How to Clean A Windows 8 or 8.1 Computer Hard Drive

By Sophia | Last Updated January 03, 2024

As you know, if there are too many dispensable documents, cache data and other junk files in the hard drives, the computer performance will be badly influenced. So it is important to clean hard drives regularly and even frequently. At this moment, you may be mostly concerned about how to clean them easily but effectively. And this text will tell you how to use Disk Cleanup/Disk Defragmenter/iSunshare System Genius to clean the hard drive in Windows 8/8.1.

1. Utilize Disk Cleanup to Clean Hard Drives
2. Apply Disk Defragmenter to Clean Hard Drives
3. Use iSunshare System Genius to Clean Hard Drives

clean a windows 8 or 8.1 computer hard drive

1. Utilize Disk Cleanup to Clean Hard Drives

Step 1: Open Disk Cleanup.

You can open it according to the following procedures.

Press Windows key+Pause Break to open the System window, as exhibited in the screenshot below.

open system window.png

In the System window, select Performance Information and Tools.

click performance information and tools

Choose Open disk cleanup in the left menu of Performance Information and Tools interface.

select open disk cleanup

Step 2: Select a hard drive you want to clean up.

As the following window opens, click the down arrow to choose a hard drive and then tap OK to go on.

choose a hard drive and tap ok

Step 3: Wait for the program to calculate how much space you will be able to free on the chosen disk.

wait for space calculating process to finish

Step 4: Select the files you want to delete.

As the following window turns up, check the boxes before the files you would like to remove from your computer, and tap OK to continue.

select files and click ok

Step 5: Deleting the files permanently.

Click Delete Files to remove them permanently.

tap delete files

Step 6: Wait patiently for the cleanup process to finish.

wait for cleanup to be completed

2. Apply Disk Defragmenter to Clean Hard Drives

Step 1: Open Disk Defragmenter.

To open it, you can follow the procedures below.

Open Performance Information and Tools by the above mentioned method.
Select Advanced tools on the left side.

select advanced tools

In the Advanced Tools window, roll down the scroll bar on the right to find Open Disk Defragmenter and click it.

choose open disk defragmenter

Step 2: Change the settings of a hard drive.

When the Optimize Drives interface emerges, select a hard drive in the list and click Change settings on the lower right.

select a hard drive and tap change settings

Step 3: Adjust the frequency to optimize the drive.

In the following window, tap the down arrow to choose an optimization frequency from Daily, Weekly and Monthly, and then click OK.

choose the frequency and click ok

With this method, the Disk Defragmenter will optimize your hard drives regularly.

3. Use iSunshare System Genius to Clean Hard Drives

Step 1: Install iSunshare System Genius on your Windows 8/8.1 computer.

iSunshare System Genius is the junk-file remover designed for Windows OS, which can easily delete the useless files from cache data to invalid registry entries. Therefore, using System Genius is also a good way to clean up disk space in Windows 8/8.1.