "Clean Junk Files" tab.
Step 2. Click the "Scan Now" button to start the process of scanning junk files.
Step 3. After the scan process is finished. All system junk files (including recycle bin files, temporary files, log files, invalid shortcuts, and so on) and registry junk files (including DLL registry, system registry, and program registry) will be displayed.
Step 4. You can also click the button behind to view the junk files details.
Step 5. And, you can click the button behind to locate the file.
Step 6. By default, the program will select some junk files to clean up, for example, temporary files, log files, and so on. You can also manually check to select more or uncheck to deselect fewer listed junk files. Or, click "Select All" to select all junk files to clean up if you need to clean up all.
After selecting junk files that are not needed anymore, you can click the "Clean Now"button to start the cleanup.
Step 7. The process of the cleanup might take time, and the selected files will be cleaned up. After the process is finished, you will get a cleanup completed window displaying how many files you have cleaned and not yet cleaned.
Fix 2. Show hidden files and manually delete the junk files
You can also choose to show hidden junk files on your PC and delete them manually. While this method might miss some scattered files, it’s still worth a try.
Step 1. Launch File Explorer and press the three dots in the right-up corner, and select “Options”.
Step 2. In the Folder Options window, go to the “View” tab.
Step 3. Under “Advanced settings,” mark the checkbox next to “Show hidden files, folders, and drives.”
Step 4. Choose “Apply” and “OK” to save the change.
The folders and files will appear in File Explorer. If you wish to hide the files, repeat the steps and mark the checkbox next to “Don’t show hidden files, folders, and drives.” Now, you can see the hidden junk files on PC. Just choose and remove them as usual.
Further reading: How to free up more space by removing files?
AOMEI Partition Assistant for Cleanup is a comprehensive Windows cleanup tool. To effectively free up space, it also provide various options to delete useless files on Windows 11, 10, 8/8.1, and 7.
Option 1. Delete duplicate files
Over time, your PC can collect duplicate files from things like downloading, copying, or saving the same file in different places, which wastes storage space. AOMEI Partition Assistant for Cleanup helps you find and delete them easily to free up room.
AOMEI Partition Assistant for CleanupThe Best Windows Disk Partition Manager and PC Optimizer
Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant for Cleanup. Click the "Find Duplicate Files" tab. You can either click "Scan Now" to start the scan of your system C: drive. Or, click "Custom Scan" to manually select paths to be scanned. (Here, we take the "Custom Scan" as an example.)
Step 2. After clicking "Custom Scan", all local and external drives on your PC will be displayed. You can also click the "Add Path" button, and then a browse folder window will pop up. So you can add more paths on this PC, like Desktop, Downloads, and other folder paths.
Step 3. Once necessary paths are added, you can click the "Scan Now" button to start the scan process.
Step 4. The scan process might take time. After the scan is complete, all duplicate files will be listed. You can click the button behind to locate them.
Step 5. You can either manually select duplicate files, or click the "Smart Select" button to automatically select unnecessary duplicate files to delete.
Tips: If the "Smart Select" is ticked, only the oldest duplicate file will be unticked. It means that all duplicate files except the oldest one will be ticked to delete. (The oldest file means the file that was created first. This file will not be deleted. All other duplicate files are conside red copies of the oldest file. )
If you manually select all copies of duplicate files, you will get a pop-up warning window to keep at least one copy of the duplicate files. If you indeed want to delete all copies of duplicate files, you can click "OK" so all copies of duplicate files will be selected to delete.
After unnecessary duplicate files are selected, please click the "Clean Now" button to start the deletion.
Step 6. The deletion might take time. After the process is finished, the selected files will be deleted, and you will get a cleaning completed window displaying how much data you deleted in total.
Option 2. Delete Large files
A buildup of useless large files can quickly consume valuable storage space. You can remove them efficiently by using AOMEI Partition Assistant for Cleanup.
AOMEI Partition Assistant for CleanupThe Best Windows Disk Partition Manager and PC Optimizer
Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant for Cleanup. Click the "Delete Large Files" tab.
Step 2. You can either click "Scan System Drive" to start the scan of your system C: drive. Or, click "Custom Scan" to manually select paths to be scanned. (Here, we take the "Custom Scan" as an example.)
Step 3. After clicking "Custom Scan", all local and external drives on your PC and the common Desktop, Documents, and Downloads paths will be displayed. You can manually select paths to be scanned. Once necessary paths are added, you can click the "Scan Now" button to start the scan process.
Step 4. The scan process might take time. After the scan is complete, all large files found will be listed.
Step 5. You can also check the large files and click the button behind to locate them.
Step 6. Tick the files you want to delete, and then click the "Clean Now" button to start the deletion.
Step 7. The deletion might take time. After the process is finished, the selected files will be deleted, and you will get a cleaning completed window displaying how much data you deleted in total.
Step 5. Just for a while, the large files will be deleted successfully, and then you will see a warm notification suggesting you clean up your PC regularly.
Conclusion
Hidden junk files can quietly take up a lot of space on your Windows PC, slowing it down over time. How to find hidden junk files on PC? By using professional tools like AOMEI Partition Assistant for Cleanup or manually deleting hidden files, you can clean up your system, free up storage, and improve computer performance. Regular maintenance helps keep your PC running smoothly.
