Windows ( app V5)

TotalAV comes with a host of tools for improving the management of available space on your hard drive. Over time disk space rapidly deteriorates, and computers can become a bit slower because of this. This article goes into depth about using the TotalAV app tools to locate and remove junk files as well as make use of operating system and free tools to keep your hard drive in tip-top health.

In the background of the Windows operating system, a lot of data is generated and stored that can be safely removed by 99.9% of computer users, it is also quite common for personal files to get duplicated and forgotten about, taking up unnecessary space.

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Clicking the Speedometer in the TotalAV sidebar of the app, will show disk cleanup features:

 

• Duplicate Files – Clicking and running a duplicate scan will identify any identical files stored on the computer. Typically these are documents or image files copied and pasted to an easy to access folder, or files that have been downloaded from the web, opened, then saved in another location. There is no point keeping duplicates of the same files – it takes up hard disk space, and can cause confusion remembering which file is the most up to date one​​
• Junk Cleaner – Running Junk Cleaner cleverly identifies system files that aren’t needed:
  • Cached Windows Updates – log files that detail what the computer did when it was last updated. Completely useless files to most users
  • Recycle Bin – if the Recycle Bin hasn’t been emptied, the files put into it will still be taking up hard disk space!
  • Temporary files – files that only needed to exist temporarily to perform a process, but Windows hasn’t deleted them
  • Windows Error Reporting Files – If programs crash, they create log files so that computer technicians can identify why the crash happened. Unless you are dealing with a very specific crashing problem, these files can be safely deleted

 

Running a Duplicate or Junk scan is really simple, click the Speedometer in the sidebar, then click Duplicate File Finder or Junk Cleaner, finally click the Start scan button. Once the scan is complete, follow the on-screen instructions to remove the files from your computer.

 

After clearing out junk files, on the TotalAV app, click the Speedometer again, then click on the menu listing labelled Application Uninstaller. Clicking Start Scan will commence a deep scan of all the applications installed on the computer.

 

It is surprising how even the most advanced user can find multiple applications that they haven’t used in months! There is a checkbox next to all listed apps, checking this, then clicking the Uninstall Selected button will completely remove the app(s) and free up hard disk space. However, sometimes it can be difficult to know what can be uninstalled and what cannot, this guide should help you. Some of the most frequent offenders that many users don’t use are:

• Quicktime

This is Apple’s video player, whilst it still is a useful program on MacOS, Apple haven’t supported the Windows version since 2016. There is also known vulnerabilities in it, so it really should be removed. If this is your computer’s default video player, we strongly recommend replacing it with VLC.

• Microsoft Silverlight

This was an app built by Microsoft to display media content online, but as of mid-2019 under 0.1% of websites use the technology, and, Microsoft have deprecated it. Most modern web browsers don’t even support it, so it’s taking up space on hard disks for nothing!

• Manufacturer Bloatware

Computer manufacturers have a habit of installing pointless applications on shiny new computers they sell. This is in the hope some users will trial the software and upgrade to it, most users don’t use it, and don’t realise they can uninstall it. Here we’re going to refer you over to ShouldIRemoveIt.com for a full breakdown of what is safe to remove per manufacturer

• Intel Rapid Storage

Unless you know you use Intel Rapid Storage, if not, you can definitely, without doubt remove it. As a TotalAV user we highly recommend removing it in fact, as it conflicts with our Antivirus app

• Windows 10 Bloatware

Microsoft include a good amount of bloatware in Windows 10 and the quickest and easiest way to remove it is to download this small app that helps remove. Once the file download completes, extract the files, then right-click on the file called Windows10DebloaterGUI.ps1 and select Run with PowerShell

  

When the app loads, look through the list of Microsoft apps, hold the Ctrl key and click the ones you want to remove. There may be some you use, so it is advisable to check before removing.

 

Aside from the list of common offenders above, there will be other programs installed that can be removed. Frequently users find that they have old disused Antivirus apps installed, file sync services, or web browsers they no longer use that can easily be uninstalled.

After uninstalling unwanted programs, the next step for space saving is to look in the Windows Download folder. It is likely that this contains a host of files, perhaps installers for apps and downloaded files and photos from the internet. The Download folder is accessible from the sidebar of a Windows Explorer window.

