Published Apr 27, 2026, 3:31 PM EDT
Oluwademilade is a tech enthusiast with over five years of writing experience. He joined the MUO team in 2022 and covers various topics, including consumer tech, iOS, Android, artificial intelligence, hardware, software, and cybersecurity. In addition to writing at MUO, his work has appeared on HowtoGeek, Cryptoknowmics, TechNerdiness, and SlashGear.
Oluwademilade attended the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, earning a medical degree from the College of Medicine. Excelling in public service, Oluwademilade was honored with the title of Global Action Ambassador by a student organization affiliated with the United Nations. He received this designation in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in recognition of his efforts to make a positive global impact in 2020
In his free time, Oluwademilade enjoys testing new AI apps and features, troubleshooting tech problems for family and friends, learning new coding languages, and traveling to new places whenever possible.
At some point, you might have opened your laptop to a "low disk space" warning and immediately turned to the internet for help. The answer is almost always the same: download a cleanup app. So you start searching for free tools that'll clean, optimize, and boost your Windows PC, and grab CCleaner, or maybe IObit Advanced SystemCare, because the reviews looked convincing. Or perhaps you spring for AVG TuneUp because you already trust the brand from its antivirus days. The scans are fast, the results look alarming, and the "Fix Now" button is very tempting to click.
What you might not know, however, is that Windows has had a built-in answer to this exact problem the entire time. It is called Storage Sense; it costs nothing, and it sits in your settings.
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Storage Sense is a built-in, automated disk cleanup feature that Microsoft introduced in Windows 10 and has continued to refine ever since. While there are many ways to free up storage space in Windows 11, Storage Sense automates the most tedious parts by deleting temporary files, emptying the Recycle Bin, removing unused files and applications, and managing cloud content through OneDrive.
To find it, press Win + I to open Settings, then go to System -> Storage. The page that loads gives you an immediate breakdown of exactly what is consuming space on your drive, organized by category, before you have done a single thing. Desktop files, installed apps, pictures, music, temporary files, and more each get their own entry with a corresponding size.
Scroll down past that breakdown, and you will land on the Storage management section. Storage Sense lives here, with a toggle that is off by default for many users, and a second option right below it called Cleanup recommendations. It's worth a tap before you configure anything else. It surfaces a curated list of files Windows has already identified as safe candidates for deletion, large or unused apps, and files that have been in your Recycle Bin for a while. Think of it as a one-time triage pass: review what is there, select what you are comfortable removing, and clear it out. It is immediate and requires no setup, making it a useful starting point before you move on to configuring the automated side.
For the automated cleanup, click the Storage Sense label itself, not just the toggle. This opens a dedicated configuration page where you can control how and when it runs. When enabled, Storage Sense monitors your system's storage and follows a set of rules you define: what gets deleted, how often cleanups happen, and which files should be moved to online-only storage if you use OneDrive. More specifically, it helps clean out temporary Windows folders to reclaim gigabytes of space created by the system or installed apps, downloaded files that have not been accessed in a while, and locally stored OneDrive content that qualifies for cloud-only mode. It also clears old thumbnail caches and leftover files from previous Windows Update installations, which can pile up to several gigabytes over time without you ever noticing.
Storage Sense works on your system drive only, which is the drive containing the Windows operating system, usually labeled C:. To free up space on other drives, navigate to System, then Storage, then Advanced storage settings, and then Storage used on other drives.
Configure once, forget about it forever
Here is exactly how to set it up so you never have to think about it again
Once you’re inside the Storage Sense settings page, the first thing to decide is how often you want it to run. The default is During low free disk space, meaning it activates only when storage gets tight. That is a reasonable safety net, but switching it to monthly intervals puts you in a more proactive position, keeping the space tidy before the warnings start. If your drive fills up quickly due to heavy downloads or frequent software installs, consider it every week.
Below the schedule dropdown, you'll see two more options. One for the Recycle Bin and one for the Downloads folder.
- Recycle Bin: Defaults to clearing items that have been there for 30 days, which is sensible for most people.
- Downloads folder: Set to "Never" by default and is best left that way until you are comfortable with how Storage Sense behaves. Downloads folders tend to hold installers, reference files, or documents you fully intend to revisit, and there is no reason to let an automated tool make that call for you until you know exactly what is in there.
If you use OneDrive, there’s another section worth a quick look, labeled "Locally available cloud content." Storage Sense can convert files you have not opened recently into online-only files. This effectively automates the process of removing local OneDrive files without deleting them, freeing up drive space while keeping everything accessible through the cloud. Any file you have marked as "Always keep on this device" is excluded automatically, so your important offline files stay exactly where they are. If you have multiple OneDrive accounts connected, each gets its own settings here, so you can apply different rules to each account.
Once your preferences are saved, scroll to the bottom of the page and hit Run Storage Sense now. This triggers an immediate cleanup so you can see actual results right away rather than waiting for the next scheduled run. On a machine that has gone several months without any attention, the first pass can recover several gigabytes without touching a single file you actually need.
Go check your renewal date
Not every useful tool announces itself. Storage Sense is about as quiet as software gets, tucked away in a settings menu rather than on a landing page with a countdown timer and a "LIMITED OFFER" badge. If you are on Windows 10 or 11 and still renewing a cleanup subscription out of habit, it is worth taking a few minutes to try this feature first. You might find that the best tool for the job has been on your machine the whole time.