I usually make 150GB partition for windows and it is plenty enough for the programs I usually install into the Programs directory over the life of the OS. Lately I noticed the partition filling up and one contributing reason was the problems I had with compiling one specific program in Visual Studio which I tried to cure by installing previous versions, in total I installed three version, the 2017, 2019 & 2022. In the end I sorted out the compiling problem and used the official uninstaller to remove all VS versions prior to the 2022 version. This weekend I noticed a critical situation, the OS 150GB partition had only 2GB free space left. I searched for the cause and found the main chunk of space is taken by Temp directory in User\AppData. And a brief look inside revealed tons of space taken by VS countless 40 & 60 MB folders. Inside they are 'the same' content. It looks like each compile leaves behind such 60 MB folder in Temp dir. Also windows (I think) leaves in Temp countless 8MB folder that amount to some 6 GB. And it goes on and on, and since it is temporary, I feel like chucking the whole Tem content into garbage. But I am leery of just deleting the temp directories manually (I believe I burned myself badly in past doing that), so I ran CCleaner which gained me back some 5GB. I then pored over the CCleaner advanced settings to make sure the win temp directory is included and analyzed the disk and ran the cleaning but it just doesn't see that huge bulk of files in the Temp directory. Maybe VS does have some option to disable these deposits into Temp or maybe even do some cleanup? Probably the best is to reinstall windows at least once a year to get back to clean slate? Edit: I started deleting those Temp files manually, first deleted all 2021 and older, then after reboot deleted all dated 2022, crossed fingers when rebooting after each delete but everything is OK. It baffles me why the cleaning programs don't do this.
Yeah, CCleaner is only good for cleaning up smaller files like Trash, some Temp in %Temp% locations, Cached Thumbnails/Browser history etc... The better option to gain space back is to use cleanmgr (Press Win + R) type that in and pick C:\, this will remove MS Update cache's and other assorted garbage, I only use it during SysPrep to capture LastOS builds, so not sure how well it works on a Online installation, but I assume as it allows you to see and tick the items you want to remove, it'll be safe enough.
Any clean tool to me is just a slight cleanup, some files and folders are locked but to what certain degree is unknown as MS likes to play games with files and folders being deleted. I always do a folder search manually, and right click delete, simple done, I just cleaned out over 650GB of crap and it was from my C drive. Some programs work, some do not for the search and delete solution. I always reinstall at 6 months anyways, so that backup projects is a must.
One method you could try is to reinstall MS Win add all the apps you require like VS and drivers then take a snapshot using some application like acronis or whatever is your preference and store that image on an external drive. Create a bootable flash drive like LastOS 10 with the snapshot application. Then when things get crazy you can just restore the image and there you have it, a nice clean install. It is also handy if you get a virus,
I used to do that but never ended up using that backup. Thing is, when it was more than couple years old system, there usually was some newer option to install if OS started to show some problems. But it is a good policy to have on hand backup image of fresh install with at least the basic programs one always wants to have. Luckily I don't remember last time I had some infection. Several times when new program showed some funny behavior gave me scare but it turned up being innocent. I am not around social side of internet where most dangers lurk, I think.
