hidden files in windows

Factual Questions
1

I was clearing out some space on the hard drive today and opened up the temporary internet files (TIF) folder. I selected everything, and deleted it. Later, i was searching for a file, and it brought up files from the recently emptied folder. A subfolder within TIF, to be more exact. I did a much more extensive search, and found over 4,000 files that were never deleted. Some dated back almost a year. I empty my TIF folder every few days…what the hell??? Does anybody know of any more hidden files within windows? (btw, i do have my computer set up to show all files)

chris

2

You haven’t told us your OS or version of IE.

Using Windows Explorer to delete files from the TIF folder is not necessarily a good idea. For all purposes TIF is a system folder and is monitored by the OS for changes outside the norm. Some files and folders will be rebuilt even if you delete them. The behavior you are seeing is by design and not a flaw in the browser. That said, there are a couple of things you can do to ensure that your cache does not monopolize you hard disk space:

  1. Limit the amount of disk space your cache will use by specifyig a percentage or megabytes of disk space allowed. The oldest files will be deleted first. (Tools | Internet Options > Settings > General)

  2. If you must delete TIFs, use the built-in option provided. (Tools | Internet Options > Settings > General > Delete Files)

  3. If you have to have some other way, shell to DOS and use the deltree command. Not the best method, but it works.

  4. There are free 3rd-party utilities that will act as cahce managers allowing much greater control over what gets cached, for how long, and when it should be deleted. They’re overkill IMHO. A properly configured browser should behave acceptably.

  5. Change the TIF folder to c:[windows path] emp\ (Tools | Internet Options > Settings > Move Folder) They’ll be easier to manage from there.

3

the temporary internet files are not files within the FAT structure of the disk. You should not delete them manually as this just messes up the disk structure. The rule is: if you are not absolutely sure of what you are doing, then don’t do it. Ask first.