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I want to delete or shrink huge files that take a lot of space on hard drive
Windows has some huge sized files:
- pagefile.sys 15.1 GB
- hiberfil.sys 3.2 GB
- Apps.ppkg 2.1 GB
How can they be shrunk? Or is it maybe safe to delete them?
1 answer
The following users marked this post as Works for me:
| User | Comment | Date |
|---|---|---|
| programAngel | (no comment) | Jan 21, 2026 at 13:57 |
You can't delete them directly, but you can disable/configure the features in Windows.
hiberfil.sys is related to hibernation and usually has the size of the memory installed in the machine. If you use hibernation, you need this file. If you don't use hibernation, you can disable the feature by running this command in an elevated command prompt:
powercfg.exe /hibernate off
pagefile.sys is your virtual memory, also known as a swap file. Memory that is currently not being actively used is swapped out to it to free up memory for running processes. It is not recommended to disable swap, but you can reduce the size if you don't need all of it.
Open sysdm.cpl, either by running Win+R, or by just typing it with the start menu open.
- go to
Advanced - under
Performanceclick onSettings - Under
Virtual Memory, click onChange
Here you can select automatic management of your virtual memory files, or specify a size per drive.
You can also disable it completely, but as already mentioned, this is not recommended.
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