Cannot view or access file in the Windows TEMP folder.

[Richard in AZ]

On early version of Windows XP SP1 (older Dell) I cannot access the Users
Temp Folder. I have set the PC to view hidden and system files. When I
click on the Temp folder I get the search flashlight and that never goes
away. I have to use the Task Manager to stop the search. From a CMD prompt
search of the folder, it would appear there are several hundred files and/or
folders in this folder. I did attempt to attempt to access it in the Safe
mode both from the user's account and from the administrator's account. No
luck. System cleanup will also not access it. The computer responds slow
and I think this folder is one of the causes.

The computer does have an updated "Spykiller" program running and I have
cleaned it twice with Spybot and Ad-Aware. Second run on each came back
clean. It also has eTrust and McAfee Security installed, although McAfee
is disabled. (The subscription ran out and the owner disabled McAfee) I
updated the eTrust and ran it and it did not find any viruses. However,
McAfee will not uninstall. It keeps saying that I have to close all McAfee
Services, but I cannot find any such services running.

Any suggestions?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

On early version of Windows XP SP1 (older Dell) I cannot access the Users
Temp Folder. I have set the PC to view hidden and system files. When I
click on the Temp folder I get the search flashlight and that never goes
away. I have to use the Task Manager to stop the search. From a CMD prompt
search of the folder, it would appear there are several hundred files and/or
folders in this folder. I did attempt to attempt to access it in the Safe
mode both from the user's account and from the administrator's account. No
luck. System cleanup will also not access it. The computer responds slow
and I think this folder is one of the causes.

The computer does have an updated "Spykiller" program running and I have
cleaned it twice with Spybot and Ad-Aware. Second run on each came back
clean. It also has eTrust and McAfee Security installed, although McAfee
is disabled. (The subscription ran out and the owner disabled McAfee) I
updated the eTrust and ran it and it did not find any viruses. However,
McAfee will not uninstall. It keeps saying that I have to close all McAfee
Services, but I cannot find any such services running.

Any suggestions?

Start the machine in Safe Mode, then start a Command Prompt and
type these commands:

rd /s /q "%temp%"
md "%temp%"

This will delete your temp folder, then recreate it. Report error
messages verbatim if you get any.

 

[The Outsider]

Any suggestions?

After you've done what Carey said I would use CrapCleaner from now on.
I use it all the time and it cleans out a lot of junk.

http://www.ccleaner.com/

CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It
removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster
and freeing up valuable hard disk space.