There are already many ways to clean up the temporary files that are piling up in our computers. But Microsoft wants to make this process a little bit more transparent, in a way that doesn’t require your attention to get the job done. Added in Windows 10 Creative Update, “Storage Sense” is a new setting that tells Windows to automatically free up space by getting rid of files you don’t need, like temporary files and content in your recycle bin.
To enable Storage Sense option, open Settings app and go to System → Storage, then turn on the switch in Storage sense section.
Clicking on “Change how we free up space” link right below takes you to the next page where you have got two more options to tell Storage sense how you want to handle the auto-cleanup process, Delete temporary files that my apps aren’t using and/or Delete files that have been in recycle bin for over 30 days. Both options are enabled by default.
One option I do hope to see eventually in the final release is to give me a choice whether to clean up old system files, update packages, etc. because these are the ones that are really eating my storage spaces.
For those who are not in Windows 10 Creative Update, there are other ways to automatically clean up temporary files. For example, you can create a simple batch file that cleans up temporary files, and then schedule it to run every time you start your computer.
But the best way I’ve been using prior to this Storage Sense feature is the use of RAMDisk. Basically, I set up a RAMDisk and configure it to host temp folder. And because it’s on a drive that runs in RAM it gets flashed out complete every time the computer restarts. Check the following post for more details.
The Best Way to Automatically Clean Up the Temp Directory on Windows 10