5 Windows Files and Folders You Can Delete to Save Space

Windows contains plenty of files and folders that you don’t really need. From hidden caches and old files that you can remove to clear space to files you can actually delete to solve problems, knowing what’s safe to remove can be challenging.

Let’s step through some Windows files and folders that are totally safe to remove, and why you might want to do so. Note that some of these folders are in protected locations, so take care when deleting them.

1. The Hibernation File

Located at C:\hiberfil.sys

Hibernation mode on your PC is like sleep mode, but the system saves all your open work to the hard drive and then shuts down. You can remove the battery from your laptop and stay in hibernation for a week, then start back up and be right where you left off. Of course, this takes up space, which is what the hibernation file is for.

Depending on your hard drive size, the hibernation file is likely several gigabytes or more. If you don’t use hibernation and want to disable it, you can easily do so via the Command Prompt. Note that you shouldn’t just delete hiberfil.sys, as Windows will recreate it again.

Open a Command Prompt (Admin) by right-clicking on the Start Button. Type the following command to disable hibernation:

powercfg.exe /hibernate off

That’s all it takes to disable hibernation. Windows should delete hiberfil.sys on its own when you do this; feel free to delete it if not. Note that disabling hibernate mode will also prevent your computer from using fast startup on Windows 10, which isn’t much of a loss since that can cause boot problems.

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