OT: 3 GB of temp files?

[Dave Labrecque]

What do you guys/gal think about me deleting the contents of this folder...

C:\Users\Dave\AppData\Local\Temp

?

Seriously.

Win7 x64.

[905shmick]

What do you guys/gal think about me deleting the contents of this folder...

C:\Users\Dave\AppData\Local\Temp

?

Seriously.

Win7 x64.

Should be fine. That location in Win7 is what used to be c:\temp in XP.

Running utils like CCleaner (http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner) will also clean it out for you.

[DominicPerry]

I'd have no hesitation in deleting them, although you may find one or two are in use and won't delete. My equivalent (what with not being called Dave 'n all) has 342MB after only 8 weeks of the pleasure of running Win7.

Just deleted them. Two in use. At least Win7 asks for each open file and continues (XP used to stop when it hit an open file). Nothing has died yet.

Dominic

[Dave Labrecque]

Thanks, gents. Here I go... :eek: :)

[Ian Alexander]

Hello...? Dave...?:confused:

[Dave Labrecque]

Hello...? Dave...?:confused:

I got paranoid and de-selected all files and folders timestamped today, then let 'er rip, only to remember Dom's wisdom about Win7 prompts for any files that are in use when I got one. :o

Thanks, all. Looks like I will survive. Me and Gloria Gaynor. :rolleyes: :p

[mr_es335]

Hello,

Anything and everything that is in the %temp% folder can be safely deleted without any adverse effects on your system. If you have had your system "up" for a bit, I recommend restarting the system as some files could be "locked by other processes" and therefore, cannot be deleted. They are often released on a restart.

It a very good idea to flush out your %temp% folder often and you can create a batch file to do this (I personally do not like any programs that do this sort of job - manual deletion is much better - and safer too).


Note: In case you do not know, using %temp% is a quick way of getting to the users's temp folder (as it a hidden folder). Go to Start > Run and try it.

Here is a sample batch file that I use:
rd %temp% /s /q
* Removes the %temp% directory and anything inside of it (that can be deleted)
md %temp% <-- Re-creates the %temp% directory

Hope this helps?

[DominicPerry]

Thanks, all. Looks like I will survive. Me and Gloria Gaynor. :rolleyes: :p

Isn't she dead? If so, I doubt her temp directory was part of the problem.

Dominic

[Carey Langille]

dont EVERrunregtools,like ccleaner.. I have seen more computers screwed up using regtools....you have been warned.....

[DominicPerry]

dont EVERrunregtools,like ccleaner.. I have seen more computers screwed up using regtools....you have been warned.....

first thing they do is takeawayallyourspaces

Dominic

[mr_es335]

Hello,

I heartily agree with Carey about never, ever, ever running reg tools...they can be a nasty brood.

This is why I like the manual approach, especially if you have an idea of what things looked like beforehand.

To me, using batch files is like using macros - just a quicker way of doing things.

Thanks Carey for your insight..much appreciated.

[905shmick]

dont EVERrunregtools,like ccleaner.. I have seen more computers screwed up using regtools....you have been warned.....

Strange, I've yet to run into any problems, though I don't click every option in CCleaner. I find the default options do a great job.

[IraSeigel]

Strange, I've yet to run into any problems, though I don't click every option in CCleaner. I find the default options do a great job.

I've found CCleaner to be very effective and reliable. It's the only tool I was able to find that cleared the huge index.dat file from Temporary Internet Files folder.

I use it occasionally as a registry cleaner. It's probably not a very thorough tool for that, but it's harmless IMO.

OT: If you want to clear out a LOT of useless junk files, go through all your folders on your C: drive and delete foreign language folders (including large .dll and help) files that are installed with programs or might come pre-installed on your system. Also eliminate references to them in your registry. Hundreds of files and folders, hundreds of MB of junk.

[Dave Labrecque]

Hello,

Anything and everything that is in the %temp% folder can be safely deleted without any adverse effects on your system. If you have had your system "up" for a bit, I recommend restarting the system as some files could be "locked by other processes" and therefore, cannot be deleted. They are often released on a restart.

It a very good idea to flush out your %temp% folder often and you can create a batch file to do this (I personally do not like any programs that do this sort of job - manual deletion is much better - and safer too).


Note: In case you do not know, using %temp% is a quick way of getting to the users's temp folder (as it a hidden folder). Go to Start > Run and try it.

