How to Delete Old System Logs, Activity History, and Duplicate Junk Files?

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If you’re running out of storage, you may want to take a look at your old system logs, activity history, and duplicate junk files. These files can eat up precious storage space and make your computer run slower. Over time, you may need to delete some of your important files to make space for new files. Let’s discuss how to delete old system logs, activity history, and duplicate junk to get back lost space and improve your computer’s performance.

Delete Old System Logs

System logs are the events recorded by your operating system to help the user and Microsoft support engineers troubleshoot different problems with your system. Your operating system stores information about the events that occurred within a timespan, errors and exceptions occurred, your device configurations, etc. These are helpful to diagnose various system issues arising out of different technical glitches and bugs. System logs can be helpful to predict unexpected system behaviors, errors, crashes, Stop Error/ Blue Screen of Death, and other issues.

If your system runs smoothly and you need to get back some free space, you may delete the old system logs using the Event Viewer tool in the Control Panel. Follow the steps given below:

  1. Click on Start.
  2. Type Control Panel and open it from the search results.
  3. Click on System and Security | Administrative Tools.
  4. Open Event Viewer.
  5. Right-click the System and select Clear all events.
  6. Windows will prompt you “Do you want to save ‘System’ before clearing it?”.
  7. Click Yes and specify a file name for your log and then click on Save.

Clear Activity History

Activity history consists of different activities you perform on your computer, including the applications and services you use, websites you visit, etc. The activity history is stored locally. However, if you’ve signed in with a Microsoft account and agreed to send the activity history, the data is sent to Microsoft. According to Microsoft, this data is used to provide a personalized experience to its users and anticipate needs based on user behavior. 

  1. Click on Start.
  2. Select Settings.
  3. Click on Privacy, followed by Activity History.
  4. Click Clear under Clear Activity History.
  5. Uncheck the option labeled Store my activity history on this device.
  6. Uncheck the option labeled Send my activity history to Microsoft.

Delete Duplicate Junk Files

Duplicate files can eat up tremendous storage. Although duplicate files are inevitable, you can regularly scan and delete duplicates to reclaim the occupied storage space. Duplicate junk files occur due to a variety of reasons:

  • File transfer: Transferring files from external devices to your PC and vice versa, can result in duplication. For example, accidentally copying the same file twice or thrice.
  • File synchronization: If you’re syncing files across different devices, it may result in duplication. For example, if the same photo is stored on both mobile and PC, your file syncing program will synchronize it twice.
  • Downloading habits: If you’re downloading a lot of files from the Internet, such activities could contribute to duplication. For example, mistakenly downloading the same file multiple times.

Steps:

  1. Download Clone Files Checker.
  2. Double-click the downloaded setup and follow the on-screen instructions.
  3. Click on the System Scan and use the Add button to select the directories you want to search for duplicates. You may add multiple directories, as you like.
  4. Select the All files if you would like to scan all sorts of files, or use Custom option to select individual file types (such as documents, archives, music, videos, images).
  5. Click on Start Search.
  6. Once the results are accumulated, you’d be prompted to see one of the following options:
    1. Quick-Fix: Use this option to load a wizard. The wizard will guide you through the steps to permanently delete or move the duplicate files.
    2. Review & Fix: Use this option to manually select or deselect files of your choice. You can also use the Select Duplicates button and a pattern of your choice, to batch select your files.

Important: By default, no backup is created. You can change the setting from the program settings. If you ever need to restore a backup created earlier, just go to the History tab, select your scan and then restore the backup. The restore process may take some time depending on the size of your backup.