Temp files in win explorer

zver

zver

1
Ok,here is one..
When i made a files to be not hidden-you can see documents and settings folder and tons of folders inside...
There is a temp folder inside with a tons of files(size is 350 m on my pc),
and while i always erase my temp files from internet explorer,what to do with those..
For example there are all drivers and files for my sound card,old java 1.4 setup.exe???probably from before,i wanted to check and files started-its regular setup which you download,new wavelab5 setup.tons of files..How i can know wjhat is safe to delete??
Thanks!!!!!!!
 
VIPER_1069

VIPER_1069

1
my suggestion would be MOVE most if not all to another part of the drive away from your boot drive and if they are not called on by windows within about a month or 2 then i would say they are not needed but for the sake of 350mb and the throwaway price of a cdr i would also burn them to cdr and label the disk what they are and the date created and store it just in case :)
 
B

bionic

1
Zver:
Usually windows temp folders is located at
%SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\%userprofile%\local settings\Temp
and
%systemdrive%\windows(winnt)\Temp.
Its common for them to gather rather large amounts of files and folders.
Basically the files\folders you see is the extracted contents of install packages. Or the install packages from updates retrieved from internett. Most software comes in one executable file that contains several other files(cabs, infs etc) The install package needs to extract the files to a temporary location so that it can extract, rename, add registry values, register dlls and copy files to the configured location. This is a little simplified but thats the general idea. The files will vary according to the software you have installed.

Its (in theory) safe to delete the contents of the temp folders, windows/install packages are in theory supposed to delete temp files when install are finished, but hey..
Afaik the only times you should be careful deleting temp files is when you are installing a program that needs to reboot in order to complete the install, if you have purposely installed a program in that folder (not likely) or when programs(fex sony vegas video) uses the temp folder(by default it uses program files) as an location for its setup files(deleting the setup files can then cause problems when uninstalling)

Some programs use the temp folder as a part of its running processes, but you will usually get a "file is in use" error if you try to delete it/them. These files can usually be deleted if the program is exited or the system is rebooted.

Usually i setup systems to use a dedicated partition for temp/cache folders.
This to minimize fragmentation and to keep the system "tidy"
:)


Some more info
http://www.eutychus.com/windows_temp_directory_cleanup.htm
http://support.businessobjects.com/library/kbase/articles/c2006120.asp
 
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zver

zver

1
Ok here is a picture..
That folder(zocca)is same as the name of mashine-you must have it too-its your user folder..
As the bionic says most those folders in the temp folder arec consists of the app i installed before like java1.4-currently im on a 1.5.04 so for sure i dont need a old one,even i downloaded a new fsecure 6.zip.
There were a demo inside and a smal 50 kb exe and they are both there in temp folder,but what is worring me is there are some drivers there inside which i recognized as there are for sound card..
Anyway i hope tyhey are safe but will make a backup today before i delete it... :)
To see those you have to show hidden files have checked.
Thanks for link bud-very good,specially the first one
 

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VIPER_1069

VIPER_1069

1
they ARE temp files they should be fine to delete zver :)


although some may complain that they cannot be deleted so must be in use by some program or other :)

you should be able to get rid of those in safemode :)
 
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