Here is a sample batch file that I use:
rd %temp% /s /q
* Removes the %temp% directory and anything inside of it (that can be deleted)
md %temp% <-- Re-creates the %temp% directory

Hope this helps?

Nice. Good to know. Thanks. :)

[Dave Labrecque]

Isn't she dead? If so, I doubt her temp directory was part of the problem.

Dominic

According to Wikipedia, she's still surviving. Like all of us, though, temporarily, no doubt.

[Jon R]

So what is the consensus of opinions from the tech guys on the program "Registry Mechanic"? It seems to always find something to "fix". It has not caused my any problems yet, but my start-up is a lot slower than it used to be. I should mention that I am running Win XP sp3.
Insights? :confused:

[mr_es335]

Hello,
Glad to help if I can...

Software, like Registry Mechanic (and others) is what I would refer to as "utility programs". The key thing with computers is what I refer to as "a point of stability". Generally, the newer the system and the OS the more stable the system is (as both are in a continual state of wearing out).

The purpose behind utility software is to fix problems (not generally hardware, but software issues). Just how well they do this is always questionable.

A very good rule to remember is, "Computers would function a whole lot better if we did not install software on them!" Now, we need to install software on a computer to make "useable". But there is software and there is software!

Your best and most reliable point of stability means is disk imaging. You configure your system, get it working the way it should, and then you take a snapshot of your system at that point in time. If anything goes wrong, then you simply restore the system to that image.

I test software all the time and I no longer remove the application...I restore an image. If you understand how software "goes in", then you realize that it does not always come out. There is always "stuff" left behind. The only real and sure way of removing software is to go back to a point where it was not installed in the first place. (This is why SAW Studio/SAC are so wonderful...they do not hook themselves into the OS at all.)

There is one area of the computer that is really best left alone...and that is the Registry. With disk imaging, the registry is part of the image and is restored along with image. So, if the registry is clean going in, it comes out clean as well.

I hope that this all makes sense.

PS: Just to show how great disk imaging is, I recently put together a system for someone who wanted the best of both worlds (a tweaked system for audio and a system for general use) but did not have the finances to do it. So, I setup the system with one image for digital audio and another for general use. It takes about 10-15 minutes to do this, but in his situation this worked out just great for him. This is just to show how versatile disk imaging is.

[IraSeigel]

So what is the consensus of opinions from the tech guys on the program "Registry Mechanic"? It seems to always find something to "fix". It has not caused my any problems yet, but my start-up is a lot slower than it used to be. I should mention that I am running Win XP sp3.
Insights? :confused:

If you disable it in the bootup sequence, your system will get back up to speed. You really only want to use it "on demand", not monitoring in the background. ESPECIALLY with something like SAW or SAC that depends on CPU.

[Jon R]

Thanks guys. That's good stuff for a guy who knows just enough to get himself into trouble. I will pull the Registry Mechanic out of the boot-up sequence. It seemed to install itself there after an upgrade or update. I have just the one computer in my studio so it has to do all things SS and the office stuff. The trick is finding the balance and keeping the resource hogs to a minimum. I have found that the Windows XP indexing feature also runs in the background at the most inopportune times. I have told it not to index any folders. I have not seen a way to just get rid of it.

[Ian Alexander]

Turn off indexing on particular hard disk drive
Open up ***8220;My Computer***8221;. Or open ***8220;Windows Explorer***8221; and then expand Computer tree.
Right click on the hard drive to disable indexing.
Select Properties on the contextual menu.
Click on General tab if it***8217;s not already selected.
Untick (unselect) the check box for Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching option.
Click OK, and wait for the index removal process to complete, which may take a few minutes.
Repeat the steps for other hard drives if applicable.
Disable the Indexing Service in Windows XP
Open ***8220;Control Panel***8221;, select ***8220;Administrator Tools***8221;, and open Services applet. Alternatively, type services.msc in the Rn text box from Start menu, and then hit Enter.
Scroll down and locate Indexing Service service, and then double click on it.
Click on Stop button to immediately stop the indexing service if the service status shows ***8220;Running.
Under the ***8220;Startup Type***8221;, select Disabled to permanently disable the indexing service so that it won***8217;t run again.
Click OK.

[Jon R]

Thanks Ian. I am going to walk through those steps on my computer right now. I would rather have a search take a moment longer and not have all that resource use and memory tied up in indexing.:)