 

Take a few minutes to move any files you want to keep to nicely organised folders within your Documents folder and delete any you don’t want. Any files here that appear to be program files, are in fact just installer files, so can also be safely deleted without worry that the program will stop working.

It may also be wise to take a look through your Documents, Pictures, Music and Videos folders to see if there are unwanted files there. If there are many files and folders that need to be kept, but are unlikely to be accessed regularly, it may be worth considering an online backup solution, we recommend Backblaze.

Backing files up, either using an online backup solution or an external hard drive is a good practice to get into from an online security perspective. Although TotalAV keeps computers very much protected from most Ransomware, should TotalAV warnings be ignored and Ransomware ends up on your computer, your files would be at risk of being scrambled through malicious encryption which it is unlikely could ever be decrypted. Backing up precious files and data is crucial for this reason.

After taking the steps above to increase available hard disk space, we advise running the Windows disk defragmenter, to do so:

 

1. Open the disk optimization tool by clicking the Windows Icon / Start button and typing defrag, then clicking the app labelled Defragment and Optimize drives
2. In the Optimize Drives Window and select the (C:) Drive, then click Analyze (If it isn’t possible to select the (C:) Drive, do not follow this process, as your drive is a lot more modern and file fragmentation does not occur)
3. If the status changes to anything over 5% fragmented, click Optimize. (If under 5%, it isn’t really that valuable to be running defragmentation)
4. A process will run to defragment the hard disk. Depending on how fragmented it is, will depend on how long this takes

 

At TotalAV we encounter many users who have older PC’s who have multiple, unused user accounts set up. The reason seems to be that it is a seemingly simple way to circumvent problems that have built up over time, creating a new user, on the surface, seems to create a fresh Windows desktop uncluttered by files and startup programs. Problem is, the old user account still exists and still has data that is using space up on the hard disk.

If you have a load of user accounts on your Windows PC that you don’t need anymore, it may be time to clean them out. The process of deleting an account is relatively easy, but you might want to back up the user account files and settings in case still required. Each user’s account settings and data are in the C:\Users folder under their user name. Back up the user’s folder to another location or an external drive before deleting the account. This is important especially for Windows 8 and 10, because you are not provided with an option to do this when deleting the account.

 

To delete a user account on Windows 10, click the start button / windows icon, then click on the cog/gear icon to bring up Settings.

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On the Settings window click the tile labelled Accounts

Click Family & other users in the sidebar

In the right pane on the Accounts screen, scroll down to the Other users section where other user accounts are listed. Click on the account you want to delete, then click Remove

 

A dialogue box will appear asking you to confirm deletion, as discussed above, please ensure data of the user is backed up before deleting, if those user files are required in future. Once you’re finished, those accounts will no longer appear on the login screen.

Once all the above steps have been taken to improve hard disk space on your computer, restart it. Having removed junk applications and files, the computer should startup a lot quicker due to the fact that those programs are not auto-starting and, having defragmented your hard drive doesn’t have to spin as much to access data on it.

Windows (App V4)

TotalAV comes with a host of tools for improving the management of available space on your hard drive. Over time disk space rapidly deteriorates, and computers can become a bit slower because of this. This article goes into depth about using the TotalAV app tools to locate and remove junk files as well as make use of the operating system and free tools to keep your hard drive in tip-top health. This article is divided into sections for Windows and MacOS.

Windows

In the background of the Windows operating system, a lot of data is generated and stored that can be safely removed by 99.9% of computer users, it is also quite common for personal files to get duplicated and forgotten about, taking up unnecessary space.

Clicking Disk Cleaner in the sidebar of the Windows TotalAV app, will display two tool tiles:

• Duplicate Files – Clicking and running a duplicate scan will identify any identical files stored on the computer. Typically these are documents or image files copied and pasted to an easy to access folder, or files that have been downloaded from the web, opened, then saved in another location. There is no point keeping duplicates of the same files – it takes up hard disk space, and can cause confusion remembering which file is the most up to date one
• Junk Cleanup – Running Junk Cleanup cleverly identifies system files that aren’t needed:
  • Cached Windows Updates – log files that detail what the computer did when it was last updated. Completely useless files to most users
  • Recycle Bin – if the Recycle Bin hasn’t been emptied, the files put into it will still be taking up hard disk space!
  • Temporary files – files that only needed to exist temporarily to perform a process, but Windows hasn’t deleted them
  • Windows Error Reporting Files – If programs crash, they create log files so that computer technicians can identify why the crash happened. Unless you are dealing with a very specific crashing problem, these files can be safely deleted

Running a Duplicate or Junk scan is really simple, click Disk Cleaner in the sidebar, then click the Duplicate or Junk Cleanup tiles, click again to start a scan. Once the scan is complete, follow the on-screen instructions to remove the files from your computer.

