Quick Tip: Windows Vista Temp Files Directory
Windows Vista Disk Cleanup wizard is really not all that bad, but I did find a small problem with it… It doesn’t fully empty your temp folder. It only allows you to delete temporary files that haven’t been modified in a week, as you can see in the screenshot.
If you’ve recently done a lot of editing or something that generates large temporary files, you may want to manually clean up. Just type in %TEMP% into the start menu search box, and hit enter. You’ll immediate be taken to the temporary files folder, where you can delete whatever you feel like.
The Geek is the founder of How-To Geek and a geek enthusiast. This article was written on 01/21/07 and tagged with: Managing Files and Folders, Windows Vista
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When I DL games from websites: yahoo, gaptap, spintop. My downloads goto a TEMPARARY FILE folder… although, they never open, and I can never find them in my directorys…
I do a computer search for the files, with nothing showing up.
Once you get to the temp folder, if you put your push your backspace key it will take you up one directory. Then you can drag and create a shortcut on your desktop
why not just use ccleaner… i always forget about my temp folder and never knew to empty it, let alone configure its size, etc… ccleaner wipes temp files and more if you choose, and can be set up to do it regularly.
Thanks for the tip on cleaning up temp files. I just deleted temp files and cookies a couple of hours ago, but there were over 30,000 files in %TEMP% and over 1.24GB in this file. I deleted the whole temp file. I hope it doesn’t cause any problems, but I don’t expect any; they are temporary files, anyway.
Is there a difference between Internet Explorer temporary files and Windows Vista Temp Files? When I run the disc cleanup, it doesn’t delete the files in Windows. Can they be deleted without affectiong the operation of my computer?
i had 36GB on my temp.. u may wanna check it! lols!
Probably a newbie question but…
I found a TEMP folder in Vista’s C:\Windows\ folder, is this normal by any chance?
hey everyone
Thanks for the info — one of those people who has trouble moving from “the old system that’s worked perfectly for years” to “a new system that MIGHT work better”.
Have a wonderful Christmas
“C:\Windows\Temp” is perfectly normal
@Anonymous: Yes, this normal. While programs are suppost to use %TEMP%, they somes use C:\Windows\Temp. Even though programs aren’t suppose to use it, it doesn’t hurt anything when they do.
Thanks for clearing that up guys!
Everytime I clean my Temp folder on windows vista, comes a file called IMGxxx.tmp with 0 bytes.
I have 3 more pc’s with vista and that files only comes on my machine.
Anyone knows what files is it and why is always coming when I clean my temp folder?
Thanks,
Jorge
@Jorge: There are many temporary files created all the time with odd names that can’t be figured out just by looking at the name.
What you maybe able to do is when you clean your temp folder and the file appears then search the open file handles to find out what program is creating those.
Here is one way to do that:
Run Process Explorer (You can download it from http://technet.microsoft.com/e.....96653.aspx )
Press Ctrl+F to display the find dialog box.
Type the temporary file’s name in the dialog and click Search.
If the program is using that temporary file then the file should be listed along with the process name.
If the process name doesn’t look familiar then you can close the Find dialog and double click the process name in the Process Explorer process list as that will show you the full program path and description.
Many thanks for your quick response.
I have follow your instructions and that random IMGxxx.tmp is a file created by “explorer.exe”.
Any idea how to stop it to create it?
Thanks,
Jorge
explorer.exe is the process responsible for the desktop icons, taskbar, file manager and other features known as Windows Explorer and the Windows Shell.
As the Shell doesn’t normally create that file, then a Shell Extension that is loaded by the Shell is likely to be responsible for creating the file though it’s possible the Shell is just doing something different on that computer for some unknown reason.
You can disable some extensions with ShellExView (It’s at http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html ) and by process of elimination figure out if it’s a Shell Extension that is creating the tmp file and what Shell Extension it is.
Important Notes:
1. Do not disable any Shell Extensions created by Microsoft. Many Shell Extensions come with Windows and are required for the Shell to function.
2. I wouldn’t worry about the temp file. Many programs create temp files and it doesn’t hurt anything to just leave them alone. It’s not worth trying to figure out where they come from or why they are there.
Many thanks,
You have been very helpful
Disk cleanup doesn’t seem to work in Vista service pack 1. It scans for file then just dissapears without doing anything. Can anyone suggest what to do or what other software to use.
Put this is a notepad and save wit the extentsion “.bat”
@ECHO OFF
IF NOT %temp% == %tmp% GOTO both_
GOTO single
:both
DEL %temp%\*.* /F /S /Q
DEL %tmp%\*.* /F /S /Q
CLS
ECHO Deleted all files in the TEMP folder: %temp%
ECHO Deleted all files in the TMP folder: %tmp%
GOTO end
:single
DEL %temp%\*.* /F /S /Q
CLS
ECHO Deleted all files in the TEMP folder: %temp%
:end
wo~ thanks! i was struggled by the tempsssssssssssssssss but now all clear!
Thank you Philipjrp,
Great script – works like a charm!
Hi,
I installed Pinnacle Studio 12 on my Vista laptop. I tried to render a large film and Studio 12 gave up on me. When I looked at my hd if by any chance Studio still finished the image, I saw that I lost 45GB of discspace. I think that because of the crash in there is stil a file somewhere, I cleaned my temp but that was only 150MB. Does anyone have an idea where to look?
Thanks