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[Damien Symonds]

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Why are we examining folders?

We’re looking for big folders that are taking up the most space on our drives. Then we can decide if they should be deleted or moved.

Without a program like Scanner, housekeeping is a tedious process. Opening folders one by one, checking their size, checking their contents, moving on to the next folder ... that would drive us insane. With Scanner, we can find the biggest folders at a glance, and with another glance decide if they should remain there.

Are we aiming to delete folders?

Not necessarily. In many cases, you’ll find big folders of files that you still need, but not right now. Those folders should be moved to another internal drive, or archived to external drives (or to cloud storage, if that’s what you use). Your main hard drive shouldn’t be cluttered with old stuff. Keep it current.

Here are some examples of big folders you might find on your C: drive:

• Photos: Unless you’re using them right now, move them to another drive.
• Movies: These are BIG. Get ‘em off there as soon as you’ve watched them.
• Games: If you’ve finished playing them, uninstall them.
• Cache: Different programs store cache files differently. If you find a big cache folder, ask yourself if the program needs that data any more.

What about Windows?

Of course your Windows operating system is going to be one of the biggest folders on your C: drive. But unless you’re a computer expert, don’t mess with that. Leave it alone.

Exercise caution

Only move or delete files that are known to you.  If you don't recognise a file, be careful - maybe it's important.  Research it if necessary, or just leave it.  Be safe.

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