垃圾(Junk)文件是执行任务后保留在计算机上的文件。有时，Windows或某些程序在执行某些任务时需要创建临时文件，然后忘记删除它创建的临时文件。随着时间的推移，您的计算机充满了临时文件、日志文件、下载文件和不需要/不必要的Windows注册表项形式的垃圾文件。这篇文章讨论了使用Disk Cleanup删除(Disk Cleanup)Windows 11/10中的垃圾文件(Junk Files)。它还告诉您可以保留哪些内容，删除哪些内容以及原因。
Windows 11/10 中的垃圾文件
您将在Start > All Apps > Windows Administrative Tools下找到磁盘清理(Disk Cleanup Tool)工具。尝试释放空间时的第一件事是检查您可以摆脱的所有内容。磁盘清理软件分析然后允许您选择要删除的内容。
单击(Click)磁盘清理(Disk Cleanup)以启动程序。系统将询问您要清理哪个驱动器。默认为 C 盘。只要(Just)确保它被选中，然后单击确定。然后，磁盘清理程序将开始分析它认为可以安全删除的不同文件夹和文件类型。
分析完成后，您将看到一个类似于以下内容的窗口 - 它列出了所有可删除的内容，而不会导致操作系统或已安装的应用程序出现问题。
您可以安全删除哪些 Windows垃圾文件？(Junk Files)
上述列表中显示的列表中的以下功能：
- 临时网络文件
- 下载的程序文件
- 离线网页
- 回收站
- 临时文件
- 缩略图
- 旧 Windows 文件夹
- 等等。
在大多数情况下，临时 Internet 文件(Temporary Internet files)用于加快网站的加载速度。在其他情况下，它们是会话后遗漏的文件，就像您在使用应用程序时创建的临时文件一样，并且在应用程序关闭后不会被删除。通常，应用程序在使用时会创建临时文件，而在关闭时会创建网页。有时它无法删除文件，它们显示在临时(Temporary)文件下。它们都可以安全删除，因此您应该选中这些框以告诉操作系统您已准备好删除它们。
下载(Downloaded Program Files)的程序文件是应用程序安装程序在安装相关应用程序后留下的文件。这些都是无用的，因为它们除了占用硬盘驱动器上的空间之外什么都不做。您可以毫不犹豫地删除它们。
提示：(TIP:) USBDriveFresher 是用于 USB 驱动器的垃圾文件和文件夹清理器(Junk file and folder cleaner for USB Drives)。
离线网页(Offline webpages)是您的浏览器为避免加载网页延迟而存储的网页。您可能希望在Internet连接速度较慢的情况下保留它们。它有助于加载您经常访问的网页。离线网页会定期更新——以防在线页面发生变化。您可能会或可能不会决定删除它们 - 根据您的互联网(Internet)速度。如果您认为可以稍等片刻，直到网页可以加载，请继续并勾选框以将其删除。如果您使用的是慢速连接或按流量计费的连接，我建议您不要选中该框，因为它会影响从Internet重新加载页面。如果是按流量计费的连接，您将被收取您可以免费获得的费用。
缩略图(Thumbnails)是图像文件的预览。删除它们没有害处。当您再次访问图像文件时，它们将始终被重建。当然，当您在大图标或中图标视图中打开图像文件夹时会有一点延迟，因为它会尝试重建缩略图，但延迟可能是微不足道的，除非您的计算机非常慢并且塞满了图像。如果您没有在异常缓慢的计算机上苦苦挣扎，我建议您删除它们。
旧 Windows(Old Windows)是Windows 10保留一段时间的文件，以便您可以回滚到以前版本的Windows。当您在Disk Cleanup(Disk Cleanup)的 UI 中单击System Files时，它会显示。如果您从 Windows 8.1 升级，如果您选择从Windows 10返回到Windows (Windows 8.1)8.1(Windows 8.1)，则Windows.old文件夹很重要。我建议你保留这个——尽管它占据了你的 C 盘的很大一部分——超过 8GB 左右，这取决于你之前安装的Windows版本。如果一个月后，你确定不回去，删除它，你将在 Windows 10 C 盘上获得超过 8GB 的空间。(If after a month, you are sure that you do not go back, delete it and you will gain more than 8GB of space on Windows 10 C drive.)
