How to fix Android's 'insufficient storage available' error message

If you see the message 'insufficient storage available' on your Android phone or tablet and even if you have space available, follow these below steps to clear Android's cache and you'll be downloading, updating and installing apps again in a matter of minutes. By following this post you can fix the 'insufficient storage available' error message on Android.

Step 1 of 4:

If you're getting the error message 'insufficient storage available' you need to delete the app cache. This is automated by a free app, or can be manually achieved by deleting individual app caches. Here's how to fix Android's 'insufficient storage available' error message.

The 'insufficient storage available' error often pops up if you have moved large amounts of media from the Android device's physical storage to a microSD card, and is caused by the cache not being properly erased.

You can clear your app cache in a matter of seconds or a few minutes, depending on just how bad the problem is on your device. If it allows you to install it, downloading a small (around 2MB) app can automatically clear the app cache on your behalf; if your phone won't allow the installation then you'll need to manually go through deleting the cache for each app. See step 4 for instructions on how to do this.

Step 2 of 4:

If you haven't already tried deleting anything on your phone and are receiving the 'insufficient storage available' error, this would be a good place to start. There are more than likely apps you have previously downloaded, never used and forgotten about - check the app tray rather than the home screens for these, since the app tray will list everything on your phone and, unless you're running Marshmallow (which lets you uninstall apps from the home screen), makes it easier to quickly uninstall them.

Photos, videos and your downloads folder are another good place to check. If you're using WhatsApp, also check its files in a File Manager app or by plugging it into your PC as it may well be storing every photo and video you send as well as those you receive.

Google Photos is a great option for backing up as many standard-resolution photos and video clips as you like, making them accessible from any device on to which you can log into your Google account and allowing you to delete them from your Android phone or tablet without losing them forever. The only catch is you'll need to download the Google Photos app to your device if you don't already have it, which may be an issue if you are seeing the "insufficient storage available" error. In the meantime, you could always plug your Android device into a PC or laptop and copy across any media you want to back up.

Now that you have freed up some space, your device will hopefully allow you to download the small app that automates the process of clearing the app cache. Try this by launching the Play store, searching for and, if you can, downloading the free app called App Cache Cleaner – 1Tap Clean.

Step 3 of 4:

The app cache cleaner is very easy to use; you simply opent the app and let it scan your device for your app's stored cache. You can then either clear the caches indivually by clicking on the rubbish bin icon next to each app, or delete all the app caches by selected the Clear button at the bottom of the screen.

Assuming you already had some space on your internal storage, despite the error messages, you should now be able to download or update the app you were having difficulty with.

If, however, you are having problems even installing the app cache cleaner app, go to the next step and we'll show you how to do its job without using an app.

Step 4 of 4:

How to manually clear Android's app cache

The third-party app we mention in this workshop isn't strictly necessary, since it's possible for you to perform the same action without it, but it does automate and therefore make easier and quicker the task of clearing your app cache. However, if your phone or tablet is being so fussy about insufficient storage that it won't even let you install this small app, here's how to manually clear the app cache.

First check whether your device has an option to clear the cache for all apps without manually clearing each. For example, I can quickly clear the app cache on my Samsung Galaxy S6 by opening the Settings menu and choosing Storage, then taping on Cached data and selecting Delete in the prompt 'Clear cached data. This will clear cached data for all apps'.

If you don't have such an option or, for whatever reason, don't want to clear the cache of all your apps, you can also do so on an app-by-app basis. Again in the Settings menu this time choose Apps or Applications, depending on what software your device is running.

Now you want to be able to see a list of all apps downloaded or running on your phone, which will probably be achieved by selecting a tab at the top of the screen. On my S6 I first need to choose Application Manager in order to see this screen.

Tap any app in this list to select it, then choose Clear Cache to clear the app's cache. Some notable offenders, in my experience, are Facebook, Google Maps and Chrome.

If there are any apps here that were preinstalled on your phone but you do not use you could always uninstall any updates from this same menu to free up some more space, although if you have automatic updates set up in Google Play your device will only download them again. 

How to Close running apps on iPhone?What Will I have to?

Want to close running apps on iPhone? You can close any app by pressing home button. But it will not stop running app in background. This is the simple guide to close background running apps on iOS.

     

Why should I close running apps?

Every running app take some amount of RAM. If you don’t stop running apps, one day your RAM will be full and your phone gets stuck. So it is must to close running applications to free up RAM.

The other thing is, running apps consume your mobile battery. If you have too many apps running in background, your battery may dried earlier than usual. So you must close apps to save your battery.

