So, I’m doing one of my periodic computer clean-ups, and this has bothered me for a long time – I look down my directory tree and see:
Under C:\Documents and Settings\MyUserID\local Settings:
\Temp\Cookies
\Temp\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\Gobbledygook
\Temp\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IEe\Indecipherable
etc.
\Temporary Internet Files\buncha cookie files
\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\MumbleJumble
\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\RandomCharacters
etc.
Then, there's more nonsensical (to humans, anyway) directory names under
C:\Documents and Settings\MyUserID\UserData\Walawalawala
C:\Documents and Settings\MyUserID\UserData\ImVeryAnnoyed
etc.
And then, under C:\WINNT, there is
\Downloaded Program Files, with an IE icon for its folder
\Offline Web Pages
\Web
I have no idea how many others are hidden away that I can’t find yet. Why the #$&(@! are there so many files and directories, scattered all over the place, with what appears to be duplicate information? Is there a way to clean these guys up and prevent them from re-appearing? This is on Windows 2000, if that matters.
A related question, a bump, and a barely useful answer for the OP…
As for cleaning all this stuff up, try this within IE:
Tools/Internet Options
(or View/Options, depending on the version of IE you’re using)
In the middle of the ‘General’ tab is Temporary Internet Files, with two buttons, one of which is helpful here; to whit, Delete Files…
Push it.
However, this leads to my question:
Why is it that the above procedure never seems to actually delete all the bloody temp files from the cache?
Every so often, I find m’self manually deleting a whole boatload of files and folders, with a file manager, after doing the above. And it’s not just cookies that need to be given the boot, on my W98 machine, anyway.
[sub]An answer besides “MS sucks” would be helpful, here. We already know this.[/sub]
When forced to use this PC I regularly clean out both the ‘temporary internet files’ and the ‘temp’ folders Occasionally there are files which cannot be deleted, and I assume this is because they’re temporary files relating to applications which are currently running.
If you’re a novice at PC maintainance (like me, a mac guy, maintainance?? You mean rebuild once a month?), it’s a good idea to search out a good ‘preventive maintainance routine’. It only takes a few minutes to carry out all the suggestions, frees up loads of memory and seems to help with stability.
I’d still love to know why there seem to be thousands upon thousands of files everywhere on pcs. I’ve tried to tidy them a la mac by creating folders and throwing them all in it. Don’t do. It screws things up royally.
Yeah, I already use that button to clean out the cache, and, actually, I have the same question that you do. The mumble-jumble directories also seem to multiply for no good reason, and if I try to remove them manually, Windows squawks that I may cause system instability if I do so. Uh-huh, the old blame-the-user strategy. Oops…sorry, this isn’t the Pit, so I’ll just say that I am annoyed to no end.
Oh, I should mention that IE6 has an extra button to delete cookies, in addition to the cache files, so you may want to look into that.
I run adaware all the time, and they don’t. I have the same problem with Outlook too, as well as IE. There are loads of hidden caches all over the damn place, and if you don’t know their nonsensical names, you can’t find em. And they don’t show up in Explorer, even with “show hidden files” turned on.
You can change a couple of settings that reduces the amount of temp files you have hanging around.
First, you can change the amount of disk space your computer allots to temp files (I’m talking about Windows ME here). In Tools, Internet Options, General, where it says Temporary Internet Files, click on Settings, and it has a slider bar that lets you limit how much disk space it’ll use for that. I’ve got mine set on 10 Meg, which is about the minimum, and I’ve never had any panicky error messages from my computer, “Oh, no, we’re out of disk space!”
Second, you can instruct Internet Explorer to empty the Temporary files every time you close the browser. Under Tools, Internet Options, Advanced, scroll way down to Security, and click Empty Temporary Internet Files Folder When Browser Is Closed.
I have learned the hard way not to be too paranoid about every odd little file that’s in my Temp folder. Sometimes programs like, oh, I dunno, something like RealPlayer or DirectX or Sibelius Scorch turn out to need that odd little Temp file, and you don’t figure it out until much later, after you’ve uninstalled and reinstalled the thing two or three times, trying to get it to work, wondering why it keeps locking up. I just let IE dump the files when it closes, and only give them 10 Meg of disk space, and don’t worry about it.
Those files are not separate files within the disk’s file system but Windows Explorer will show them that way just FYI. You can copy the files to another folder etc but they are all merged in one huge file and Internet explorer keeps another file with the index etc. You should not attempt to delete the files from Windows Explorer as you will just mess up the IE management of that cache. Use the tools IE provides or other specialised software.
