Sometimes you’ll come across a file or folder in the Windows File Explorer that appears to be “locked.” Frustratingly, you can’t delete it, move it, or rename it, seemingly for no reason. IDGĮverything (click image to enlarge it) IObit Unlocker and LockHunter The search results can be viewed as file thumbnails, and Everything does an equally fast job of generating previews of your files in this viewing mode. The more letters you type, the shorter the list of results becomes until Everything finds only the file you are looking for. Start typing the letters of a filename into the Everything search box and watch as it narrows down the results.

Once you've installed this tool, you can find files on your Windows PC in an instant. MiniTool Partition Wizard (click image to enlarge it) Everything

This convenient feature is not usually free in other drive-management tools. I lean toward DiskGenius because it can help you move your PC's main drive - with an installation of Windows on it - to a smaller drive, automatically resizing it to fit. These two utilities are so similar that the choice between them comes down to picking the one that has the interface you find more appealing.

Other tools included in these packages can copy the whole contents of a drive to another drive - including moving your installation of Windows - or attempt to recover damaged or deleted partitions. You might want to partition a large drive on your network, for example, to keep shared files separate from your Windows OS. DiskGenius and MiniTool Partition Wizardīoth DiskGenius and MiniTool Partition Wizard let you create, copy, delete, merge, resize, or divide up the partitions of your PC's hard drive or SSD. I also like CCleaner because it lets you uninstall most of the Microsoft programs that come with Windows 10 and 11 that neither OS will - out of the box - let you remove, such as Cortana and OneDrive. This can potentially recover a lot of storage space. CCleaner can quickly delete the browser history, cache, cookies, logs, temporary user passwords, and other background files that Windows and the web browsers installed on your system have accumulated over time, but that aren’t necessary to its operation.

Essential software for windows 10