After clearing out junk files, on the TotalAV app, click System Tune-Up, then click on the tile labelled Uninstall Applications. Clicking the tile again will commence a deep scan of all the applications installed on the computer.

It is surprising how even the most advanced user can find multiple applications that they haven’t used in months! There is a checkbox next to all listed apps, checking this, then clicking the Uninstall button will completely remove the app(s) and free up hard disk space. However, sometimes it can be difficult to know what can be uninstalled and what cannot, this guide should help you. Some of the most frequent offenders that many users don’t use are:

• Quicktime – This is Apple’s video player, whilst it still is a useful program on MacOS, Apple hasn’t supported the Windows version since 2016. There are also known vulnerabilities, so it really should be removed. If this is your computer’s default video player, we strongly recommend replacing it with VLC.
• Microsoft Silverlight – This was an app built by Microsoft to display media content online, but as of mid-2019 under 0.1% of websites use the technology, and, Microsoft has deprecated it. Most modern web browsers don’t even support it, so it’s taking up space on hard disks for nothing!
• Manufacturer Bloatware – Computer manufacturers have a habit of installing pointless applications on shiny new computers they sell. This is in the hope some users will trial the software and upgrade to it, most users don’t use it, and don’t realise they can uninstall it. Here we’re going to refer you over to ShouldIRemoveIt.com for a full breakdown of what is safe to remove per manufacturer
• Intel Rapid Storage – Unless you know you use Intel Rapid Storage, if not, you can definitely, without doubt remove it. As a TotalAV user we highly recommend removing it in fact, as it conflicts with our Antivirus app

Microsoft includes a good amount of bloatware in Windows 10 and the quickest and easiest way to remove it is to download this small app that helps remove. Once the file download completes, extract the files, then right-click on the file called Windows10DebloaterGUI.ps1 and select Run with PowerShell



When the app loads, look through the list of Microsoft apps, hold the Ctrl key and click the ones you want to remove. There may be some you use, so it is advisable to check before removing.


 

Aside from the list of common offenders above, there will be other programs installed that can be removed. Frequently users find that they have old disused Antivirus apps installed, file sync services, or web browsers they no longer use that can easily be uninstalled.

After uninstalling unwanted programs, the next step for space saving is to look in the Windows Download folder. It is likely that this contains a host of files, perhaps installers for apps and downloaded files and photos from the internet. The Download folder is accessible from the sidebar of a Windows Explorer window.

Take a few minutes to move any files you want to keep to nicely organised folders within your Documents folder and delete any you don’t want. Any files here that appear to be program files, are in fact just installer files, so can also be safely deleted without worry that the program will stop working.

It may also be wise to take a look through your Documents, Pictures, Music and Videos folders to see if there are unwanted files there. If there are many files and folders that need to be kept, but are unlikely to be accessed regularly, it may be worth considering an online backup solution, we recommend Backblaze.

Backing files up, either using an online backup solution or an external hard drive is a good practice to get into from an online security perspective. Although TotalAV keeps computers very much protected from most Ransomware, should TotalAV warnings be ignored and Ransomware ends up on your computer, your files would be at risk of being scrambled through malicious encryption which it is unlikely could ever be decrypted. Backing up precious files and data is crucial for this reason.

After taking the steps above to increase available hard disk space, we advise running the Windows disk defragmenter, to do so:

1. Open the disk optimization tool by clicking the Windows Icon / Start button and typing defrag, then clicking the app labelled Defragment and Optimize drives
2. In the Optimize Drives Window and select the (C:) Drive, then click Analyze (If it isn’t possible to select the (C:) Drive, do not follow this process, as your drive is a lot more modern and file fragmentation does not occur)
3. If the status changes to anything over 5% fragmented, click Optimize. (If under 5%, it isn’t really that valuable to be running defragmentation)
4. A process will run to defragment the hard disk. Depending on how fragmented it is, will depend on how long this takes

At TotalAV we encounter many users who have older PC’s who have multiple, unused user accounts set up. The reason seems to be that it is a seemingly simple way to circumvent problems that have built up over time, creating a new user, on the surface, seems to create a fresh Windows desktop uncluttered by files and startup programs. Problem is, the old user account still exists and still has data that is using space up on the hard disk.

