While the Download folder is the chief offender in providing refuge for most of these files, you’ll find them all over your hard drive - especially in your media libraries. “You can just leave things out there and forget about them, but there are some significant amounts of storage tied up there over time.” “Files are bigger in general because people are using their PCs as multi-purpose tools, with graphics, video, and music files,” he says. McGuffie points to one-time files as a serious disk space offender for people looking to recover some real estate on their hard drive. If you’re a frequent Internet user, you’ll be surprised at not only how many files are in there, but also by how much space you free up. Sift through the files in there and toss the ones you no longer need into the trash.

If you’re on a PC, you can find it by navigating to c://users/username/appdata/local/temp. If you’re on a Mac, you’ll find your Download folder next to the Trash Bin in the Dock. It’s time to kick some of these files to the curb. Remember that AOL Instant Messenger download, your resume from that job you applied for in 2007, and the photos your friend took from that concert you went to three summers ago? They are all in here, having a party that’s raging so hard that it’s wrecking your computer. Whether you’re on a Mac or a PC, download folders are like their own special little episode of Hoarders. You got here out of years and gigabytes of neglect, and it’s going to take more than one click to fix the problem. While it’s possible that you’ll can free up enough space to solve the problem, it’s unlikely to be the case. So, if you’ve forgotten to dump that overflowing bin in the corner of your screen, do so now. This will seem like a no-brainer to most of the people reading this article, and that’s why it’s the first step. “Because computers are so flexible now - from music and videos to pictures they’ve downloaded from their phone - there’s just a lot of sources of data that end up on your PC,” says Jamie McGuffie, president of Plymouth, Mich.-based EdgeRunner, which produces SpaceMonger, a great Windows-based tool for seeing how much space your files are taking up.īut before you need a program like his, there are several other steps you should take to put your hard drive on a diet.

Or, if you’re on a Mac, you get the alarming alert window that says, “Your startup disk is almost full.” “Low Disk Space” reads the flag on your PC’s system tray. Coyote hitting a brick wall, your computer has stopped you in your tracks. You’re cruising along the Internet, mouse in one hand, coffee in the other, and then - wham - like Wile E.

Local disk full but no files