Disk Cleanup shows 2.46 MB of temp files and Settings > Storage > Temporary files shows 8.59 MB of temp files.
...that’s a big difference.
Umm no, that is
NOT a big difference. If it said 2.46
GB vs 8.59
GB, that would be a pretty big difference. But 6
MB is nothing. That could easily be 1 file.
I would think Windows would emphasize cleaning up that location.
No. Actually Windows' own cleanup program is pretty conservative - and that's a good thing.
It seems to me you are fussing over a "drop" of spilt milk. And unless you are
critically low on free disk space, I say don't worry about it.
If, on the other hand, you are
critically low on free disk space, then freeing up a few
megabytes of disk space is not the solution. You need to delete the contents of your Downloads folder. Then uninstall programs you downloaded and installed that you don't use. Then consider moving your Documents and Downloads folders to a different drive.
To move your Documents folder to another drive, D drive in this example, do the following:
1. Create a new Documents folder on the D drive,
2. Right-click on the new folder and click Include in Library > Documents,
3. Click Start > Documents,
4. Double-click Documents to open and reveal its contents,
5. Drag and drop (or cut and paste) to move the files to the new folder,
6. Right-click in a blank area then click on Refresh, or press F5 to refresh the view,
7. Under Documents Library, click locations,
8. Right-click the new folder and click Set as default save location.
9. [Optional] Click the old Documents folder and click Remove.
Then do the same for the Downloads folder.
For programs you downloaded, installed and still use, consider uninstalling them from this drive and reinstalling them on a secondary drive. You cannot simply move most programs to a secondary drive as they will not be "installed" - that is, the operating system will not know how to find them. So, after moving the Downloads folder, download your favorite programs again (to ensure you have the latest) version, then install them again - only this time (and from now on ALWAYS) select the Custom install option so you can (1) choose the secondary drive and desired folder and (2) so you can opt out of any extra stuff the developers want to foist on your system.
Also unless you already have it installed, after you have freed up space, I recommend using CCleaner for you disk cleanup chores. What I really like about CCleaner is you can tell it to keep the cookies for the legitimate sites you regularly visit. This is really convenient. HOWEVER I do NOT recommend using CCleaner's Registry Cleaner feature unless you truly are an advanced Windows user, know exactly what you are doing,
AND you have a current backup of all your data. And I don't recommend using the "Performance Optimizer" feature regardless your level of expertise.
Last, if you have done all of the above and still do not have at least 20 - 30
Gigabytes of free disk space, you need to buy more space.
