Stop Storage Sense deleting your downloaded files in Windows 10

Does Storage
Sense keep deleting your downloaded files in Windows 10? Store files and
programs in your Download folder and keep losing them to this housekeeping tool?
Today I’m going to show you how to stop that happening.

I like Storage
Sense. We use it on our Windows 10 machines here at Dave’s Computers in New
Jersey and it works fine. I do have a habit of storing things in my download
folder though and sometimes they go missing. It took a little while for me to
figure out what was going on and then I figured it was Storage Sense.

Storage
Sense is a feature introduced in Windows 10 to automatically manage your disk
space. It’s a great theory. It monitors your disks, files, downloads and
folders and will automatically tidy them up for you. It deletes items from your
recycle bin, temporary folders and browser cache to help keep things running
smoothly.

Stop Storage Sense
deleting downloaded files

It’s
actually quite straightforward to stop Storage Sense deleting items in your
Downloads folder.

1. Right click the Windows Start button
   and select Settings.
2. Select System and Storage.
3. Select the ‘Change how we free up
   space automatically’ text link.
4. Select Never where you see ‘Delete
   files in my Downloads folder’.

It’s such a
simple fix for a very annoying feature. Sure it’s kind of my own fault for
leaving things randomly in my Downloads folder but I, and is seems many other
Windows 10 users, didn’t expect something to come along and delete them without
alerting or asking us first!

While
you’re in Storage Sense, you can also tweak it more to your liking or even turn
it off completely if you prefer. If you have lots of disk space and will
unlikely run out, you don’t need it to run. You can leave it to empty the trash
or go through your system every few days, it is entirely up to you.

Change
recycle bin deletion at the top of the Storage Sense page. Have it perform
housekeeping on your OneDrive folder if you dare. I suggest not doing this as
OneDrive is flaky enough as it is. You can also have it perform its cleanup
right there and then if you prefer and include previous versions of Windows in
the mix. This is the equivalent of going into the drive properties and cleaning
it out manually.

Storage
Sense is pretty good at what it does but it isn’t perfect. This is Microsoft
after all so what do we expect. Aside from deleting the contents of your
Downloads folder, it works well, does its work quietly and keeps your disks
running more efficiently than before.

If you
accidentally delete files or need the services of data recovery experts,
contact Dave’s Computers in New Jersey today. We can help!