What Are Junk Files And How to Remove Them

What are junk files?

What are junk files? Junk files refer to unnecessary files left on your computer. Generally, there are some common junk files on your PC:

✿ Junk files in the recycle bin. Many users misunderstand that they can delete unwanted files simply by moving them to the recycle bin. In fact, junk files in the recycle bin are still stored on the computer.
✿ Temporary files. Temporary files are automatically generated when the system or installed programs are running, and remain in the computer after use.
✿ Cache files. A cache file is a file generated when you browse a webpage, so that you can access it at the fastest speed when you browse the same webpage again.
✿ Program residual files. When you uninstall programs from your computer, they will leave some residual files.
✿ Thumbnail. In order to open the picture again quickly, the computer will generate a thumbnail.
✿ Program installation files. When you download and install some applications, the files such as program installation packages will stay on your PC.

Why clean up junk files in your computer?

Although each junk file does not occupy much computer space, if you don’t clean up them on time, they will accumulate in the PC and affect the speed of the system. What's more, when excessive junk files are left in the computer, you may encounter the dilemma of the C drive is full or even the computer freezes.

Thus, it's of vital importance to clean up junk files from your PC on time. Next, we’ll share some methods to clear junk files.

4 Ways to clean up junk files

If you just know what are junk files on your computer, but don't know how to clean them effectively, you can refer to the following method to solve the problem.

● Method 1. Use CMD to delete junk files

As one of the most commonly used tools in the Windows system, CMD can not only create partitions, delete partitions, format partitions, but also delete temporary junk files in the computer.

Step 1. Press "Windows" key, then input “cmd” and click "Run as administrator".

Step 2. In the new window, type "%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe %temp%\" and press "Enter" to find out the temp files on the PC.

Step 3. Then, input "del %temp%\*.*/s/q" and press "Enter" to delete all the temporary files from the PC.

● Method 2. Clean up junk files with Disk Cleanup

Another built-in tool that helps clean up junk files is Disk Cleanup, which removes thumbnails, recycle bin files, temporary files, etc. Please follow the steps below.

Steps 1. Press "Windows" and input "disk cleanup", then click "Open".

Step 2. In the popped window, select C drive and click "OK".

Step 3. Select the junk files you want to remove in the target drive and click "OK".

● Method 3. Remove temporary files with Run program

Surprisingly, you can directly delete some temporary junk files on your computer through the Run program. Details are as follows.

Step 1. Press "Windows+ R" to open the Run program and type "temp", then press "Enter".

Step 2. Then you can directly find out temp files in your PC. Press "Ctrl + A" to select the target files and press "Delete".

Step 3. Open the Run program again, then input "%temp%" and press "Enter".

Step 4. You will find the Local Temp files. Press "Ctrl + A" to select all the files and press "Delete".

Step 5. Open the Run program once again, then type "prefetch" and click "OK".

Step 6. This time, you can press "Ctrl + A" and "Delete" to delete all Prefetch files.

● Method 4. Run Storage Sense

In Windows 10, you can also try to use Storage Sense to delete junk files from your computer. In addition, you can also set the time to use it to clean your computer regularly, please read the following carefully.

Step 1. Open "Windows Settings" and then click "System".

Step 2. Select "Storage" and turn on the "Storage Sense" button, then click "Configure Storage Sense or run it now" to set the time to run the Storage Sense.

Step 3. In the "Configure Storage Sense or run it now" window, please set the proper time to run Storage Sense.

How to Completely delete junk files with PC Cleaner

As we all know, knowing what are junk files is not effective in removing them from computer. Although the mentioned methods can clean up junk files to a certain extent, they are not the most comprehensive and thorough. Here, we recommend the almighty PC Cleaner - AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard.

Its "PC Cleaner" function can thoroughly scan your computer, and after a few simple clicks, you will completely clean up all junk files including system and registry junk files.

In addition, when your computer or C drive is full, it also thoughtfully prepares functions such as resize partition, extend partition, clone data disk, etc.

Step 1. Download and open AOMEI Partition Assistant, click "Free up" and "PC Cleaner" at the top menu. 

Step 2. Click "Start Scan" to scan your PC for all junk files.

Step 3. Wait for a while, this tool is scanning for junk files on the PC.

Step 4. In the following interface, tick the target junk files and click "Clean All".

Step 5. When the cleaning task is finished, click "Back".

Note: If you want to remove junk files from the Windows Server PC, the Server Edition is suitable for you.

Bonus Reading: Delete unnecessary large files

Besides the junk files on your PC, there're some unwanted large files occupying the space of it. To further clean up your computer, you can go to the Professional Version and use the “Delete Large Files” to find out and delete unnecessary large files.

Step 1. Open the Demo, then click "Free up" and "Delete Large Files".

Step 2. Choose a drive or more one drives and click "Start Scan".

Step 3. In the new interface, select some large files to delete and click "Delete".

Step 4. Click "Delete Now" to remove all the selected large files.

Tip: There're some advanced functions for disk management, including allocate free space to C drive, merge partition, migrate OS to SSD, move applications to another drive, etc.

Verdict

What are junk files and how to remove them? In this post, we made the detailed definition on what is a junk file and provided several methods to clean up the junk files. If you want to clean up your PC at once, you can try the free AOMEI Partition Assistant.