|
 How
to safely delete temporary files
Applies to Windows XP Pro and Windows Vista
How to view all temporary files?
There are three different places that you can find temporary files on your
computer. They are located in different place in Windows Vista and Windows Xp.
In Windows Vista there are three file paths below to follow to view the
temporary files.
C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Temp (%temp)
C:\Windows\Temp (temp)
C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files
To view these files you can type the exact path into the run box and you will be
taken there. Make sure you replace the part where it says "username" with your
own username. For the top two there is a shortcut to type in. This is shown at
the end of the path. Therefore to see the first temp folder we would follow
these steps:
-
Press WINKEY and R to open a run box.
-
Then type in %temp% and press ok. See the screenshot
below.
The window below will appear showing all the temporary files in this
folder...This is all junk and although I clean this temporary folder out often,
it still has over 26MB of files in it. That might not seem like much but that is
only for one week. Image if you left it there to build up over 52 weeks or more.
You should simply select these files and right click on them and delete them.
There is nothing there that is needed. The only thing is you might not be able
to delete a file if it is being used by another program. You can come back later
and delete it.
If you want to view the second Windows temp folder then simply type temp
into the run box. You can find both of these temp folders the same way in
Windows XP.
The last place to find temporary files is the temporary internet files. In
Windows Vista they are located at C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local
Settings\Temporary Internet Files. These files include cookies, browsing
history, and more..
To find your temporary internet files simply type this path into the run box.
Make sure you replace the word username with your username (mine is mitz)
for your computer. See the screenshot below. All these files have been collected
when you browse the internet.
How to view temporary internet files in Windows XP
-
Go to the start menu and choose control panel from
the menu.
-
Double click on the internet options icon. The
Windows below will appear.
-
Click on the Settings button, just below the heading, browsing
history.
- The Temporary Internet Files and History Settings
window will open.
- Click on View files to see the temporary internet
files.
Now you are welcome to delete any of these files manually if you like.
How to safely delete temporary files using Windows Tools?
You can use The system tools that are included
with the Windows operating system to clean up your computer, however it is
widely thought that 3rd party programs can do a more thorough job. To find
Windows system tools simply go to the start menu, choose all programs, then
accessories, then system tools. This applies to both Windows XP and Windows
Vista. You will see a list of system tool programs that you can use to cleanup
your computer. You can use
disk cleanup
to safely delete temporary files and you can also
Delete your visited website history and other temporary internet files via
Internet Explorer.
Notes on adding a link in the right click
menu:
-
You can experiment with commands to open
programs.
-
Just remember that editing the registry is
dangerous.
-
You can easily get a command to open most
programs by looking for the file with the .exe file extension.
Creating, saving, copying, pasting, and moving files or folders on your
computer.
Disable or enable the Task Manager using the Group
Policy Editor or Windows registry editor
Importing and
Exporting Bookmarks/Favorites in Internet Explorer/Firefox
Putting a picture or text into your Gmail email signature.
How
to use the BBC code anchor and iurl tags to jump to an anchor in a post
How to open task scheduler and set tasks for your
computer
Top HTML
Layout Codes for your Myspace Webpage
Backup your cookies by using the import export
option in your browser
About the Author
Mitz wrote this article and others for
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