how to clear cache windows 10

To clear cache on Windows 10, you can follow these steps to remove various types of temporary and cached files, which can help improve system performance and free up disk space:

How to Clear Cache on Windows 10

1. Clear Temporary Files and Prefetch Files

• Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog.
• Type temp and press Enter. Delete all files in this folder.
• Open Run again, type %temp% and delete all files there.
• Open Run again, type prefetch and delete all files (requires admin permission). These are safe to delete and often improve performance

2. Clear Windows Update Cache

• Navigate to C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download.
• Delete all files inside the Download folder but do not delete the folder itself. This removes old Windows Update files

3. Use Disk Cleanup Tool

• Right-click on your Windows drive (usually C:) in File Explorer, select Properties.
• Click Disk Cleanup.
• Click Clean up system files (requires admin).
• Select all the cache and temporary file options (including DirectX cache, temporary files, recycle bin, etc.) and click OK to delete them

4. Clear DNS Cache (Optional)

• Open Command Prompt as administrator.
• Run the command: ipconfig /flushdns to clear DNS resolver cache

5. Check and Clean Downloads and Recycle Bin

• Manually delete unnecessary files in your Downloads folder.
• Empty the Recycle Bin to free up space

Additional Tips:

• You can use third-party tools like WinDirStat or BleachBit to analyze and clean disk space more thoroughly

• Deleting cache does not harm your system but may temporarily slow down some processes until cache is rebuilt.
• Restart your PC after cleaning to ensure all changes take effect

This comprehensive approach clears most caches on Windows 10, helping to improve performance and free disk space efficiently.