Most computer users have experienced a situation where they approach maximum capacity on their hard drive, and need to free up some space. While most people turn to conventional methods such as disk cleaning utilites (CCleaner is a great one), there are many other unconventional methods of free-ing up space. Here are my favourite two, which I use frequently to keep my disk space free.

WinDirStat

WinDirStat stands for Windows Directory Statistics. WinDirStat is an awesome little program which generates a ‘map’ of your hard disk, visually showing you the layout of your hard drive. After generating a map, you can instantly see which files take up a large amount of space. This program is definitely a must-have for smoking out those huge, long-forgotten files on your hard drive.

Folder Size

Folder Size is an amazing application which installs a new column into your explorer window. This column is similar to the standard ‘Size’ column, but it also shows the size of the contents of folders. Personally I have found this incredibly useful for both cleaning out my hard drive, and maintaining free space. Being aware of just how big that software trial you downloaded will make you think twice about storing it or deleting it.

There are many great ‘quick fix’ solutions for insufficient disk space. Disk cleaning utilities can do a great job of clearing 1-2 gb of space quickly and easily. Unfortunately though, that space gain is only temporary, and the only real way to have free disk space is to develop good habits. Hopefully the software I talked about today will help you do just that.