回收站(Recycle Bin)是被删除文件所在的地方。当您删除文件时，它会进入名为回收站的文件夹，并且仍会占用硬盘驱动器上的空间。从桌面(Desktop)打开回收站(Recycle Bin)以查看所有文件。如果您需要任何文件，请右键单击该文件并选择恢复。检查文件后，如果您确定不再需要这些文件，请勾选回收站(Recycle Bin)以清理其内容，以便获得硬盘(HDD)空间。
Windows 临时文件(Windows Temporary files)同样是程序留下的文件，即使您关闭它们也是如此。例如，当您在MS Word中打开一个文档时，您可能会看到一个具有相同扩展名的相关文件。就像，如果您打开文档 .docx，您可以看到 !~cument.docx 作为隐藏文件。此类文件通常会在您关闭它们时被应用程序删除。剩余的可以使用Disk Cleaner 清理以获得(Disk Cleaner)Windows 10中的硬盘空间。
错误报告文件(Error Reporting Files)基本上是包含有关导致不当Windows或相关应用程序行为的事件的信息的日志。这些在对Windows进行故障排除时很有帮助。我建议保留它们（取消选中该框，以免它们被删除）。
单击系统文件后，您会获得一些其他文件类别 -(System Files –)包括旧 Windows 安装(Old Windows Installation)。并非所有这些都可以安全删除。如前所述，旧 Windows 安装(Old Windows Installation)可帮助您回滚到以前的Windows版本。因此，除非您决定继续使用当前的操作系统，否则您必须保留这些文件。其他类别包括：
Windows Defender 文件(Windows Defender Files)– 可以毫不犹豫地删除
Windows 升级日志文件(Windows Upgrade Log Files)- 如果升级未按预期进行，您将需要它们进行故障排除。这些日志有助于识别升级期间发生的错误。如果您已成功升级，则可以删除它们。
设备驱动程序包(Device Driver Packages)- 包含设备驱动程序，当设备无法正常运行时，您可能需要使用这些驱动程序。在大多数情况下，这些只是告诉 Windows 在哪里查找文件的指针。建议(Advice)是保留它们
在磁盘清理软件中做出选择后，单击“确定”删除文件。当您单击清理系统文件(Clean up System Files)时，它将清理更多垃圾文件。您还将看到更多选项选项卡，可让您删除旧系统还原点和卸载程序。
默认情况下，磁盘清理(Disk Cleanup)软件只删除旧的临时文件。如果您希望它甚至删除最近的临时文件，请阅读Make Disk Cleanup delete ALL temporary files。磁盘清理(Disk Cleanup)命令行可让您清理更多垃圾文件！如果您愿意，您还可以自动执行磁盘清理。(automate Disk Cleanup.)
阅读下一篇：(Read next:) 删除不需要的 Windows 程序、应用程序、功能和文件夹(Remove unwanted Windows programs, apps, features, and folders)。
Junk Files in Windows 11/10: What can you delete safely?
Junk files are fіles that remain on your computer after a task has been performed. Sometimes, Windows or some program needs to create temрorary files whilе doing some task and then forgets to delete the temporary files it сreatеd. As time goes by, your computer is full of junk files in the form of temporary files, log files, downloaded files, and unwanted/unnecessary Windows registry entries. The article talks about removing Junk Files in Windows 11/10 υsing Disk Cleanup. It also tells you what you can keep and what to remoνe and why.
Junk Files in Windows 11/10
You will find the Disk Cleanup Tool under Start > All Apps > Windows Administrative Tools. The first thing when trying to free up space is to check out what all you can get rid of. The disk cleanup software analyses and then allows you to choose what to get rid of.
Click on Disk Cleanup to start the program. You will be asked which drive you want to clean up. The default is C drive. Just make sure it is selected and click on OK. The disk cleanup program will then start analyzing different folders and types of files that it thinks are safe to delete.
When the analysis is done, you will be presented with a window similar to the following – it lists what all is removable without causing problems to the operating system or installed applications.
Which Windows Junk Files can you delete safely?
The following feature in the list shown in the above list:
- Temporary Internet Files
- Downloaded Program Files
- Offline Webpages
- Recycle Bin
- Temporary files
- Thumbnails
- Old Windows folder
- Etc.
