# Why are video clips that I "open" instead of "save" suddenly being stored in My Docs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 5, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-video-clips-that-i-open-instead-of-save-suddenly-being-stored-in-my-docs/283251 "2005-01-05T18:53:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-video-clips-that-i-open-instead-of-save-suddenly-being-stored-in-my-docs/283251/1 "2005-01-05T18:53:12Z")
Title pretty much says it all. I almost never click Save when opening a file from the internet, not even when downloading a program I’m about to install, etc. because I don’t like to clutter up my disk with junk I’m never going to use again. Recently, however, all the video clips I open are being copied and saved to my My Documents folder. Anyone know why, and how I can remedy it? It’s a pain to keep going in there and deleting them. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-video-clips-that-i-open-instead-of-save-suddenly-being-stored-in-my-docs/283251/2 "2005-01-06T13:28:06Z")
Anyone want to take a shot? ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-video-clips-that-i-open-instead-of-save-suddenly-being-stored-in-my-docs/283251/3 "2005-01-06T18:19:16Z")
My work comp exhibits this same strange behaviour. Haven’t had time to figure out why. I’ll let you know if I figure it out. What OS are you on ? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-video-clips-that-i-open-instead-of-save-suddenly-being-stored-in-my-docs/283251/4 "2005-01-07T14:07:03Z")
Thanks. Currently on WinXP Home. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-video-clips-that-i-open-instead-of-save-suddenly-being-stored-in-my-docs/283251/5 "2005-01-07T16:16:33Z")
Are the video files originating from a specific site, or are the videos from different sites? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-video-clips-that-i-open-instead-of-save-suddenly-being-stored-in-my-docs/283251/6 "2005-01-09T07:36:09Z")
> [@ParentalAdvisory](#): > > Are the video files originating from a specific site, or are the videos from different sites? They’re coming from all different sites. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-video-clips-that-i-open-instead-of-save-suddenly-being-stored-in-my-docs/283251/7 "2005-01-09T11:21:50Z")
Your temp folder is pointing to My Documents? Do other random files appear there as well? ---
**Author:** ![SavageNarce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@SavageNarce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SavageNarce)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-video-clips-that-i-open-instead-of-save-suddenly-being-stored-in-my-docs/283251/8 "2005-01-09T15:32:48Z")
I have found the same thing with WinXP Home. I was trying to find a JPEG picture that I thought I had saved but wasn’t sure where, so I did a search for \*.jpg on all of the C: drive. To my surprise, there were a boatload of .jpg files in Documents and Settings / \ / Local Settings / Temporary Internet Files and Local Settings / Temp I found that there is a Disk Cleanup utility \< Start - Run - cleanmgr \> that will clean out these temporary files on WinXP. You can also clean them up by going to Internet Explorer’s Tools \> Internet Options \>General tab \> Temporary Internet Files. However, I have not been able to find a way (other than the Disk Cleanup utility) for Firefox to clean out these files. Note too that these may be considered “hidden” folders - you may need to adjust your “My Computer” settings in order to see the “Local Settings” folder. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-video-clips-that-i-open-instead-of-save-suddenly-being-stored-in-my-docs/283251/9 "2005-01-11T15:31:44Z")
Initially I thought maybe it had something to do with a missing TEMP environment variable, but today I checked, and my TEMP and TMP variables are both correctly set. It’s not just video files for me, it’s any file. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-video-clips-that-i-open-instead-of-save-suddenly-being-stored-in-my-docs/283251/10 "2005-01-11T16:01:43Z")
It could be that your comp is saving there temporarily, possibly because its too big just to hold in memory. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-video-clips-that-i-open-instead-of-save-suddenly-being-stored-in-my-docs/283251/11 "2005-01-11T18:20:56Z")
> [@xash](#): > > It’s not just video files for me, it’s any file. I just noticed that it is any file for me, too. This is weird.