Disk Cleanup doesn't get rid of all Temp files. Why?

[wylbur37]

When running the Disk Cleanup facility in Windows XP Pro,
it seemed to say that it would delete files in the Temp folder
(c:\documents and settings\user\local settings\temp).
But afterwards I discover that it got rid of only *some* of them
but left quite a number of them still there.

Why did it not delete all the Temp files?

Would it be safe for me to assume that ALL files in that folder
can safely be deleted?
In other words, can I just go to that folder and delete everything
manually?

 

[Mac]

Yes

 

[DL]

You can do, but some are created by apps and may be in use at the time

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Would it be safe for me to assume that ALL files in that folder can
Yes. The files present in the Temp folder can safely be deleted. However, if
you've installed a software during the current session, reboot once before
deleting the temporary files.

See also:

Alter the "LastAccess" value for cleaning the Temporary files using Disk
Cleanup utility:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/cleantemp.htm

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


When running the Disk Cleanup facility in Windows XP Pro,
it seemed to say that it would delete files in the Temp folder
(c:\documents and settings\user\local settings\temp).
But afterwards I discover that it got rid of only *some* of them
but left quite a number of them still there.

Why did it not delete all the Temp files?

Would it be safe for me to assume that ALL files in that folder
can safely be deleted?
In other words, can I just go to that folder and delete everything
manually?

 

[badgolferman]

wylbur37, 4/21/2006, 9:10:45 AM,

When running the Disk Cleanup facility in Windows XP Pro,
it seemed to say that it would delete files in the Temp folder
(c:\documents and settings\user\local settings\temp).
But afterwards I discover that it got rid of only some of them
but left quite a number of them still there.

Why did it not delete all the Temp files?

Would it be safe for me to assume that ALL files in that folder
can safely be deleted?
In other words, can I just go to that folder and delete everything
manually?

Forget Disk Cleanup. Try Crap Cleaner. The best disk cleanup utility
I have used.
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/ccleaner.html

 

[Stuart]

When running the Disk Cleanup facility in Windows XP Pro,
it seemed to say that it would delete files in the Temp folder
(c:\documents and settings\user\local settings\temp).
But afterwards I discover that it got rid of only *some* of them
but left quite a number of them still there.

Why did it not delete all the Temp files?

Would it be safe for me to assume that ALL files in that folder
can safely be deleted?
In other words, can I just go to that folder and delete everything
manually?

I always do, but bear in mind, that a) Disc Clean up will only delete the
files in there after a specified period of days, anything to new won't be
deleted. And b) if you do manually delete the files in there some may be
held open by programs and you may not be able to delete them

 

[Sharon F]

When running the Disk Cleanup facility in Windows XP Pro,
it seemed to say that it would delete files in the Temp folder
(c:\documents and settings\user\local settings\temp).
But afterwards I discover that it got rid of only *some* of them
but left quite a number of them still there.

Why did it not delete all the Temp files?

Would it be safe for me to assume that ALL files in that folder
can safely be deleted?
In other words, can I just go to that folder and delete everything
manually?

You've received answers to most of your questions already. Just wanted to
address the one about why the cleanup tool did not delete all of your temp
files. It inspects the time stamp on those files and leaves the ones from
the last 7 days (going by memory and that number may be 14). Reason: to
stay on the "safe" side in not deleting something that may still be in use
or needed. An example of "needed" would be files from a new software
install that are waiting to be written to disk on the next restart.

As others have stated, the files are safe to delete. NOTE: If you've
installed software since the last startup, restart the computer before
deleting.

 

[Richard in AZ]

When running the Disk Cleanup facility in Windows XP Pro,
it seemed to say that it would delete files in the Temp folder
(c:\documents and settings\user\local settings\temp).
But afterwards I discover that it got rid of only *some* of them
but left quite a number of them still there.

Why did it not delete all the Temp files?

Would it be safe for me to assume that ALL files in that folder
can safely be deleted?
In other words, can I just go to that folder and delete everything
manually?

By default, the Disk Cleanup Facility does not delete any files in the TEMP folder that are less
than 7 days old.
You can change this with a registry edit.


Clean all temp files with Disk Cleanup

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Volum­e

Caches\Temporary Files



Key called "LastAccess" is the number of days, value should be 7, i.e. changing it to 4 will mean
disk cleanup will delete all files that haven't been accessed in 4 days. and setting it to 0 will
delete them all regardless of the date they were last accessed.

 

[thanatoid]

When running the Disk Cleanup facility in Windows XP Pro,
it seemed to say that it would delete files in the Temp
folder (c:\documents and settings\user\local
settings\temp). But afterwards I discover that it got rid
of only *some* of them but left quite a number of them
still there.

Why did it not delete all the Temp files?

Would it be safe for me to assume that ALL files in that
folder can safely be deleted?
In other words, can I just go to that folder and delete
everything manually?

I don't know if it will run on XP (I think it should), but I
find it quite useful.

It's a 398 byte freeware command called cleanit.zip which I just
posted to

alt.binaries.warez.ibm-pc.old

(The program isn't THAT old but it's a nice *small* group with
some great stuff in it.)

I think it was originally called something else which I can't
remember, nor can I give credit to the author because I have no
other info.

After you unzip it, you will have a file which you just double
click on. The Find Files box will open and when you hit "find
now" or whatever the button is, it will find all the files the
command specifies. You can change the drives you want checked as
well.

Then you select what you want to delete and hit delete.

I suggest looking through the files carefully though, because
there is always a few you may want to keep for whatever reason.

Needless to say, you should finish all you're doing and close
ALL the programs before doing this.