deleting files in tmp directory

kf10 · 31 Mar 2014

is it safe to manually delete files in

C:\Windows\Temp

and C:\Users\admin\appdata\Local\Temp

thanks in advance

TanyaC · 31 Mar 2014

I've never had any problems and I do this regularly.
Often disk cleanup will not clear these folders and over time they can become large. Clearing them manually is often the most common solution.

If you have concerns. Make a copy of the files on a USB drive or something first, though in the years I've been using windows I've never encountered a problem.

Tanya

UsernameIssues · 31 Mar 2014

kf10 said:

is it safe to manually delete files in

C:\Windows\Temp

and C:\Users\admin\appdata\Local\Temp

thanks in advance

If you recently installed or uninstalled an app, then you should reboot before removing temp files.

If your concern is the space that these files take up, you can run the native disk cleanup as admin and it should remove the temp files that are not in use. That disk cleanup will remove more than the junk in the folders that you asked about cleaning manually.

...and then there is CCleaner - but you emphasized manually.

I have seen some poorly written stuff from Hewlett Packard that would not uninstall because the uninstaller had been removed from the user's temp folder.

I've also seen malware run from the user's temp folder... so, keeping those folders clean can help remove some unwanted apps.