If you are trying to update your Windows 10 computer but are not able to do so since your computer is running low on storage then this obviously indicates that there is not enough disk space available on your drive where Windows 10 has been installed. As you know, when Windows 10 downloads the update packages, it extracts them in a separate folder which means that there should be enough space on that particular folder for the update to begin with. Windows do not really check systems for any adequate space requirements before it even initializes the update or upgrades and you only get to know about it right when the update process starts.
On Windows 10 thin clients or the ones with embedded systems that have limited storage space, when Windows Update runs, the update initialization may fail because as pointed out, Windows does not check systems for adequate space requirements so you may have to do the work for them by making sure that your disk has enough space available. Here are some suggestions you can follow to resolve Windows 10 update issues on computers with low storage space.
Option 1 – Delete the files from the Download folder
Since you are going to delete everything manually, you need to create a backup for all your important files which you may have placed in the Download folder. After you create backup copies of important files, delete the files from this folder or you could simply tap the Shift + Del keys to remove the files permanently after you selected them all.
Option 2 – Change the Windows Update Folder location
You might have to change the Windows Update folder location where Windows download all the files need to update the operating system if you cannot really create some space on your primary driver. So all you have to do is set the drive with enough space available for the update to be completed.
Option 3 – Uninstall apps and programs you no longer use
In some cases, apps and programs take up a lot of space on your drive. So if there are programs or apps that you no longer use, you can uninstall them to save storage space. To do so, follow these steps:
- In the search box, type in “control” and then click on Control Panel (desktop app) among the search results.
- After that, select Programs and Features from the list which will give you a list of all the programs installed on your computer.
- From there, look for the apps and programs that you no longer use and right-click on each one of them and click on Uninstall.
Option 4 – Move files to another drive
This is another thing you can try. You can move files, especially the ones with large sizes, to another drive to make up space on your drive. After that, install the updates once again.
Option 5 – Reduce on-drive files from Cloud services
If you are using tons of cloud backup services such as OneDrive and Dropbox, you might want to consider reducing the number of files you have on those cloud backup services. You can do what you’ve done on option number three and have those files moved to another drive to free up storage space.
Option 6 – Empty the contents in Recycle Bin
As you know, the files that are deleted from your computer goes to the Recycle Bin first. So if you have not emptied Recycle Bin for a long time now, the files you delete are still actually taking up space on your drive. Thus, you need to empty the contents in the Recycle Bin to save storage space.
Option 7 – Clean up temporary files
You can use the Windows 10 Storage Sense feature which can clean all the temporary files from your computer. To use Storage Sense, follow the steps below.
- Open Setting > System > Storage from the WinX Menu.
- From there, you will see a list of all the local and connected storage devices along with the details on the free space.
- Now make sure that the Storage Sense feature is turned On then go find a link that says “Free Up Space” and click it to open.
- After that, a screen which is the built-in program in Windows 10 will appear and will scan your computer for the following junk files so you can free up disk space:
- Windows Upgrade Log Files
- System created Windows Error Reporting Files
- Thumbnails
- Temporary Internet Files
- Previous Windows Installation Files
- Delivery Optimisation Files
- DirectX Shader Cache
Choose the files you want to get rid of and then click on the remove files option. Note that you’ll have an idea of the total size as you select any of the junk files listed above.
If we are to believe news from Intel, new series of processors based on Alder Lake architecture are about to be released somewhere in October. Alder Lake is the 12th Generation Core of Intel processors and it is meant to have all advantages of the current CPU structure.
I9 is aimed to pack a punch against its competitors with technology including eight high-performance Golden Cove cores (P-cores) with Hyper-Threading and eight energy-efficient Goldmont (E-cores) equipped with a 30MB L3 cache and operating at high clock speeds.
During the benchmark test, the new CPU outperformed all of Intel’s previous Rocket Lake structure processors which is logically expected but the big surprise came from results that indicate better performance than Apple’s new M1 processor even in single-threaded performance which is supposed to be best in that field.
Another surprise was really beating AMD Ryzen 9 in each field. If we take into account that i9 has 16 cores in total and can process 24 threads against Ryzen 9 with 16 Cores and 32 threads this is an impressive feature.
Now truth to be told Alder lake has massive L3 cache and microarchitectural advantages and consumes much more power but the results of performance are high. Also, note that this early CPU is not really a mass production one and maybe some things will still change but early results are very satisfactory.
We will see what will price tag be since in this age of shortage and competition that will also play a big role in its overall success. Speaking of competition I eagerly await AMD’s response to this, in any way it seems that the CPU market is for some turbulence which is always a good thing for the final customer and I welcome it. 