# Deleting files PC **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 31, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deleting-files-pc/697045 "2014-08-31T14:28:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dauerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c2a13f/32.png) [@dauerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dauerbach)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deleting-files-pc/697045/1 "2014-08-31T14:28:57Z")
My hard drive is getting full. I need a program that will let me see what files are taking up space and then delete them. I had this problem once before and used a great program (I think it had tree in its name, but maybe not) that worked perfectly. I can no longer find it. Does anyone have the name of that program, or another that would help me out? ---
**Author:** ![sbunny8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@sbunny8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbunny8)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deleting-files-pc/697045/2 "2014-08-31T15:01:32Z")
Was it [TreeSize](http://download.cnet.com/TreeSize-Free/3000-2248_4-10139400.html)? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deleting-files-pc/697045/3 "2014-08-31T15:10:56Z")
TreeSize is great. And for the OP, if you’re running out of space, you might consider an external hard drive or, if you have a desktop tower, adding another internal hard drive. Hard drive space is now one of the cheapest things you can add to a computer. You can get a 4Tb external drive for [under $120](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152420). I remember, less than 10 years ago, paying more than that for 160Gb. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deleting-files-pc/697045/4 "2014-08-31T15:25:42Z")
I like [SpaceMonger (1.4)](http://spacemonger.en.softonic.com/). CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![dauerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c2a13f/32.png) [@dauerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dauerbach)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deleting-files-pc/697045/5 "2014-08-31T16:30:53Z")
Thanks so much. It was TreeSize. I have an external hard drive that I download photos to. The drive is getting filled up with Podcasts because of the careless manner that I have iTunes set up. Getting rid of them one by one is horrible. And thanks for the name of the alternate file manager. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deleting-files-pc/697045/6 "2014-08-31T21:32:35Z")
[WinDirStat](https://windirstat.info/) is similar. The image on that page shows some of the visualization: larger rectangles are larger files, and color coded by type. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deleting-files-pc/697045/7 "2014-08-31T22:16:37Z")
> [@dauerbach](#): > > Getting rid of them one by one is horrible. It’s really much easier to do this via a batch file. And it runs much faster. Create a plain text file named MYJOB.BAT (or something similar). In it, put a separate line for each file you want to delete, like this: DEL c:\mydir\myfile001.png DEL c:\mydir\myfile002.png etc. When you have them all listed there, go to a command window (click START, type CMD in the search box and hit enter) and type the name of your delete file (without the “.BAT” part – MYJOB) and hit enter. You will see the names of files being deleted scroll by faster than you can read – much faster than doing it thru Windows. P.S. A quick way to do this is to go to as command window and enter DIR c:\mydir\myfile\* /b \>MYJOB.BAT That will create the file MYJOB.BAT and fill it with all the filenames from directory mydir that start with “myfile”. Then you can edit that file, putting "DEL " in front of the ones you want to delete and erasing the names of the ones you want to keep.