Which built-in option is used to remove old files related to maintenance plans?

The option that is used to remove old files related to maintenance plans is the Maintenance Cleanup Task. This task is specifically designed to manage the cleanup of files generated by SQL Server Agent jobs, including those from database maintenance plans. When maintenance tasks (such as backups or index reorganizations) generate output files, they can accumulate over time, consuming unnecessary storage space. The Maintenance Cleanup Task helps automate the deletion of these old files based on defined criteria, such as file age or file extension, ensuring that your system remains efficient and does not run out of disk space due to residual files.

Other tasks might seem relevant, but they serve different purposes. For instance, the Database Shrink Task focuses on reducing the physical size of the database by reclaiming space, and the Backup Cleanup Task specifically refers to removing backup files created by backup jobs, not general maintenance plan files. Lastly, the term File Cleanup Task is not a recognized standard task in SQL Server, further emphasizing that the Maintenance Cleanup Task is indeed the correct choice for this specific requirement.