Q: I deleted songs in itunes but they are still in my folder taking up memory

The Consolidate Library function won't remove orphaned files if run against the existing folder structure.  You can, however, clean up by creating a new folder to hold your iTunes library (e.g., C:\iTunes\iTunes Media on your system drive, or <drive letter>:\iTunes\iTunes Media on an external drive.  Then select Edit > Preferences > Advanced in iTunes and alter the iTunes Media folder location setting to point to the folder you've just created.  Then select File > Library > Consolidate Library - this will copy the media files and folders include in your iTunes database to the new location, leaving any "orphaned" files and folders behind.  You'll need to have enough room on the drive you're consolidating to ... if it's the C: drive you'll (temporarily) need enough to hold your original library and the one you're now (re)creating.

You can then delete the original folders under the old library location (by default, C:\Users\username\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media).  If you want to restore the library to the default location, change the Edit > Preferences > Advanced selection again (just click the Reset button) and run Consolidate Library again.

See turingtest2's user tip on Make a split library portable for more information.

Had you manually moved any of your media folders/files?  The process I described depends on the starting point being a working iTunes library where all media files are in the expected location.  The Consolidate Library function copies the files that iTunes can find in the current location to the new media folder specified in Edit > Preferences > Advanced.

Consolidate runs through each track that can be located, if it is stored outside of the designated media folder iTunes makes a copy inside the media folder and updates the pointer. Tracks that are missing cannot be copied, but if iTunes wasn't already aware they were missing then the exclamation mark will show. Every time you restart iTunes it will assume that every track is where it is supposed to be until it finds out otherwise.

To clear dead tracks from the library use this method:

Lost & Found Playlists

Create a regular playlist called Found, select everything in Music and drag it into the Found playlist (it may take some time to count the tracks that are to be dropped). Create a smart playlist called Lost matching All the rules Playlist is Music and Playlist is not Found. Your lost tracks will be in this playlist. They can be deleted with Ctrl+A to select all and then Shift+Delete.

Or try iTunes Folder Watch with its option to check for dead tracks on startup.

To clear tracks that are in your media folder, but not connected to iTunes, and that you no longer want, first add the media folder to iTunes, then sort the media on Date Added, select and remove anything that you've just added, this time sending to the recycle bin as you do so.

On the offchance that this is essentially what you've tried already, but the files were not recycled see Repair security permissions for iTunes for Windows. Note that iTunes will only offer to recycle content that is stored in the media folder listed under Edit > Preferences > Advanced. If your media is stored elsewhere then that is why iTunes isn't removing it. I have a script called KillSelectedFiles which can delete the underlying files wherever they are located.

Depending upon exactly what you've already done in terms of moving and deleting things by hand you might also have a use for FindTracks and DeDuper.

tt2

See Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy for a better backup method.

tt2