If you are having issues with Windows Event Log taking too much disk on the task manager or taking up large amounts of disk space, I will show you how to fix it in this article.
You can reduce high disk usage by setting a limit to log sizes created by Windows Event Log:
- On Windows Search, type event viewer and click Open:
Wait while the Event Viewer reads all of the event logs and becomes responsive. - Now click on Windows Logs in the right corner.
- Right-click on any of the logs showing up in the center, then click on Properties:
- Set Maximum log size to 20480 (KB.) This will limit Windows logs to a maximum of around 20MB.
- Under When maximum event log size is reached, select Overwrite events as needed (oldest events first):
- Click on Apply, and restart your PC.
(If your disk performance is not showing on task manager, check the article I’ve written on it.)
This will prevent Windows from overloading your disk by creating huge event logs. But what about the event logs that Windows created previously?
How to Clear Windows Event Logs to Prevent High Disk Usage
You can also clear all event logs on the event viewer. This also works as a fix if the solution above didn’t work to reduce disk usage, so let’s check how to clear event logs on Windows.
- On Windows Search, type event viewer and click Open.
- Right-click on Windows Logs in the right corner:
- Right-click on any of the event logs under Windows logs and click on Clear log:
- Click on the Clear button to confirm:
When you clear an event log, Windows will not delete the previous event log. Instead, it will create a new 64KB log file to replace the previous one.
So, ensure you set a maximum log size, as explained above. This will prevent your event logs from ever getting too big.
(If you need to free up more disk space, check this article to learn a few safe methods to reduce the size of your Windows folder.)
Conclusion
The best way to fix Windows event log high disk usage is to set a maximum log size in the Event Viewer.
You can do this by opening Event Viewer > Windows Logs > right-click on each event log and select Properties > set the maximum log size to 20480KB > select Overwrite events as needed (oldest events first) and click on Apply.
Another alternative fix that works to clear large log files created before is to right-click on each event log under Windows Logs on the Event Viewer and click on Clear log.
For other ways to quickly free up more disk space, read my articles on how to delete .dmp files safely and how to delete temporary files from your system.
