Disk Cleanup - wikipedia Disk Cleanup This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( March 2013 ) Disk Cleanup A component of Microsoft Windows Screenshot of Disk Cleanup in Windows 10 Details Type Disk maintenance application Included with Windows 98, 2000, ME, XP, Server 2003, Vista, Server 2008, 7, Server 2008 R2, 8, 10 Related components Desktop Cleanup Wizard Disk Cleanup ( cleanmgr. exe ) is a computer maintenance utility included in Microsoft Windows designed to free up disk space on a computer 's hard drive. The utility first searches and analyzes the hard drive for files that are no longer of any use, and then removes the unnecessary files. There are a number of different file categories that Disk Cleanup targets when performing the initial disk analysis : Compression of old files Temporary Internet files Temporary Windows files Downloaded program files Recycle Bin Removal of unused applications or optional Windows components Setup log files Offline web pages ( cached ) WinSxS ( Windows component store ) The above list, however, is not exhaustive. For instance, ' Temporary Remote Desktop files ' and ' Temporary Sync Files ' may appear only under certain computer configurations, differences such as Windows Operating System and use of additional programs such as Remote Desktop. The option of removing hibernation data may not be ideal for some users as this may remove the hibernate option. Aside from removing unnecessary files, users also have the option of compressing files that have not been accessed over a set period of time. This option provides a systematic compression scheme. Infrequently accessed files are compressed to free up disk space while leaving the frequently used files uncompressed for faster read / write access times. If after file compression, a user wishes to access a compressed file, the access times may be increased and vary from system to system. In addition to the categories that appear on the Disk Cleanup tab, the More Options tab offers additional options for freeing up hard drive space through removal of optional Windows components, installed programs, and all but the most recent System Restore point or Shadow Copy data in some versions of Microsoft Windows. See also Desktop Cleanup Wizard External links Microsoft Help and Support - Description of the Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows XP The Elder Geek on Windows XP - Disk Cleanup Utility Creating a Disk Cleanup Handler Tweaking `` Temporary Files '' handler with registry Microsoft Windows components Management tools App Installer Command Prompt Control Panel Applets Device Manager Disk Cleanup Disk Defragmenter Driver Verifier Event Viewer IExpress Management Console Netsh Performance Monitor Recovery Console Resource Monitor Settings Sysprep System Configuration System File Checker System Information System Policy Editor System Restore Task Manager Windows Error Reporting Windows Ink Windows Installer PowerShell Windows Update Windows Insider WinRE WMI Apps Alarms & Clock Calculator Calendar Camera Character Map Cortana Edge Fax and Scan Feedback Hub Get Help Groove Music Magnifier Mail Messaging Maps Media Player Movies & TV Mobility Center Money News Narrator Notepad OneDrive OneNote Paint Paint 3D People Phone Companion Photos Quick Assist Snipping Tool Speech Recognition Skype Sports Sticky Notes View 3D Store Tips Voice Recorder Wallet Weather Windows To Go Windows Story Remix WordPad Xbox Shell Action Center Aero AutoPlay AutoRun ClearType Explorer Search Indexing Service IFilter Saved search Namespace Special folder Start menu Taskbar Task View Windows Spotlight Windows XP visual styles Services Service Control Manager BITS CLFS Multimedia Class Scheduler Shadow Copy Task Scheduler Error Reporting Wireless Zero Configuration File systems CDFS DFS exFAT IFS FAT NTFS Hard link Junction point Mount Point Reparse point Symbolic link TxF EFS ReFS UDF Server Domains Active Directory DNS Group Policy Roaming user profiles Folder redirection Distributed Transaction Coordinator MSMQ Windows Media Services Rights Management Services IIS Remote Desktop Services WSUS SharePoint Network Access Protection PWS DFS Replication Remote Differential Compression Print Services for UNIX Remote Installation Services Windows Deployment Services System Resource Manager Hyper - V Server Core Architecture Architecture of Windows NT Startup process NT Vista CSRSS Desktop Window Manager Portable Executable EXE DLL Enhanced Write Filter Graphics Device Interface hal. dll I / O request packet Imaging Format Kernel Transaction Manager Library files Logical Disk Manager LSASS MinWin NTLDR Ntoskrnl. exe Object Manager Open XML Paper Specification Registry Resource Protection Security Account Manager Server Message Block Shadow Copy SMSS System Idle Process USER WHEA Win32 console Winlogon WinUSB Security Security and Maintenance BitLocker Data Execution Prevention Family Safety Kernel Patch Protection Mandatory Integrity Control Protected Media Path User Account Control User Interface Privilege Isolation Windows Defender Windows Firewall Compatibility COMMAND.COM Virtual DOS machine Windows on Windows WoW64 Windows Subsystem for Linux API Active Scripting WSH VBScript JScript COM ActiveX ActiveX Document COM Structured storage DCOM OLE OLE Automation Transaction Server DirectX. 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Mahjong Minesweeper Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Disk_Cleanup&oldid=801589723 '' Categories : Windows components Windows - only software Utilities for Windows Hidden categories : Articles needing additional references from March 2013 All articles needing additional references Talk Search About Wikipedia فارسی Français 한국어 Italiano Nederlands 日本 語 Polski සිංහල Tiếng Việt 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 20 September 2017, at 16 : 23. About Wikipedia

Question: what does disk cleanup mean on a computer
Answer: a computer maintenance utility included in Microsoft Windows designed to free up disk space on a computer's hard drive; a computer maintenance utility included in Microsoft Windows designed to free up disk space on a computer's hard drive; a computer maintenance utility included in Microsoft Windows designed to free up disk space on a computer's hard drive