If you have a load of user accounts on your Windows PC that you don’t need anymore, it may be time to clean them out. The process of deleting an account is relatively easy, but you might want to back up the user account files and settings in case still required. Each user’s account settings and data are in the C:\Users folder under their user name. Back up the user’s folder to another location or an external drive before deleting the account. This is important especially for Windows 8 and 10, because you are not provided with an option to do this when deleting the account.

To delete a user account on Windows 10, click the start button / windows icon, then click on the cog/gear icon to bring up Settings.

On the Settings window click the tile labelled Accounts

Click Family & other users in the sidebar

In the right pane on the Accounts screen, scroll down to the Other users section where other user accounts are listed. Click on the account you want to delete, then click Remove

A dialogue box will appear asking you to confirm deletion, as discussed above, please ensure data of the user is backed up before deleting, if those user files are required in future. Once you’re finished, those accounts will no longer appear on the login screen.

Once all the above steps have been taken to improve hard disk space on your computer, restart it. Having removed junk applications and files, the computer should startup a lot quicker due to the fact that those programs are not auto-starting and, having defragmented your hard drive doesn’t have to spin as much to access data on it.

MacOS

Hard Disks fill up with all kinds of data over time. Where a Mac is so easy to use, and applications run so seamlessly, it is sometimes surprising to delve a bit deeper into hard disk usage and find that there is a lot of junk being stored that seems to have no adverse effect on using the Mac, hard disk housekeeping is important to get on top of sooner rather than later, and TotalAV makes it really easy with the Disk Cleaner.

Clicking Disk Cleaner in the TotalAV sidebar, reveals four specific disk cleaning functions:

Duplicates – Clicking and running a duplicate scan will identify any identical files stored on the computer. Typically these are documents or image files copied and pasted to an easy to access folder, or files that have been downloaded from the web, opened, then saved in another location. There is no point keeping duplicates of the same files – it takes up hard disk space, and can cause confusion remembering which file is the most up to date one.


 

Junk Cleaner – Running Junk Cleaner cleverly identifies system files that aren’t needed:

• Log files – If programs crash, they create log files so that computer technicians can identify why the crash happened. Unless you are dealing with a very specific crashing problem, these files can be safely deleted
• Cached Files – These are files that are temporarily stored supposedly in order to help speed up processes next time they are run. Mildly useful, but a lot of what is stored probably has been irrelevant for a significant amount of time
• ​Recycle Bin – if the Trash hasn’t been emptied, the files put into it will still be taking up hard disk space!

• Disk Usage – On MacOS, it is often a bit of a struggle to find out what is consuming hard disk space, and that is where this tool becomes useful. On the right side of the main window is the folder structure of the Mac, and on the left is a pie chart showing a percentage breakdown of disk space used. Folders and files can be selected and deleted.

• Large & Old Files – This will identify files in order of size stored on your Mac and specify the last time that file was used. Really useful for identifying files that perhaps are worth considering backing up, or if they are never used, accessed or wanted, the TotalAV app can delete them

Some really significant disk space can be cleared by using the Disk Cleaner. On older Macs, it can also help speed your computer up by minimising the amount of data stored on the hard disk.

After clearing out junk files, on the TotalAV app, click System Boost, then click on the tile labelled Uninstall Applications. Clicking the tile again will commence a deep scan of all the applications installed on the computer.

It is surprising how even the most advanced user can find multiple applications that they haven’t used in months! There is a checkbox next to all listed apps, checking this, then clicking the Uninstall button will completely remove the app(s) and free up hard disk space.

After uninstalling unwanted programs, the next step for space saving is to look in the Download folder. It is likely that this contains a host of files, perhaps installers for apps and downloaded files and photos from the internet. The Download folder is accessible from the sidebar of a Finder window.

Take a few minutes to move any files you want to keep to nicely organised folders within your Documents folder and delete any you don’t want. Any files here that have names relating to apps, are in fact just installer files, so can also be safely deleted without worry that the app will stop working.

