temporary internet files

[Guillermo]

Hello:
When I erase everything in the temporary internet files folder, it looks
like nothing is there, but when I go to a command prompt and type dir /s,
or if I get the properties of the folder, it shows thousands of directories
and files (47000 files aprox),, that I would like to erase. Or are they that
important?
How can I get them to show up in explorer


guillermo

 

[Gary Smith]

When I erase everything in the temporary internet files folder, it looks
like nothing is there, but when I go to a command prompt and type dir /s,
or if I get the properties of the folder, it shows thousands of directories
and files (47000 files aprox),, that I would like to erase. Or are they that
important?

The files are not important and can be deleted. The easiest way to do
this is to close IE, then go to the Control Panel, open Internet Options,
click Delete Files, check the "Delete offline files" box, and click OK.
That should clean out everything except for index.dat and desktop.ini.

How can I get them to show up in explorer

You can't. IE insists on showing you what's in index.dat, not what's
really out there.

 

[Guest]

Hello:

How can I get them to show up in explorer

The only way I know of involves having another computer running an OS
without Interner Explorer, eg WinNT4, and browsing to that directory via the
network.

Cheers

Adam

 

[Guest]

|> When I erase everything in the temporary internet files folder, it looks
|> like nothing is there, but when I go to a command prompt and type dir /s,
|> or if I get the properties of the folder, it shows thousands of directories
|> and files (47000 files aprox),, that I would like to erase. Or are they that
|> important?
|
|The files are not important and can be deleted. The easiest way to do
|this is to close IE, then go to the Control Panel, open Internet Options,
|click Delete Files, check the "Delete offline files" box, and click OK.
|That should clean out everything except for index.dat and desktop.ini.
|
|> How can I get them to show up in explorer
|
|You can't. IE insists on showing you what's in index.dat, not what's
|really out there.
|
My files show up fine in explorer if I navigate down to
\%userprofile%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.***\********

(the last ***\******** is replace with an IE version# and a randomly generated
folder name - usually there are 4-8 of these)

This may have to do with whether you have explorer set to show you hidden
and/or system files.

You can delete everything in there except index.dat, since it is always held
open. (you can delete index.dat belonging to a user who is not currently
logged on).

You can also set the option in Internet Options/advanced that will "Empty
Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed" - this should help
keep that directory cleaned out for you.

Note that most of the Internet Options are per-user settings, so changing them
will only affect the current user.

Also - in Internet Options/Delete Files it is "offline content", not "offline
files" - these are something different that are controlled under Folder
Options in Windows Explorer - you may also want to disable these.

 

[Gary Smith]

|
|> How can I get them to show up in explorer
|
|You can't. IE insists on showing you what's in index.dat, not what's
|really out there.
|
My files show up fine in explorer if I navigate down to
\%userprofile%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.***\********
(the last ***\******** is replace with an IE version# and a randomly generated
folder name - usually there are 4-8 of these)

Yeah, you're right. I don't think it always did this, but I could be
mistaken. I seem to recall that they used to display the same cache view
that you get when viewing Tempoerary Internet Files, but if that was true
once, it's not true now using IE6.

This may have to do with whether you have explorer set to show you hidden
and/or system files.

Those randomly-named folders all have the System attribute set. IMO,
everyone should set their systems to display hidden and system files.
Hiding things from yourself is just asking for problems.

You can delete everything in there except index.dat, since it is always held
open. (you can delete index.dat belonging to a user who is not currently
logged on).

Logging on as a different user with administrator privileges is the
easiest way to clean out such files. I like to delete index.dat
occasionally. If left alone, it seems to grow without limit.

You can also set the option in Internet Options/advanced that will "Empty
Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed" - this should help
keep that directory cleaned out for you.

Doing that definitely helps, but it doesn't get everything. It won't
touch any files that IE didn't put in there. Outlook Express is one of
several programs that stores things in TIF and doesn't always remove them
afterward.

Note that most of the Internet Options are per-user settings, so changing them
will only affect the current user.

Also - in Internet Options/Delete Files it is "offline content", not "offline
files" - these are something different that are controlled under Folder
Options in Windows Explorer - you may also want to disable these.

Yep -- not all memory problems are inside the machine.