Yes, a fresh operating system can use less space.
Yes, a fresh operating system can use less space.
You can remove system restore points or, if you run disk cleanup and choose "Clean up system files," you can also perform a Windows update cleanup. These actions may consume significant storage space. However, be cautious—deleting them means you won’t be able to revert to earlier versions or restore points if issues arise later. You can still create new restore points, but you won’t be able to return to a previous version of Windows if a newer version becomes problematic.
I'm not sure how many restore points you have, but I'll look them up for you.