Temporary files

[Humpty Dumpty]

I've made a search for all *.tmp files. I find hundreds of them in folder
\user\local settings\temp.
When I try to delete them, I receive a message: "file is being used by
anoter user or program".
Questions:
1) Can I harm my system by deleting a TMP file?
2) What is the reason for the message?
3) Finally, how can I safely delete all these files?
TIA,
Peter

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I've made a search for all *.tmp files. I find hundreds of them in folder
\user\local settings\temp.
When I try to delete them, I receive a message: "file is being used by
anoter user or program".
Questions:
1) Can I harm my system by deleting a TMP file?
2) What is the reason for the message?
3) Finally, how can I safely delete all these files?
TIA,
Peter

It is always safe to delete .tmp files. Some of them may
be locked because they are currently in use. You will do
no harm by attempting to delete them - the system won't
let you!

 

[R. McCarty]

Best to purge the System & Profile Temp folders immediately
after booting XP.

Selecting/Deleting a group will "Fail" at the point where a file is
in use. The remaining selections will not be removed.

To do it effectively, you can create a batch or just do it from a
Command Prompt

Click Start, Run (Type) cmd [Press Enter]

Del C:\Windows\Temp\*.* /Q /S

Some people recommend a program called CCleaner that does
the type of maintenance you're interested in. Personally, on my
main system - all the Workspace/Temp folders are redirected to
alternate physical drive to keep them separate from XP.

 

[Richard Urban]

So many of these irritating file handling problems just go away when you use
a quality 3rd party file manager program, instead of the Window interface.

The one I use pops up a message "skip". If another one comes up as
undeletable, I press skip all. Only the "in use" files will be left.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

Best to purge the System & Profile Temp folders immediately
after booting XP.

Selecting/Deleting a group will "Fail" at the point where a file is
in use. The remaining selections will not be removed.

To do it effectively, you can create a batch or just do it from a
Command Prompt

Click Start, Run (Type) cmd [Press Enter]

Del C:\Windows\Temp\*.* /Q /S

Some people recommend a program called CCleaner that does
the type of maintenance you're interested in. Personally, on my
main system - all the Workspace/Temp folders are redirected to
alternate physical drive to keep them separate from XP.

I've made a search for all *.tmp files. I find hundreds of them in folder
\user\local settings\temp.
When I try to delete them, I receive a message: "file is being used by
anoter user or program".
Questions:
1) Can I harm my system by deleting a TMP file?
2) What is the reason for the message?
3) Finally, how can I safely delete all these files?
TIA,
Peter

 

[Humpty Dumpty]

Thank you very much. Your insights have allowed me to understand and get rid
of the over one thousand temporary files.
I opened the folder, selected view/arrange by/modified, then ordered them
from oldest to newest, selected all and delete. Only the two last ones - the
ones from the present boot, wouldn't be deleted, being in use.
One last thing remains to understand: what are these files. I tried to read
them with Notepad, but it is not understandable.
Thanks again,
Peter

Best to purge the System & Profile Temp folders immediately
after booting XP.

Selecting/Deleting a group will "Fail" at the point where a file is
in use. The remaining selections will not be removed.

To do it effectively, you can create a batch or just do it from a
Command Prompt

Click Start, Run (Type) cmd [Press Enter]

Del C:\Windows\Temp\*.* /Q /S

Some people recommend a program called CCleaner that does
the type of maintenance you're interested in. Personally, on my
main system - all the Workspace/Temp folders are redirected to
alternate physical drive to keep them separate from XP.

I've made a search for all *.tmp files. I find hundreds of them in folder
\user\local settings\temp.
When I try to delete them, I receive a message: "file is being used by
anoter user or program".
Questions:
1) Can I harm my system by deleting a TMP file?
2) What is the reason for the message?
3) Finally, how can I safely delete all these files?
TIA,
Peter

 

[Rock]

Thank you very much. Your insights have allowed me to understand and get rid
of the over one thousand temporary files.
I opened the folder, selected view/arrange by/modified, then ordered them
from oldest to newest, selected all and delete. Only the two last ones - the
ones from the present boot, wouldn't be deleted, being in use.
One last thing remains to understand: what are these files. I tried to read
them with Notepad, but it is not understandable.
Thanks again,
Peter

Best to purge the System & Profile Temp folders immediately
after booting XP.

Selecting/Deleting a group will "Fail" at the point where a file is
in use. The remaining selections will not be removed.

To do it effectively, you can create a batch or just do it from a
Command Prompt

Click Start, Run (Type) cmd [Press Enter]

Del C:\Windows\Temp\*.* /Q /S

Some people recommend a program called CCleaner that does
the type of maintenance you're interested in. Personally, on my
main system - all the Workspace/Temp folders are redirected to
alternate physical drive to keep them separate from XP.

I've made a search for all *.tmp files. I find hundreds of them in folder
\user\local settings\temp.
When I try to delete them, I receive a message: "file is being used by
anoter user or program".
Questions:
1) Can I harm my system by deleting a TMP file?
2) What is the reason for the message?
3) Finally, how can I safely delete all these files?
TIA,
Peter

They are of all different types - created by different programs using
that folder as it's temporary work space then not cleaning up after
itself.

 

[antioch]

I thought somebody recently said:
Disk Cleanup does it after they are 7 days old so don't bother doing it
manually.
Is that not true??

So many of these irritating file handling problems just go away when you
use a quality 3rd party file manager program, instead of the Window
interface.

The one I use pops up a message "skip". If another one comes up as
undeletable, I press skip all. Only the "in use" files will be left.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

Best to purge the System & Profile Temp folders immediately
after booting XP.

Selecting/Deleting a group will "Fail" at the point where a file is
in use. The remaining selections will not be removed.

To do it effectively, you can create a batch or just do it from a
Command Prompt

Click Start, Run (Type) cmd [Press Enter]

Del C:\Windows\Temp\*.* /Q /S

Some people recommend a program called CCleaner that does
the type of maintenance you're interested in. Personally, on my
main system - all the Workspace/Temp folders are redirected to
alternate physical drive to keep them separate from XP.

I've made a search for all *.tmp files. I find hundreds of them in
folder \user\local settings\temp.
When I try to delete them, I receive a message: "file is being used by
anoter user or program".
Questions:
1) Can I harm my system by deleting a TMP file?
2) What is the reason for the message?
3) Finally, how can I safely delete all these files?
TIA,
Peter