C:\Windows\Temp garbage files?

There are hundreds of files in my \Windows\Temp folder. Since this IS
a temporary storage folder, I think that the OS should have deleted
them. Since it hasn't, is there any reason I can't get rid of them?

Thanks, Bill

MrBill wrote:
> There are hundreds of files in my \Windows\Temp folder. Since this IS
> a temporary storage folder, I think that the OS should have deleted
> them. Since it hasn't, is there any reason I can't get rid of them?

It is not the responsibility of the OS to keep temp clean. It is the
responsibility of the application that uses temp to clean up its temp
files when they are no longer needed. As you see, there are many, many
apps that don't do a good job of cleaning up their temp files.

A good general rule of thumb for cleaning up files in temp is to reboot
your machine and then delete any file that is older than current date.
--
Tom Porterfield

MrBill <> wrote in
news::

> There are hundreds of files in my \Windows\Temp folder. Since
> this IS a temporary storage folder, I think that the OS should
> have deleted them. Since it hasn't, is there any reason I can't
> get rid of them?
>
> Thanks, Bill
>


Run Disk Cleanup


--
Hope this helps

Dave

Tom Porterfield wrote:
> MrBill wrote:
>> There are hundreds of files in my \Windows\Temp folder. Since this IS
>> a temporary storage folder, I think that the OS should have deleted
>> them. Since it hasn't, is there any reason I can't get rid of them?
>
> It is not the responsibility of the OS to keep temp clean. It is the
> responsibility of the application that uses temp to clean up its temp
> files when they are no longer needed. As you see, there are many, many
> apps that don't do a good job of cleaning up their temp files.
>
> A good general rule of thumb for cleaning up files in temp is to reboot
> your machine and then delete any file that is older than current date.

Either that or use an OS that does empty them on shut down or reboot
like Ubuntu does. www.ubuntu.com

Alias

Alias wrote:
>> It is not the responsibility of the OS to keep temp clean. It is the
>> responsibility of the application that uses temp to clean up its temp
>> files when they are no longer needed. As you see, there are many,
>> many apps that don't do a good job of cleaning up their temp files.
>>
>> A good general rule of thumb for cleaning up files in temp is to
>> reboot your machine and then delete any file that is older than
>> current date.
>
> Either that or use an OS that does empty them on shut down or reboot
> like Ubuntu does. www.ubuntu.com

The problem with emptying temp on shutdown is some app installs use temp
as a storage location for install files that need to be processed on
next reboot. As the OS can't know for sure which of these files might
be there pending a reboot, it can't safely delete these files. The
correct behavior would be for the application to clean up these files
once it is finished with them.
--
Tom Porterfield

Tom Porterfield wrote:
> Alias wrote:
>>> It is not the responsibility of the OS to keep temp clean. It is the
>>> responsibility of the application that uses temp to clean up its temp
>>> files when they are no longer needed. As you see, there are many,
>>> many apps that don't do a good job of cleaning up their temp files.
>>>
>>> A good general rule of thumb for cleaning up files in temp is to
>>> reboot your machine and then delete any file that is older than
>>> current date.
>>
>> Either that or use an OS that does empty them on shut down or reboot
>> like Ubuntu does. www.ubuntu.com
>
> The problem with emptying temp on shutdown is some app installs use temp
> as a storage location for install files that need to be processed on
> next reboot. As the OS can't know for sure which of these files might
> be there pending a reboot, it can't safely delete these files. The
> correct behavior would be for the application to clean up these files
> once it is finished with them.

The only thing I have seen that needs a reboot in Ubuntu is a kernel
update and I have never had a problem with it clearing temp files it
needs on reboot.

With Windows, you have a point. With Linux, it isn't an issue just like
defragging, viruses, malware, etc. aren't issues to worry about.

Alias

MrBill wrote:
> There are hundreds of files in my \Windows\Temp folder. Since this IS
> a temporary storage folder, I think that the OS should have deleted
> them. Since it hasn't, is there any reason I can't get rid of them?
>
> Thanks, Bill

Download and install Crap Cleaner. It will clear out all the temp files
and more. You can configure it to delete all cookies except those you
designate so you don't have to be signing in again at web sites. Just be
sure to run it after a reboot.

Alias

Alias wrote:
> MrBill wrote:
>> There are hundreds of files in my \Windows\Temp folder. Since this IS
>> a temporary storage folder, I think that the OS should have deleted
>> them. Since it hasn't, is there any reason I can't get rid of them?
>>
>> Thanks, Bill
>
> Download and install Crap Cleaner. It will clear out all the temp files
> and more. You can configure it to delete all cookies except those you
> designate so you don't have to be signing in again at web sites. Just be
> sure to run it after a reboot.
>
> Alias

URL: www.ccleaner.com

Alias

I rebooted, then deleted everything from yesterday on back (21 MB and
432 files), then booted again. There were no problems and the Temp
folder looks a LOT better! I've only had this machine for 2 weeks -
that's a lot of garbage for such a short period of time!

Thanks for the help Tom.

- Bill

On Fri, 13 Jul 2007 09:07:12 -0400, Tom Porterfield
<> wrote:

>MrBill wrote:
>> There are hundreds of files in my \Windows\Temp folder. Since this IS
>> a temporary storage folder, I think that the OS should have deleted
>> them. Since it hasn't, is there any reason I can't get rid of them?
>
>It is not the responsibility of the OS to keep temp clean. It is the
>responsibility of the application that uses temp to clean up its temp
>files when they are no longer needed. As you see, there are many, many
>apps that don't do a good job of cleaning up their temp files.
>
>A good general rule of thumb for cleaning up files in temp is to reboot
>your machine and then delete any file that is older than current date.

My new Dell PC (purchased 2 weeks ago) is replacing an older PC which
had the full Zone Alarm Suite. This suite had a crap cleaner which
worked great. Since the new PC came with a 3-year license for the
McAfee Security Center, I didn't bother reinstalling ZA, but I did
miss the ZA "crap cleaner". I had planned on searching for a
replacement, but you saved me the trouble . . .

Thanks, MrBill

On Fri, 13 Jul 2007 15:32:49 +0200, Alias
<> wrote:

>Alias wrote:
>> MrBill wrote:
>>> There are hundreds of files in my \Windows\Temp folder. Since this IS
>>> a temporary storage folder, I think that the OS should have deleted
>>> them. Since it hasn't, is there any reason I can't get rid of them?
>>>
>>> Thanks, Bill
>>
>> Download and install Crap Cleaner. It will clear out all the temp files
>> and more. You can configure it to delete all cookies except those you
>> designate so you don't have to be signing in again at web sites. Just be
>> sure to run it after a reboot.
>>
>> Alias
>
>URL: www.ccleaner.com
>
>Alias