By MakeTechEasier.com
Recover Gigabytes of Storage Space
If you’ve ever had to upgrade your version of Windows on your PC, then you’re probably familiar with the Windows.old file that is left behind on your hard drive. Earlier, I upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 8. Right away, I noticed that my 1TB hard drive was almost filled up, and I didn’t understand why.
It is only later that I finally figured out that the Windows.old folder, along with many other files from the previous Windows installation, was taking up a huge chunk of my hard drive. After upgrading to the full version of Windows 8, I tried to delete the Windows.old folder manually, but Windows kept denying me access – even after changing ownership of the file to myself.
If you are having this issue as well, here’s how you can delete the previous Windows installations.
1. Head on over to the Windows Start page (press the Window key) and search for “disk cleaner” or “disk cleanup.”
2. Select Settings underneath the search box.
3. In the results, choose the option that says “Free up disk space by deleting unnecessary files.” This will bring up the Disk Cleanup utility.
4. Select the drive that you want to clean; this should be the drive where the Windows.old file is located.
This excerpt is shared with permission from maketecheasier.com.
