"Temporary" internet files

[Jan Il]

Hi Neil

There is no way to keep TIF's for years, unless you save them to the hard
drive. That is why they are called "Temporary " files. <g> Try the
information here and see if this helps with what you want to know.

The Cache
http://sweb.uky.edu/~wvang00/sayre/cache.htm

Temporary Internet Files / Cache
http://www.desilva.biz/misc/iecache.html?s=d8d31b07730bc3e8353b5a2246b41f93

Clearing the TIF Cache -

Safely Delete the Temporary Internet Files
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm

The temporary I.E. files folder is a cache for web pages that you have
visited. I don't know why Microsoft sets the default so high, but I have
seen 2gb set for storage. This and other setting can be changed to decreace
the size of the storage area, and supposedly delete the I.E. temp file when
you close the browser.

and....

Courtesy of Jim Byrd:

You might also try the CacheSentry: Free
http://www.enigmaticsoftware.com/cachesentry/index.html

"This is a program that fixes serious bugs in the Internet Explorer cache
manager (versions 3.0 on up through and including Internet Explorer for
Windows XP, and IE6). This program basically takes over the job of managing
the cache from Internet Explorer, and the result is your web browsing
session will be more enjoyable. CacheSentry isn't like those "web
acceleration" programs that hook into IE and attempt to make guesses about
your browsing habits. CacheSentry simply does a better job of removing files
from the cache, and fixes a few other bugs present in most versions of
Internet Explorer."

also.................

Alex Nichol -

TIF and Cookies are in quite separate physical folders.

Temporary means Temporary. Ones in the regular TEMP environmental
variable folders can be cleaned out as soon as the program that uses
them exits. It is advisable not to do this automatically at the
'autoexec' level, because some software installs leave some files
there for use when the system reboots. But I have a 'clean it up'
batch file that I run in the registry HKLM Run key

Ones in Temp Files are only needed should you be likely to go back to
the page. In Internet Options - Settings button I suggest cutting the
space allowed down - say 50 MB is plenty - and leave it to its own
devices.

and……...

In XP if you open TIF either direct in Explorer or via the TIF
Settings button - 'view files' in Internet Options, the contents of
Cookies is included. They are not deleted though if you use the
'Delete files' in Internet Options - there is a separate Delete
Cookies button.

(Aside - the above Delete Files and Delete Cookies buttons are also in
the IE6 and IE SP1 on the Tools | Internet Options | General tab)

Location of Temporary Internet Files:
C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files

For Windows XP the folder is located here:
C:\Documents and Settings\[USER NAME]\Local
Settings\Temporary Internet Files

Hope this helps

Jan
MS MVP - IE/OE
Smiles are meant to be shared,
that's why they're so contagious.

Replies are posted only to the newsgroup for the benefit or other readers.
How to make a good newsgroup post:
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Hi,

Can someone give me a quick overview of the "Temporary" Internet Files
(that stick around for years) and sub-directories that are safe to delete?
What do filenames such as "[20]" refer to? Can all those just be dumped
without consequences? If not, why are they "temporary"?

TIA

Neil

 

[Neil Gould]

Hi,

Can someone give me a quick overview of the "Temporary" Internet Files
(that stick around for years) and sub-directories that are safe to delete?
What do filenames such as "[20]" refer to? Can all those just be dumped
without consequences? If not, why are they "temporary"?

TIA

Neil

 

[Jan Il]

Hi Neil

Hi Jan,


(snipped)

Thanks for the pointers. I've been doing most of those suggestions for
years (really). However, I recently wanted to do some housekeeping on my
primary internet machine, and found an astounding number of .TMP files
left in various TIF subdirectories (not the measly 13,000 files one of the
reference sources found on their drive), some have been there for at least
5 years. It took HOURS to delete these files manually for some reason.

This is very unusual, even if you had your space for TIF folder set to the
highest, it would be very unusual. I would suggest that you have something
very wrong with your Index.dat file and should delete and let Windows create
a new one.

See: Index.dat - What is it
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=818018#19

Delete the History folder and index.dat:
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm

Courtesy of Ramesh -

or..........

To delete the History folder and index.dat (XP)
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm

Log on as Administrator and delete the desired <username> folder and reboot.
(or log on as another user that has Administrator privileges)
Example: "C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\HISTORY"

I'd like to get rid of the tens of thousands of "[xx]" zero byte files, as
well, but thought I'd ask about doing that first, as I'm not sure what
their meaning is to IE or OE.

Do you have Norton Doctor? As I recall, it tends to create a 'mass' of zeros
files which are not removed during normal TIF deletes and serve no purpose
but to continue building. If you have it, uninstall it for a while, delete
the zero files, and see if they continue to multiply.

Hmm. Interesting, but I'd prefer to do it manually so that I don't have to
second-guess what a 3rd party program does.

Understood, but, some people like keepng some temp files. <g>

Hope this helps

Jan
MS MVP - IE/OE
Smiles are meant to be shared,
that's why they're so contagious.

