How to recover downloaded files after disk cleanup

Hibernation mode on your PC is similar to sleep mode, except the system saves all your open work to the storage drive and then shuts down. You can remove the battery from your laptop and stay in hibernation for a week, then start back up and pick up right where you left off.

Of course, this takes up space, which is what the hibernation file is for. Depending on your hard drive size, the hibernation file is likely several gigabytes or more. If you don't use hibernation and want to disable it, you can easily do so via the Command Prompt.

Note that you shouldn't just delete hiberfil. Type the following command to disable hibernation:. That's all it takes to disable hibernation. Windows should delete hiberfil. Note that disabling hibernate mode will also prevent your computer from using fast startup in Windows However, this isn't much of a loss, as this feature is known to cause slow boot times and other problems. As you'd guess from the name, Windows temporary files aren't important beyond their initial use.

The files and folders inside contain info that Windows used at one time, but doesn't need anymore. Instead of cleaning via Disk Cleanup. Windows might give you an error about a couple of items when you do this—just ignore those and clear everything else. Whenever you delete a file on your system, Windows sends it to the Recycle Bin. This is a special place where deleted files are kept until you permanently delete or restore them. While this might be obvious to you, we're including it in case some aren't aware.

It's easy to forget that gigabytes of old data can sit in your Recycle Bin. You can access the Recycle Bin through the shortcut on your desktop. Once here, you'll see everything you've deleted recently. Right-click on individual items and choose Delete to permanently erase them, or choose Restore to send the file back to its original location.

To tweak the way the Recycle Bin works, click Recycle Bin properties here. On this menu, you can change the maximum size of the bin, or even choose Don't move files to the Recycle Bin. With this option, Windows skips the bin and permanently removes items when you delete them.

We don't recommend this, because the Recycle Bin gives you a second chance in case of an accidental deletion. Similarly, Display delete confirmation dialog will require an extra step whenever you erase a file. Whenever you upgrade your version of Windows, the system keeps a copy of your prior files called Windows.

However, if your computer and all the devices work well, you can delete Device Driver Packages in Disk Cleanup. These are the system restore points that you have created for system restore.

This is another way to empty Recycle Bin on your computer. After upgrading Windows, your computer will keep the previous Windows system files for 10 days. You can downgrade your Windows within 10 days. When you see this option in Disk Cleanup, you can manually delete them if you are not going to degrade your Windows OS.

The Windows installation and major upgrade process will generate temporary Windows installation files. If you are not in the process of a Windows installation or major update, you can feel free to delete these files. The following options are unimportant for you. You can delete them immediately to release disk space for new data.

But, it seems that the files in it are not critical for Windows Defender. They are some temporary files and you can remove them without scruple. This folder includes ActiveX controls and Java applets that are downloaded from the Internet when you use Internet Explorer to view certain web pages. You can delete them without influencing your computer. Actually, they will be re-downloaded when visiting a web page that needs the files.

These files are the browser caches that are generated when using Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. With these files, the web browser will load the previous opened website faster in the future. But beyond that, there will be no other influence.

You can directly delete them in Disk Cleanup. Some other Windows web browsers like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox will maintain the current situation.

These are the thumbnail images for videos, pictures, documents. If you delete them, Windows will re-create them when you access a folder that contains those files again. The followings are some files that appear in the old Windows versions or related to some certain types of files. Except for the Windows ESD Installation files, if you are not going to roll back a device driver, uninstall a Windows update, downgrade Windows version, or fix a system issue, it is safe to delete almost all files in Disk Cleanup.

If you mistakenly delete some files, such as the files you want to restore in Recycle Bin, you can use free data recovery software to get them back. MiniTool Power Data Recovery is a good choice. This software is a special file recovery tool that can be used to rescue files from hard drives, SD cards, memory cards, and more in different situations.

As long as the deleted files are not overwritten by new data, you can use this software to rescue them. It has a trial edition. You can first use it to see whether it can find the files that need to be restored.

You can press the following button to get this freeware. Free Download. The following is a guide on how to use this software to scan your computer hard drive and find your needed files:. You can clean up your disk by uninstalling unused apps or by enabling Storage Sense. To fix various PC problems, we recommend Restoro PC Repair Tool: This software will repair common computer errors, protect you from file loss, malware, hardware failure and optimize your PC for maximum performance.

Click Repair All to fix issues affecting your computer's security and performance Restoro has been downloaded by 0 readers this month. This is an advanced procedure so make sure you backup data on your drives before starting. This article covers: Topics: Windows Was this page helpful? Thank you! Start a conversation. Copy link. Software deals Friday round-up. I agree with the Privacy Policy regarding my personal data.

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