My local disk drive (C:) is full and I can't find any of the files to delete them. PLS HELP!

Do not make any changes to the recovery drive.

Windows.old on your C: drive - Remove to free up space

Usually, but not always, after installing Windows 7 you will have a Windows.old folder on your C: drive that contains your files and data from the previous Windows installation, and can be used to revert back to a previous version of Windows. Open Windows Explorer and under "Computer" click on the C: drive - if the Windows.old folder is on your hard drive it will contain all your files from the previous Windows system, and it can be deleted if you don't need it to free up space on your hard drive.

If it's not there, make sure you can see the Windows.old folder:

1. Click Start, type:  hidden
2. Click "Show hidden files and folders"
3. Click to select "Show hidden files and folders"
4. Click OK and look for the folder

(Note: after you are done go back and uncheck "Show hidden files and folders" if you want.)



You must reinstall programs if you did a custom install, they won't run from the Windows.old folder.

You can cut/copy and paste your personal files from the Windows.old folder to your Documents folder, or use this method:

How to restore your personal files after you perform a custom installation of Windows Vista or of Windows 7:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932912

How do I remove the Windows.old folder?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/How-do-I-remove-the-Windows-old-folder

If that doesn't delete the Windows.old folder:

In Windows Explorer you should see a folder called Windows.old on your C: drive. That contains all your files from your previous installation. If you need any files you can copy them to a different folder then delete Windows.old. If you don't need anything in the folder it is safe to delete - right click on it and click delete.

Free Up Space - Increase Hard Drive Space 

The following procedure cleans up files associated with your user account. You can also use Disk Cleanup to clean up all the files on your computer.

1. Click the Start button, in the search box, type Disk Cleanup, then click Disk Cleanup.
2. In the Drives list, click the hard disk drive that you want to clean up, and then click OK.
3. On the Disk Cleanup tab, select the file types you want to delete.

Note: To Remove all System Restore Points Except the Most Recent - Click "Clean up System Files" and you will get another tab called More Options. Now click More Options, then click "Clean up" under "System Restore and Shadow Copies" then confirm the deletion.

4. Click OK on the bottom of the Disk Cleanup window and in the message that appears, click Delete files.

Reduce the amount of space allocated for System Restore. 

1. Start-->Control Panel-->System and Security-->System
2. Next click on the 'System protection' link located in the upper left.
3. In the 'System Properties? window click on the 'System Protection' tab.
4. Locate the 'Protection Settings' box and select/click on the drive letter (usually C:)
5. Now click on the 'Configure' button to change the 'Disk Space Usage' Restore Settings.
6. Move the slider to reduce the amount of disk space System Protection can use (min. 2GB).
7. Click the 'Apply' and then the 'OK' button after you have adjusted the disk space.

Uninstall Programs You Don’t Need

1. Click Start, then click Control Panel
2. Click Add/Remove Programs and uninstall programs you don’t want

Reduce Pagefile Size

1. Open control panel and choose system and security.
2. Click on system
3. Click on Advanced  system settings.
4. Click on advanced tab.
5. In the performance section click on settings.
6. Click on Advanced  and choose  Change in the Virtual Memory section.
7. Uncheck Automatically Manage Pagefile size
8. Select Custom and enter new size (don't go under 512MB) in both boxes and press Set.
9. Click OK and restart your computer

Turn of the Hibernation setting

If you don't use hibernation you can turn it off and free up disk space:

1. Start --> All Programs --> Accessories
2. Right click CMD.exe and click "run as admin"
3. type: powercfg -H off
4. Press Enter
5. Exit and restart your computer