Well, then what specialized software works well for this? IE obviously isn’t smart enough to clean up its own mess.
And actually, using Norton’s file manager, I delete pretty much everything in the cache, including all the subdirectories, but for a few cookies (the SDMB’s, for example) and haven’t noticed any (more) instability than normal, with IE.
It’s not that big a deal (and I’m another who runs adaware for peace of mind) to do this, world peace does not hinge on my having to spend 5 minutes on file maintenance, but…
If the &*@^ing thing says “Push this button to delete all temporary files” and it, in point of fact, doesn’t, it irks me.
It’s like hiring a maid to clean your house, paying her on the way out the door, then finding that she cleaned the house… except for the dust bunnies under the bed… and that week old melon rind in the back of the fridge… and she forgot to vacuum the little scrap of carpet you use as a bootscraper in the garage…
If I knew I was gonna have to do all this m’self, I wouldn’t have bothered with the maid in the first place.
[sub]It’s a bit spooky running across some file that, according to the file date, has been in my temp directory for nearly 3 years. I may need to check my dictionary again, but I’m pretty sure that ain’t temporary.[/sub]
After reading this thread, I downloaded a freeware explorer (called 2xExplorer), went into my temporary internet folder and there were all the offending hidden directories. I closed down IE, and deleted them all. 115 Megs(!!!) of shite. It took 10 minutes to delete them all. Very pleased.
Can you upgrade IE from what came on the windows install disk,
to like IE6? Then reinstall widows (98) over the top sometime in the future?
Or does this screw everything up. I tried it once and had to re-format and re-install. The reason I tried to re-install over the top was IE6 was broken and I couldn`t repair it.
I`m going to get that 2xExplorer buy the way. Everyone should have ADAWARE too.
Contrary to what sailor said, it seems IE stores the individual cache files in the “VQXKWZY” (or whatever) directories. It then stores a shortcut to each file in the “Temporary Internet Files” directory. Fuck knows why. So the reason I had 115Mb of files is that was my cache size. You can manipulate the files via the shortcuts by dint of the folder being a ‘special’ folder - it’s cusomized to behave differently under windows.
However, it’s still incapable of wiping its own ass, so the manual deletion thing seems like a good idea.
P.S. whuckfistle, I don’t know the answer to your question, but I love your username.
>> Contrary to what sailor said, it seems IE stores the individual cache files in the “VQXKWZY” (or whatever) directories. It then stores a shortcut to each file in the “Temporary Internet Files” directory
Nope. Wrong. Windows Explorer displays it like that but that is not the way it is stored in the disk. Start the computer in DOS mode and see if you find any of those entries. You won’t.
Windows Explorer displays them because it understands the structure of the file and chooses to display them AS IF they were separate files but it does not represent the true structure of the files on the disk.
Start in DOS or other program which can display the FAT or NTFS structure and you will not find any individual files.
Outlook Express does the same with emails but Windows Explorer does not show the individual emails but rather the true files that contain them. But it could display the emails AS IF they were individual files.
Hmm, sailor, I did what you said, and checked the directory with DOS, and the files are indeed there, as individual files.
\Temporary Internet Files\ has no files in it, but if I cd to the bizarrely named directories (eg. \Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\RYVWCQS) I find hundreds of individual files when I do a dir in DOS.
Hmmm, I’ll have to investigate further. I remember it was done the way I said in earlier versions but, now that disk space is much cheaper, they may have changed in the latest versions.
In any case, I suppose they still have their separate index file so if you just delete a file from the OS you will confuse IE who will think the file is still there. Early versions of IE had the opposite problem and “leaked” cache space meaning they would delete a file name from the index but not from the cache and the cache became huge.
I use empty temp . It seems to clear out all of the temporary internet files on XP, even the ones that don’t appear when you turn on ‘Show all files and folders’.
If you use the /A switch on the dir command you’ll see all the folders and files. The index seems to be at Tempoary Internet Files\Content.IE5\Index.dat.
Also, the current files are scattered across the randomly named folders. My guess is that it is more efficient to find the actual file by using ~10 folders with about the same number of filenames than using one long folder with all the filenames in it.
As for the Temp folder, there shouldn’t be anything in there older than the last time you shutdown. Anything left there was not deleted by the program that put it there when it closed.