It may also be wise to take a look through your Documents, Pictures, Music and Videos folders to see if there are unwanted files there. If there are many files and folders that need to be kept, but are unlikely to be accessed regularly, it may be worth considering an online backup solution and iCloud works amazingly in the Apple ecosystem.

Backing files up, either using an online backup solution or an external hard drive is a good practice to get into from an online security perspective. Although TotalAV keeps computers very much protected from most Ransomware, should TotalAV warnings be ignored and Ransomware ends up on your computer, your files would be at risk of being scrambled through malicious encryption which it is unlikely could ever be decrypted. Backing up precious files and data is crucial for this reason.

macOs

Hard Disks fill up with all kinds of data over time. Where a Mac is so easy to use, and applications run so seamlessly, it is sometimes surprising to delve a bit deeper into hard disk usage and find that there is a lot of junk being stored that seems to have no adverse effect on using the Mac, hard disk housekeeping is important to get on top of sooner rather than later, and TotalAV makes it really easy with the Disk Cleaner.

Clicking Disk Cleaner in the TotalAV sidebar, reveals four specific disk cleaning functions:

• Duplicates – Clicking and running a duplicate scan will identify any identical files stored on the computer. Typically these are documents or image files copied and pasted to an easy to access folder, or files that have been downloaded from the web, opened, then saved in another location. There is no point keeping duplicates of the same files – it takes up hard disk space, and can cause confusion remembering which file is the most up to date one

• Junk Cleaner – Running Junk Cleaner cleverly identifies system files that aren’t needed:
  • Log files – If programs crash, they create log files so that computer technicians can identify why the crash happened. Unless you are dealing with a very specific crashing problem, these files can be safely deleted
  • Cached Files – These are files that are temporarily stored supposedly in order to help speed up processes next time they are run. Mildly useful, but a lot of what is stored probably has been irrelevant for a significant amount of time
  • Recycle Bin – if the Trash hasn’t been emptied, the files put into it will still be taking up hard disk space!

​​

• Disk Usage – On MacOS, it is often a bit of a struggle to find out what is consuming hard disk space, and that is where this tool becomes useful. On the right side of the main window is the folder structure of the Mac, and on the left is a pie chart showing a percentage breakdown of disk space used. Folders and files can be selected and deleted.

 

• Large & Old Files – This will identify files in order of size stored on your Mac and specify the last time that file was used. Really useful for identifying files that perhaps are worth considering backing up, or if they are never used, accessed or wanted, the TotalAV app can delete them

 

Some really significant disk space can be cleared by using the Disk Cleaner. On older Macs, it can also help speed your computer up by minimising the amount of data stored on the hard disk.

 

After clearing out junk files, on the TotalAV app, click System Boost, then click on the tile labelled Uninstall Applications. Clicking the tile again will commence a deep scan of all the applications installed on the computer.

​​

It is surprising how even the most advanced user can find multiple applications that they haven’t used in months! There is a checkbox next to all listed apps, checking this, then clicking the Uninstall button will completely remove the app(s) and free up hard disk space.

After uninstalling unwanted programs, the next step for space saving is to look in the Download folder. It is likely that this contains a host of files, perhaps installers for apps and downloaded files and photos from the internet. The Download folder is accessible from the sidebar of a Finder window.

Take a few minutes to move any files you want to keep to nicely organised folders within your Documents folder and delete any you don’t want. Any files here that have names relating to apps, are in fact just installer files, so can also be safely deleted without worry that the app will stop working.

It may also be wise to take a look through your Documents, Pictures, Music and Videos folders to see if there are unwanted files there. If there are many files and folders that need to be kept, but are unlikely to be accessed regularly, it may be worth considering an online backup solution and iCloud works amazingly in the Apple ecosystem.

Backing files up, either using an online backup solution or an external hard drive is a good practice to get into from an online security perspective. Although TotalAV keeps computers very much protected from most Ransomware, should TotalAV warnings be ignored and Ransomware ends up on your computer, your files would be at risk of being scrambled through malicious encryption which it is unlikely could ever be decrypted. Backing up precious files and data is crucial for this reason.

Source : Official TotalAV Brand
Editor by : BEST Antivirus KBS Team