When you use your computer for a long time, you may notice that the hard disk space is gradually decreasing. This looks especially strange if you do not install any large programs and games. In fact, fixing the problem is quite simple - just delete the restore points of Windows 7 (or another version of this OS). How to do this, and will be discussed further.
What are those dots?
There are many reasons why the operating system can fail. In most cases, users immediately decide to reinstall it, but this procedure is quite long, and it can cause some difficulties for an unprepared person. However, there is an alternative option - to use Windows Recovery. This will allow you to return the operating system to a previously saved state, without having to install it again.
To provide the above functionality, Windows 7 periodically creates checkpoints for later recovery. They contain information about the current state of the system, its settings, the availability of certain programs and drivers. It would seem that everything is fine, but there is also a negative point in this, because of which you have to delete Windows 7 restore points.
What's wrong with them?
As mentioned earlier, Windows 7 makes backup copies from time to time, allowing, if necessary, to return the system to a safe state. The problem is that such saves contain a lot of different information, which takes up a lot of space on the HDD. Moreover, the system strives to make restore points almost after every new program installed on your computer. This leads to the fact that free gigabytes gradually “disappear” from your hard drive.
In this situation, you have no choice but to delete unnecessary Windows 7 restore points. This will not only free up quite a lot of space, but also positively affect the speed of loading the operating system. In this case, you do not have to delete Windows 7 restore points completely. It is enough to clean up only those that were created a long time ago and have therefore lost their relevance.
Standard method
This method allows you to safely delete Windows 7 system restore points. This only erases old saves, and the most recent one remains. This is done like this:
- Go to "My Computer" and open the properties of the disk where the OS is located (most often it is "C").
- Press the Clean button.
- Wait for the scanning process to complete. Please note that its duration directly depends on the volume of the media.
Now in the window that opens, go to the "Advanced" tab. Click Clear
After that, a dialog box will appear in which you need to confirm the operation. If you agree to delete Windows 7 restore points, feel free to click "OK". Also, you will most likely have to restart your computer after the procedure is completed.
Complete removal
This method should be used if you want to erase all restore points altogether. It consists of the following:
- Go to the "Control Panel". The easiest way to do this is through the "Start".
- Change the display mode to Small Icons.
- Go to the "System" section. In the column on the left, select the "Protect" option.
- In the window that opens after that, click "Settings".
A menu will appear where you can completely erase all restore points using the "Delete" option
Here you can, if desired, disable the backup function, as well as reduce (or increase) the amount of disk space allocated for data storage. Please note that the procedureErase is irreversible, so think it through before deleting Windows 7 restore points.
Third party programs
Many system cleaning programs allow you to erase all the information necessary for an emergency recovery of Windows. For example, there is such a function in the CCleaner utility. To delete restore points through it, you need to do the following:
Install and run the program
Go to the "Cleaning" section and click on the button of the same name. Before doing this, you will most likely have to wait a while while the application analyzes your file system
Next, you will only have to confirm the operation and wait until the program deletes all data.
