What can be deleted in Temp file ?

[Peter Buttuls]

Hi,

In my directory... /Documents and Settings/Peter Buttuls/Local Settings/Temp,
when I saved it as a backup I noticed that the folder Temp was about 500 MB big.
Can anyone give me criteria what files I can and cannot delete in that folder, because
I remember once that someone who is not exactly a novice deleted a file in there
which caused him problems. Also, I notice that the disk cleanup program does not
mention that folder.

Thanks,
Peter

 

[Olórin]

Hi,

In my directory... /Documents and Settings/Peter Buttuls/Local
Settings/Temp,
when I saved it as a backup I noticed that the folder Temp was about 500 MB
big.
Can anyone give me criteria what files I can and cannot delete in that
folder, because
I remember once that someone who is not exactly a novice deleted a file in
there
which caused him problems. Also, I notice that the disk cleanup program does
not
mention that folder.

Thanks,
Peter
==========

What I'd do - restart computer, don't start any apps, browse to that temp
folder, sort by date, select and delete everything before today's date. Then
try and delete what's left - you won't be able to remove anything Windows is
currently using, just get rid of everything else. The previous step just
saves time in whittling down anything Windows refuses to delete due to its
being in use.

Of course, if *you've* been saving data to that temp folder, or saving
downloads to it, etc - then don't delete those files. Only you know whether
you've been specifying it as a location to use.

If you're leery, make sure you just delete to the Recycle Bin, leave the
files there for a while - if anything "breaks", you can always haul files
back out.

I wouldn't bother backing up that folder any more, either. Its intended use
*is* just as a temporary storage for files, though OS & apps don't clear it
out as they should.

 

[Don Phillipson]

In my directory... /Documents and Settings/Peter Buttuls/Local Settings/Temp,
when I saved it as a backup I noticed that the folder Temp was about 500 MB big.
Can anyone give me criteria what files I can and cannot delete in that

folder,

1. There are no such "criteria." The general idea is that temporary
files ought to be self-deleting when no longer needed (e.g. next reboot
but some programmers fail to specify this correctly.
2. Simplest solution is:
-- Write down the filepath in case you need it again.
-- Make a new folder e.g. c:\temp\temp2 and
-- MOVE there all contents of the / Temp folder in question, then
-- reboot.
3. If for any reason your PC made a file call to one of the / Temp
files, you would see an error message (because it is not found at
its old filepath) and you can if necessary move it back. But chances
are 99 per cent that you will get no error message (so you can later
delete c:\temp\temp2\*.* when you think of it.)

 

[Frank]

Once a month I delete everything created during the previous month. Thus all
temporary files were there for a month just in case any were needed for
something.

Frank


Hi,

In my directory... /Documents and Settings/Peter Buttuls/Local
Settings/Temp,
when I saved it as a backup I noticed that the folder Temp was about 500 MB
big.
Can anyone give me criteria what files I can and cannot delete in that
folder, because
I remember once that someone who is not exactly a novice deleted a file in
there
which caused him problems. Also, I notice that the disk cleanup program does
not
mention that folder.

Thanks,
Peter

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In my directory... /Documents and Settings/Peter Buttuls/Local Settings/Temp,
when I saved it as a backup I noticed that the folder Temp was about 500 MB big.
Can anyone give me criteria what files I can and cannot delete in that folder, because
I remember once that someone who is not exactly a novice deleted a file in there
which caused him problems. Also, I notice that the disk cleanup program does not
mention that folder.

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.

Some people may suggest that you reboot before deleting anything, but
that's not necessary, for the reason described above (on the other
hand, it doesn't hurt to do it).

 

[Peter Foldes]

JS

Check your settings in your OE newsreader. The OP's HTML code was returned with your
reply to him





--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.

You can delete everything in the temp folder.

There may be a few files that are in use, most of
the "in use" file can't be deleted but
you can easily identify these because they
almost always have the current (today's) date.

--
JS
http://www.pagestart.com



Hi,

In my directory... /Documents and Settings/Peter Buttuls/Local Settings/Temp,
when I saved it as a backup I noticed that the folder Temp was about 500 MB big.
Can anyone give me criteria what files I can and cannot delete in that folder,
because
I remember once that someone who is not exactly a novice deleted a file in there
which caused him problems. Also, I notice that the disk cleanup program does not
mention that folder.

Thanks,
Peter

 

[JS]

That should fix it.

Thanks Peter