should I delete .tmp files or not?

[Guest]

I need the disk space and there is about 20G's sitting there - flagged my
attention when OneLive scrolled "Surprise Pop Ups.zip' as looking for
virus.... looked and not sure if safe to delete all these files or not? Any
ideas - thanks

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

Reboot your system to make sure that none of the .tmp files are in use, then
they can be deleted.

--


Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups

 

[Unk]

I need the disk space and there is about 20G's sitting there - flagged my
attention when OneLive scrolled "Surprise Pop Ups.zip' as looking for
virus.... looked and not sure if safe to delete all these files or not? Any
ideas - thanks

Reboot first, then anything .tmp, or the contents of any tmp folder, is safe to remove.

Tidying up after installing SP2 http://aumha.org/win5/a/sp2faq.php#after

Removing the uninstall information
http://www.michna.com/kb/WxSP2.htm#Removing_the_uninstall_information

Safe to Delete: http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/spack.htm

Remove Hotfix Backup Files http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_hotfix_backup.htm

Do not delete the "C:\WINDOWS\$hf_mig$" folder. It's integral for when new updates are
applied making sure things are consistent with previously applied updates and patches.
Description of the contents of Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Windows Server 2003 software update
packages http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=824994

If your OS is running fine, delete all but the latest System Restore Point:
Click Start, Accessories, System tools, Disk Cleanup, "More Options" tab, "System Restore"
section, "Clean up" button, click "Yes"

Click Start, Settings, Control Panel, Internet Options, click the "General" tab, Under
"Temporary Internet Files", click the "Delete Files" button, check the box, "Delete all offline
content", "OK". After it finishes, click the "Settings" button and lower the amount of disk
space to use to 10 Meg. Click "OK", "Apply". That will increase your hard drive space by how
much was in that folder. I've seen it well over a gig. Folders that big are prone to crosslinked
files. Clear it weekly, or sooner, especially if IE starts acting funny. Better yet: Click the
"Advanced" tab, scroll down to "Security", and check the box, "Empty Temporary Internet Files
folder when browser is closed", click "Apply", "OK"

All that should get you back a couple of gigs. Go buy yourself a 200 Gig drive and use Norton
Ghost to duplicate your old drive to the new, larger drive. $cheap.
http://search.ebay.com//search/search.dll?from=R40&satitle=200+Gig+hard+drive

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I need the disk space and there is about 20G's sitting there -
flagged my attention when OneLive scrolled "Surprise Pop Ups.zip' as
looking for virus.... looked and not sure if safe to delete all these
files or not? Any ideas - thanks

Yes, they can, and should be, deleted periodically.

The temp folder provides workspace for programs. Programs can create
temporary files there for their own temporary use. Each program should
delete all its temporary files when it closes, but for various reasons it
doesn't always happen (for example, if the program crashes, it never gets to
do this). That's why it's a good idea to periodically clean out anything
left there.

Also note that there are some program installations which work in two steps.
The first step concludes by writing temporary files and rebooting. The
second step starts automatically after rebooting and needs to find those
files there (and then deletes them when it's done).

Other than doing it automatically when rebooting (that would interfere with
installations like the kind I described), it's always safe to delete the
contents of the temp folder. Because it's safe to delete any temp files that
aren't open and in use by an application, and since Windows won't let you
delete open files, it's safe to (try to) delete them at any time. If any
fail to delete because they're open, they'll either be deleted automatically
when the app using them closes, or you'll get them the next time you delete
manually.

 

[Guest]

Ken I would like to add a little tip. As that I would follow the process the
Unk suggested. I have had the unfortunate problems happen when I have
deleted a lot of temp files. Some were even system temp files because I had
a recent reinstall. This left the system very unstable. So now I take the
practice of just deleting temp files that are older than one week. If I been
using the system consistently during this time. Also I delete all xml temps.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Ken I would like to add a little tip. As that I would follow the
process the Unk suggested. I have had the unfortunate problems
happen when I have deleted a lot of temp files. Some were even
system temp files because I had a recent reinstall. This left the
system very unstable. So now I take the practice of just deleting
temp files that are older than one week. If I been using the system
consistently during this time. Also I delete all xml temps.

I don't have any serious objection to someone's deleting only those temp
files that are older than one week, but I think the precaution is
unnecessary. Personally, I always delete *all* temp files that are
deletable. I've never had a problem doing so, and I've done this on many
machines, and many times. If you had a problem when you did so, I think it's
likely that the problem was a result of something else, and you
misattributed it to the temp file deletion.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

 

[Guest]

Thank you for your comment and your reasurance.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Thank you for your comment and your reasurance.

You're welcome, Frances. Glad to help.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

 

[Plato]

I need the disk space and there is about 20G's sitting there - flagged my
attention when OneLive scrolled "Surprise Pop Ups.zip' as looking for
virus.... looked and not sure if safe to delete all these files or not? Any
ideas - thanks

Temp/tmp files are always safe to nuke.