Replies are posted only to the newsgroup for the benefit or other readers.
How to make a good newsgroup post:
http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

 

[Neil Gould]

Hi Jan,

Hi Neil

There is no way to keep TIF's for years, unless you save them to the
hard drive. That is why they are called "Temporary " files. <g>

If that were only true! ;-)

Try
the information here and see if this helps with what you want to know.

(snipped)

Thanks for the pointers. I've been doing most of those suggestions for
years (really). However, I recently wanted to do some housekeeping on my
primary internet machine, and found an astounding number of .TMP files
left in various TIF subdirectories (not the measly 13,000 files one of the
reference sources found on their drive), some have been there for at least
5 years. It took HOURS to delete these files manually for some reason.

I'd like to get rid of the tens of thousands of "[xx]" zero byte files, as
well, but thought I'd ask about doing that first, as I'm not sure what
their meaning is to IE or OE.

and....

Courtesy of Jim Byrd:

You might also try the CacheSentry: Free
http://www.enigmaticsoftware.com/cachesentry/index.html

Hmm. Interesting, but I'd prefer to do it manually so that I don't have to
second-guess what a 3rd party program does.

Your help is appreciated! ;-)

Regards,

Neil

 

[Jan Il]

Hi Neil

(snipped)

See: Index.dat - What is it
[...]
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=818018#19

FYI, this reference leads to an "article not available" page.

Sorry for the dead link, now you see them , now they;re gone. <g> If you
should need it, this one works (at least right now, I just checked). Scroll
down to this part:
Completely Deleting the Temporary Internet Files and index.dat
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm

This sounds like a possible culprit. I have, but no longer use Norton
Doctor, but at one time I did. Those may have been left-overs.

If they are that old, then I would say that would be the case.

That's the idea behind doing it manually... ;-)

What I gathered from this set of references is that I shouldn't lose any
of my prefs, settings, and so forth if I just delete the entire TIF
sub-directory structure? That sounds like something to try after backing
it up (just in case). ;-)

No...the TIF's have no affect on any of those, but, you should backup the
Index.dat as a safety net. I can't think of anything in the TIF folder that
would be needed afterward. But, I understand the need to make sure. I
never delete anything until I am totally sure I don't need it. I ususally

It certainly has! Thanks!

Good luck! If you have any questions or whatever on this issue, post back
to this thread.

Jan
MS MVP - IE/OE
Smiles are meant to be shared,
that's why they're so contagious.

Replies are posted only to the newsgroup for the benefit or other readers.
How to make a good newsgroup post:
http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

 

[Neil Gould]

Hi Jan,

Thanks, once again!

Hi Neil

(snipped)

[...] It took HOURS to
delete these files manually for some reason.

This is very unusual, even if you had your space for TIF folder set
to the highest, it would be very unusual. I would suggest that you
have something very wrong with your Index.dat file and should delete
and let Windows create a new one.

See: Index.dat - What is it
[...]
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=818018#19

FYI, this reference leads to an "article not available" page.

I'd like to get rid of the tens of thousands of "[xx]" zero byte
files, as well, but thought I'd ask about doing that first, as I'm
not sure what their meaning is to IE or OE.

Do you have Norton Doctor? As I recall, it tends to create a 'mass'
of zeros files which are not removed during normal TIF deletes and
serve no purpose but to continue building. If you have it, uninstall
it for a while, delete the zero files, and see if they continue to
multiply.

This sounds like a possible culprit. I have, but no longer use Norton
Doctor, but at one time I did. Those may have been left-overs.

Understood, but, some people like keepng some temp files. <g>

That's the idea behind doing it manually... ;-)

What I gathered from this set of references is that I shouldn't lose any
of my prefs, settings, and so forth if I just delete the entire TIF
sub-directory structure? That sounds like something to try after backing
it up (just in case). ;-)

Hope this helps

It certainly has! Thanks!

Neil

 

[Gary Smith]

The procedure described at top of
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm should normally get rid of
all of the files you describe with one click. If that doesn't work, you
probably have a corrupted file or folder in there somewhere.

Recently, Jan Il <[email protected]> posted:

Thanks for the pointers. I've been doing most of those suggestions for
years (really). However, I recently wanted to do some housekeeping on my
primary internet machine, and found an astounding number of .TMP files
left in various TIF subdirectories (not the measly 13,000 files one of the
reference sources found on their drive), some have been there for at least
5 years. It took HOURS to delete these files manually for some reason.

I'd like to get rid of the tens of thousands of "[xx]" zero byte files, as
well, but thought I'd ask about doing that first, as I'm not sure what
their meaning is to IE or OE.

and....

Courtesy of Jim Byrd:

You might also try the CacheSentry: Free
http://www.enigmaticsoftware.com/cachesentry/index.html

Hmm. Interesting, but I'd prefer to do it manually so that I don't have to
second-guess what a 3rd party program does.