Temporary Internet files are used to speed up the loading of websites in most cases. In other cases, they are files left out after a session just as the temporary files that are created when you are using an app and are not deleted after the app is closed. Normally, an app creates temporary files when in usage and web pages when closed. Sometimes it fails to delete the files, and they are shown under Temporary files. Both of them are safe to delete so you should check the boxes to tell the OS that you are ready to delete them.
Downloaded Program Files are the files that an app installer leaves behind after installing the related app. These are useless as they do nothing except to occupy space on the hard disk drive. You may remove them without any hesitation.
TIP: USBDriveFresher is a Junk file and folder cleaner for USB Drives.
Offline webpages are the ones stored by your browsers to avoid delays in loading webpages. You might want to keep them in the case of a slower Internet connection. It helps in loading webpages that you frequent. The offline webpages are updated on a regular basis – just in case the online page is changed. You may or may not decide to delete them – based on your Internet speed. If you think you can afford to wait for a little until the webpages can load, go ahead and tick the box to delete them. If you are on a slow connection or metered connection, I recommend that you leave the box unchecked as it will trouble reloading the pages from the Internet. If on a metered connection, you will be charged for what you could get for free.
Thumbnails are previews of image files. There is no harm in deleting them. They will always be rebuild when you access the image files again. Of course, there will be a little delay when you open the image folders in Large icons or medium icons view as it will try to rebuild the thumbnails but the delay could be insignificant unless your computer is very slow and crammed up with images. I recommend deleting them if you are not struggling with an exceptionally slow computer.
Old Windows are files that Windows 10 keeps for a while so that you can roll back to a previous version of Windows. It shows up when you click on System Files in the UI of Disk Cleanup. If you upgraded from Windows 8.1, the Windows.old folder is important if you choose to go back from Windows 10 to Windows 8.1. I recommend you keep this – though it occupies a significant amount of your C drive – over 8GB or so, depending on the edition of your previous Windows installation. If after a month, you are sure that you do not go back, delete it and you will gain more than 8GB of space on Windows 10 C drive.
Recycle Bin is the place where the deleted files go. When you delete a file, it goes to the folder named recycle bin and still occupies space on the hard disk drive. Open Recycle Bin from Desktop to see what all files are there. If you need any file, right-click on the file and select restore. Having checked the files, if you are sure that you longer need those files, tick the Recycle Bin to clean its content so that HDD space is gained.
Windows Temporary files are again files that are left behind by programs even when you close them. For example, when you open a document in MS Word, you might have seen a related file with the same extension. Like, if you open document .docx, you can see !~cument.docx as a hidden file. Such files are normally deleted by apps when you close them. The remaining ones can be cleaned up using Disk Cleaner to gain hard disk space in Windows 10.
Error Reporting Files are basically logs that contain information about events that lead to improper Windows or related app behavior. These are helpful when troubleshooting Windows. I recommend keeping them (uncheck the box so that they are not removed).
You get some other file categories after clicking on System Files – including Old Windows Installation. Not all of them are safe to delete. As said earlier, Old Windows Installation helps you roll back to the previous version of Windows. So unless you decide to keep going with the current OS, you have to keep those files. Among other categories are:
Windows Defender Files – can be deleted without hesitation
Windows Upgrade Log Files – you’ll need them to troubleshoot if the upgrade did not go as intended. These logs help in identifying the errors that happened during the upgrade. If you have successfully upgraded, you can remove them.
Device Driver Packages – contains device drivers which you may have to use in the future when a device is not functioning properly. In most cases, these are but pointers that tell Windows where to look for files. Advice is to keep them
Having made your selections in the disk cleanup software, click on OK to delete the files. When you click on Clean up System Files, it will clean up more junk files. You will also see a More Options tab that lets you delete old system restore points and uninstall programs.
By default, the Disk Cleanup software deletes only old temporary files. If you want it to delete even the recent temporary files, read Make Disk Cleanup delete ALL temporary files. The Disk Cleanup command line lets you clean even more junk files!. If you wish, you can also automate Disk Cleanup.
Read next: Remove unwanted Windows programs, apps, features, and folders.