How to Close running apps on iPhone

Press home button two times continuously. Now you will see app switcher where you can see all running applications. You need to slide image shown on-screen to right or left to see all running apps. You need to just touch on any app to open that app.

If you want to close any app, Touch any app and drag towards top of your mobile. It will immediately disappear your app and stop running. Now you have closed running application.

     

Do this for all apps one after another to close all apps.

You can also hold two or three apps at a time and drag towards top of your mobile to close two or three applications at a time.

     

Should I really close apps?

I read somewhere that, apps running in background does not consume battery or RAM. App switcher just shows previously opened apps. They mentioned that, it is waste of time to close apps.

To answer this doubt, I went to Settings -> Battery. Just see below screenshot for detailed battery usage.

     

From above screenshot, you can easily understand that, how much time each app run on-screen and on background.

From this I can say background apps consume battery. And it is worth to close running apps often to save battery.

I hope you understand the importance and how to Close running apps on iPhone. 

Format memory card,pen drive(Tip to remove virus completely)

Simple way to remove virus from external device is to format memory card or pen drive with SDformatter. SDformatter is a free memory card format software and it also formats pen drive.

     

By using Windows OS, you can format external device but Windows does not format completely.That is the reason why even after formatting external device with windows, some kind of viruses like shortcut virus could not be removed from device. Every one might have faced this problem. Because, once virus entered into pen drive or memory card, it is almost impossible to remove virus from them.

This article gives the easy solution for this problem. It is very easy to format memory card and pendrive by using SDformatter. I am sure that, after formatting your device with SDformatter virus will be removed completely from flash drive.

Many softwares are there to format memory card or pendrive. But it is very easy to use SDformatter, that’s why I prefer SDformatter. You can download full version SDformatter software from it’s official website.

1.How to Format memory card or Pen drive with SDformatter

1.Download SDformatter and install.

2.Connect your external device(memory card or pen drive) to the computer.

3.Open SDformatter.

     

4.Device name must be shown in the rectangular box, which is near to “Drive”(In the above screen shot it is shown as “H”).Size and Volume label must be shown, other wise click on down arrow mark, which is in the rectangular box near to “Drive” and select device.

5.Click on “Options”.

6.”Option setting” window will be opened.

7.Click on down arrow mark which is in the rectangular box near to “FORMAT TYPE” and select “FULL(Erase)”.

8.Click  on OK.

9.Click on format.

Now verify your device properties. Your device’s free space must be equal to the full space. In this way we can format memory card as well as pendrive by using SDformatter.

If this method did not work for you, you need to follow next method.

• Related: 4 Easy ways to remove autorun virus from Pen drive and PC
• 2 Ways to remove hidden attribute to Unhide folder/file

2.Use safe mode

Virus will not run in safe mode. So run computer in safe mode and format your memory card or pen drive using system format option or using SDFormatter.

• Must Read Topics: How to enter in to safe mode in Windows OS
• How to get out of safe mode in Windows OS

If above two methods did not work for you, follow below method.

3.Use Internet security

Download any internet security product trial version. Scan your devices completely and remove virus. Now you can format your external device.

I can recommend you to use Bullguard Internet Security(60% discounted link). Because it is less priced and it gives you PC tuneup utilities as part of its internet security. So you can improve your PC performance with Bullguard. It has 60 days free trial period. You may also read my review about Bullguard Internet security.

Ultimate Guide To Password Protect Folder / file In PC/usb

It is possible to Password protect folder or file in your PC or USB. In this tutorial, I am going to discuss about possible methods to Password protect folder.

     

You can also protect your USB or external hard drives or your computer drives with password. You can get file security, even without password. Here I will discuss all possible methods to get file security.

How to Password protect folder in PC

Hide files with Windows built-in feature

     

Windows has built-in feature to hide files. You can use this feature to hide your files or folders. For complete procedure to hide files with Windows feature read,

• Hide files in Windows? It’s easy if you do it smart

Drawback of Windows hide feature: When you hide folder with this feature, even you cannot see the folder. Any one can see hidden files if they set folder view option to “show hidden files”.

Password protect hidden files with Winmend software

     

Winmend folder hidden software is an open source software. It is a best software to password protect your folders. You can hide folder with this software. It has provision to password protect the software. Any one un hide the file only by opening this software. That means when any one know password then only they can open software and un hide folder. That means indirectly you can password protect all hidden folders. You can also hide folders in USB or external driver with this software. I have written separate article about how to use Winmend software. Read,

• How to use Winmend software to hide folder or file in PC/USB/External drive

Drawback of WInmend software : When you hide folder with WInmend, even you can not see folder.

