Is it safe to delete the files in C:\Windows\Temp?

bd74 · 31 Jul 2016

I used WizTree to take a look at the files that are taking up the most space on the hard drive, and in the C:\Windows\Temp folder there are 135 files with the name "cab_" followed by a number. These files don't have an extension though. But they all have the same file size (117.1 MB) As you can see in this screenshot.

Is it safe to delete these 135 files using WizTree, or even manually deleting them?

Brds7t7 · 31 Jul 2016

Hi bd74, usually it is safe to delete items from the Temp folder. I run CCleaner often and it's set to delete all temp files that are older than 24 hours. I haven't had an issue arise so far after deleting Temp files. If you want to be on the safe side, create a system image first before deleting anything you're unsure of.

samuria · 31 Jul 2016

The best tool is the free UnCleaner - Josh Cell Softwares it removes a lot more than ccleaner

RogerR · 31 Jul 2016

samuria said:

The best tool is the free UnCleaner - Josh Cell Softwares it removes a lot more than ccleaner

These two programs may have differing emphases. UnCleaner does not clean the browser files, cookies or search files that CCleaner looks for. For example, I just ran UnCleaner and it deleted 7.5MB. Immediately running CCleaner revealed a further 32MB to be removed. YMMV.

RolandJS · 31 Jul 2016

Both Users [acct name] AppData Local Temp directory and Windows Temp directory mentioned earlier can be cleaned out on a weekly basis, no harm done at all. I even visit ProgramData Temp for the same cleaning.

TechnoMage2016 · 31 Jul 2016

Sounds like you need to read up on just what a "Temp" file actually is. Eh?

What is it about the word "Temporary" that you don't understand.

Temporary files are like yesterday morning's coffee grounds, or last weeks newspaper.
They were good at the time (temporarily) but no more. Now they are just more garbage, and need to be taken out before they ferment.

Temp files in a computer were created by some program as a temporary storage place for information, but only as long as that program was running. But, once that program ends, they are no longer needed and just constitute more 'garbage', to be removed.
But since almost NO-One ever cleans out their Temp file folders, that's a great place for Viruses and Trojans to hide.
I've found over a Gigabyte of such Garbage files on customer's PC's. (PC's that have never had any maintenance.) And those temp files number into the hundreds of thousands. Eventually, they will choke a PC to death.

Personally I run a custom program called "Temp Cleaner" in my startup folder so that every time I boot up my PC (daily) most all Temp files in my hard drive are deleted. And then weekly, I run the Windows Disk Cleanup program, in extended mode, to clean up system files. A clean PC is a happy PC. And mine is a very happy PC..... she runs like a scalded cat!

Cheers!
TechnoMage

bd74 · 01 Aug 2016

RolandJS said:

Both Users [acct name] AppData Local Temp directory and Windows Temp directory mentioned earlier can be cleaned out on a weekly basis, no harm done at all. I even visit ProgramData Temp for the same cleaning.

Thank you. :)

Barman58 · 01 Aug 2016

Just did mine, 29GB - but must add that the majority of that 26GB+ was from the previous version of windows - I upgraded to Windows 10 Anniversary Edition yesterday :)

RoasterMen · 01 Aug 2016

I usually delete them. The files that fills up that folder most are the Windows Update files that Windows forgot to remove.