Solved Disk Clean-up replacement for 'Windows Update Clean-up' files

I know that Disk Clean-up is being deprecated but I find it useful for deleting 'Windows Update clean-up' files. After yesterday's Patch Tuesday updates there are 3.99GB of files found for deletion. See photo.
I am trying to ditch Disk Clean-up (because of its deprecation) and use Settings>Storage instead to find the same thing but I can't see 'Windows Update clean-up' files anywhere.
I also use 'Privacy Eraser Free' but this has no option to search for and delete Windows Update files.

Surely there must be a way to find and delete 'Windows Update clean-up' files other than using Disk Clean-up? Ideally using Windows tools but would consider a 3rd party cleaner as long as it can find and delete these specific files. 4GB is disk space I would like to reclaim.

Can anyone point me in the right direction please?

Here are a couple of ways to clear the Windows Update files:

These are for Windows 10, but should be usable in Windows 11 also.

HTH

wiganken said:

I am trying to ditch Disk Clean-up (because of its deprecation) and use Settings>Storage instead to find the same thing but I can't see 'Windows Update clean-up' files anywhere.
...
Can anyone point me in the right direction please?

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Settings, System, Storage, Temporary files:



@Brink: This should be in a tutorial, but I can't find it anywhere.

I wonder if that one is just a subset of Disk Cleanup?

I still use the original disk cleanup for this in Windows 11 23H2. If it ain't broke: Don't fix it. It's no longer in disk properties but still in the start menu. Run it as admin to cleanup system files like Windows Update.

I don't have Windows Update Clean-up in either my Disk Cleanup or my System > Storage > Temporary Files. Wonder why. When I load Disk Cleanup (Admin), it shows in the status bar that Windows Update Cleanup is being checked, but then there's no WUC in the list.

@BruceR - Thanks. That works for me. I never thought to look in 'Temporary files'.

@Wisewiz - Have you been tweaking your Windows OS? That might explain why you don't see 'Windows Update Clean-up'. Just a thought. I don't know how to fix it though.

BamaInArk said:

I wonder if that one is just a subset of Disk Cleanup?

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I think it's directly equivalent.

Wisewiz said:

I don't have Windows Update Clean-up in either my Disk Cleanup or my System > Storage > Temporary Files. Wonder why. When I load Disk Cleanup (Admin), it shows in the status bar that Windows Update Cleanup is being checked, but then there's no WUC in the list.

Click to expand...

Neither can clean up what is no longer there.

BruceR said:

Neither can clean up what is no longer there.

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Truer words were never spoken. But there are many entries in the list with 0 values.

BruceR said:

Settings, System, Storage, Temporary files:

View attachment 83668

@Brink: This should be in a tutorial, but I can't find it anywhere.

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Here you go:

Brink said:

Here you go:

Use Disk Cleanup in Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to free up drive space with Disk Cleanup in Windows 11. You can use Disk Cleanup on a regular basis to reduce the number of unnecessary files on your drives, which can free up drive space and help your PC run better. It can delete temporary files and system...

www.elevenforum.com

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Thanks. I apparently searched Tutorials for clean-up instead of cleanup.

In Option Two the Downloads folder is no longer included (which appears in screenshots at Steps 6 and 7).

Wisewiz said:

Truer words were never spoken. But there are many entries in the list with 0 values.

Click to expand...

Fair point for Disk Cleanup. I don't think you ever get zero values under Temporary Files in Settings.

BruceR said:

In Option Two the Downloads folder is no longer included (which appears in screenshots at Steps 6 and 7).

Click to expand...

You can still use the Delete files in my Downloads folder if they have been there for over Storage Sense setting to automatically delete them.