Lock folder with easy file locker

     

Easy file locker is also an open source software. It works same as Winmend, but with one extra feature. You can see folder, and you can lock folder. You can hide folder and password protect this software. Any one can see the folder, but no one can open the folder. If any one try to open folder, it will show access denied error message. Only you can change the permission of the folder by opening software with password. I think it is the perfect free solution to get file security. Want to know how to use easy file locker? read,

• How to lock a folder or file on Windows? Doesn’t have to be Hard

Password protect folder by creating zip file with 7-zip

     

Drawback of above three methods is, you can not password protect each folder. You can only hide files and password protect the software. If any one un install the software, then they can access folders.

Solution for this problem is, convert folder in to zip file with password protection. 7-zip is the best free software to compress and password protect files. Want to know how to use 7-zip? read,

• How to use 7-zip to password protect folder

Encrypt drive with diskcryptor

     

You can encrypt entire drive or USB with diskcryptor. No one can open the encrypted drive. They see option to format drive. Only you can decrypt with your password.

Drawback of diskcryptor: You will see only option to format drive, so some one may format your drive and you may lose data. Before doing encryption, you need to take data backup. when you think, losing data is Ok instead revealing data, then only you can go for this method. Read,

• How to encrypt drive or USB with a free software

How to Password protect folder in USB

There are three ways to secure USB files. All are discussed above.

1. Hide files with Winmend and password protect
2. Password protect USB with encryption
3. Convert folders to zip folders with password protection.

If you want to Password protect folder in USB without using zip, you need to buy Securestix a USB folder lock software.

How to password protect word document

You can use 7-zip to create zip file from word document. And password protect zip file. MS word has built in feature to protect word document with password. I have separate tutorial about it.

• Read : How to password protect word document

Thanks for reading my article. If you like it, do me favor by sharing it with your friends.

How to Backup android phone and restore (Apps & Contacts)

You can easily backup android phone applications and contacts. You phone memory has contacts and applications. If you format your device, you may lose them. Your SD card may contain photos and videos. So there is less chance to lose them. In this article I am going to show you how to backup android phone contacts and applications.

     

If you restore your mobile to factory settings, you must lose entire data. In that case you must take backup of you android phone. You can also read my article about how to increase internal memory of android phone.It also gives you the way to restore factory settings in android.

• Read : AHow to recover deleted photos from android
• How to restore deleted files from PC,USB & memory card

Backup android phone applications

To take applications backup, you need to install Astro file manager. It is a free app.is the multipurpose app. Along with file manager, it also gives option to back up applications and to restore them. I think this is the best backup app for android. Instead of using two applications for two purposes, it is better to use one application for two purposes. So that we can also save internal memory. 

     

To take back up of applications with ASTRO Filemanager follow below steps.

• Install Astro File Manager from Play store.
• Open Astro file manager application.
• Slide to right.
• Click on “Application Manager”. You will see the screen shown in the screen shot. It has two options at the top, “installed Apps” and “Backed Up Apps”.
• Select “Installed Apps” at the top.
• Click on any application. You can see two options, those are “Backup” and “Uninstall”.
• Click on Backup. Now you will get your application back up. You can see backed up application under “Backed Up Apps”.

Select each application one by one and click on backup. Like this you can backup android phoneapplications.

How to Restore Android phone applications

To restore applications with “Astro file manager” follow below steps.

• open Astro file manager application.
• Slide to right.
• Click on Application Manager.
• Click on “Backed up apps” at top.
• Click on any application. You can see options to Delete and to Install.
• Click on Install to re install backed up application.

How to backup contacts?

We can back up Android phone contacts by following below steps.

• Go to the contacts in your phone.
• Click on options menu.
• Go to Settings.
• Go to Contacts.
• Select Import/Export. You will see many options.
• Select Export to SD card or Export to device storage.

Now you have contacts back up.

• Related: 7 Tips to Extend Android battery life
• How to hide Android apps

How to Restore Android Phone contacts

• Go to Contacts.
• Click on options menu.
• Go to Settings.
• Go to Contacts.
• Select Import/Export.
• Select Import from SD card, if you had stored contacts in SD card. Or select Import from device storage, if you had stored contacts in device storage. After that you may see different options in different mobiles. Just complete remaining steps and restore contacts.

By reading this article you came to know about taking applications and contacts backup. If you want to take backup of entire android files like, photos, videos, documents, etc., you must use online backup service like Google drive or iDrive(75% discounted link).

• You must read : Step by step guide to back up android to Google drive
• 4 Common android problems and their solutions