5 ways to delete temporary files in Windows 11 to speed up your computer

While Windows 11 is definitely a big upgrade over Windows 10 in terms of performance, you still need to do some basic work on your PC to keep it running fast and smooth. So in this article, I will show you the 5 methods to delete Temporary Files in Windows 11.

What is a temporary file (Temp file) in Windows 11?

Temp or temp files in Windows 11 are basically data stored by the application and the operating system to give you a seamless experience. For example, when you download a file using IDM – a popular download manager for Windows, it stores file blocks in the Windows Temp folder. And when the download is complete, these files will be reconciled and moved to the Downloads folder.

Likewise, when you haven’t saved a Word or TXT document, those files are temporarily saved in the Temp folder. The Temp folder is located at C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\Temp.

In essence, Temp files are not bad for the system. It includes logs, system cache and other disposable data. Here is a brief list of the types of temporary files that you will find in the Temp folder on your Windows 11:

• Windows Update Cleanup
• Upgrade Log Files
• Windows ESD Installation Files
• Temporary Files
• Temporary Internet Files
• Device Driver Packages
• Thumbnails
• Downloads
• Microsoft Defender Antivirus

However, after long-term use of PC, Temporary Files start to accumulate huge amount and size of data. There may have been GBs of data stored in the Temp folder by a third-party software that you no longer use. Or an application might finish up without clearing the Windows Temp folder. It’s critical to delete the Temp files from Windows 11 in these circumstances.

Method 1: Delete Temporary File with Settings in Windows 11

First let’s see the easiest method to delete Temporary Files in Windows 11. You just need to select the different Temporary Files listed above in Windows 11 settings and delete them as you like.

Step 1. Press the Windows key and search for “storage”. Now, open “ Storage settings ” from the search results.

Step 2. Here, you need to open “ Temporary files ”.

Step 3. Windows 11 will scan all temporary files and show removable files. I recommend selecting everything except “ Downloads ”. You can also select “Windows Update Cleanup” and “Previous Windows Installation” if you don’t want to return from Windows 11 to Windows 10. There will be a large number of temporary update files deleted as a result.

Step 4. Finally, click “ Remove files ”. Almost all Temporary Files will be deleted from your Windows 11 this way.

Method 2: Use Disk Cleanup in Windows 11

Although Windows 11 has integrated most of the Disk Cleanup options into Windows Settings, in case you want to delete all temporary files using Control Panel, here is how.

Step 1. Press “Windows + R” to open Run. Next, type cleanmgr and press Enter or press OK.

Step 2. Then, select the “C:” drive and click “OK”.

Step 3. In the next window, click “ Clean up system files ”. It will scan all temporary files. You may have to select C drive again on the next prompt.

Step 4. Now you can select the items below if you want to delete those files and click “OK”. Again, though, I recommend picking everything up. And that’s how you can delete temporary files through Disk Cleanup on Windows 11.

Method 3: Delete Temporary file in Windows 11 manually

Now, if you are a longtime Windows user, you probably know how to access the Temp folder manually. However, if you’re new to Windows 11 and want to learn how to access Temp files, here’s how:

Step 1. Press the shortcut “Win ​​+ R” to open Run. Here, type %temp%and press Enter.

Step 2. It will open the Windows Temp folder.

Step 3. Now select all the files with the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + A and delete them. It’s another easy way to delete Temp files in Windows 11. You may get some errors that cannot delete some files. You can safely ignore such prompts. This error usually occurs when a program is still using that temporary file.

Method 4: Delete Temporary File from Windows 11 with Command Prompt

Another way to completely delete temporary files from Windows 11 is through Command Prompt.

Step 1. Press the Windows key and type “cmd” and open Command Prompt by clicking “Run as administrator” in the right menu of the search results.

Step 2. Next, copy the command below and right click in the CMD window to paste the command.

del /q/f/s %TEMP%\*

Step 3. Now, just press Enter and the whole pile of Temp files will be deleted from Windows 11

Method 5: Automatically delete Windows 11 temporary files with the Storage Sense feature

In case you find the whole process a bit boring, you can turn on a setting in Windows 11 to automatically clean up temporary files.

Step 1. Press Windows key, type “storage sense” and open “ Turn on Storage Sense ”.

Step 2. Next, turn on “Storage Sense”.

Step 3. Then open the Storage Sense menu and here you can configure everything. You can choose when to run Storage Sense, configure it to not delete your downloaded files, and more. This way you don’t have to follow any of the manual methods listed above.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

FINALLY

In this post, Solutechblog show you 5 methods to delete Temporary Files in Windows 11 to keep Windows running fast and smooth. I hope this post helpful for you.