thumbs.db

[Luiz Carlos G Monteiro]

I noticed some days ago that I now have a "thumbs.db" file on my desktop. I
don't know how this file ended up there.

Is it safe to delete this file?

( I have a larger file with the same name on MY IMAGES folder)

 

[Queenie]

thumb.db are the folder's cached thumbnail veiws. You can delete these with
adverse no problems as Windows will just recreate them as long as you have
"Enable thumbnail view" enabled. If you want to free up some space and get
rid of the thumbs.db files for good, just click View, Folder Options, click
the View tab and uncheck "Enable thumbnail view."

To get rid of all the thumbs.db files after doing the above, just do a
search for all thumbs.db and delete the lot and they won't come back ) You
may have to make sure that you have enabled "View hidden files and folders"
to find them...

Happy hunting )

 

[Queenie]

Here's a copy/paste from http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article03-204


Stop Windows from saving the thumbnail cache (THUMBS.DB)


Intended For
Windows XP only

Windows XP, by default, shows the thumbnails view of certain folders,
whether you want it to or not. Even if you choose Details (or some other
view) as your default by going to Tools -> Folder Options -> View tab and
click Apply to All Folders, Explorer may still revert back to the clumsy
Thumbnails view. It does this for any folder in which it finds the THUMBS.DB
file; naturally, if you delete this file, it won't happen again.
The problem is that Windows seems to repeatedly recreate the THUMBS.DB file
automatically. Here's how to stop this from happening:


1.. In Explorer, go to Tools -> Folder Options or open the Folder Options
icon in the Control Panel.
2.. Choose the View tab, and turn off the Do not cache thumbnails option.
3.. Click Ok.
You can also change this setting in the Registry:


1.. Open the Registry Editor (regedit.exe).
2.. Navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced.
3.. Double-click the DisableThumbnailCache value, or go to Edit -> New ->
DWORD value to create a new value by that name.
4.. Enter 1 for its value.
5.. Click Ok and close the Registry Editor when you're done; you'll have
to log off and then log back on for this to take effect.
Related article: Disable the automatic display of thumbnails in certain
folders.