Temp folder purpose sought

Tharwatime · 16 Jul 2017

There's a folder
C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Temp\
with a lot of files. Some relate to programs, some are big backup files, some are downloads, and some I are unclear. I have no idea how the downloads or backup files got there. Some folder names are interesting, like
E65A820E-A987-4847-9356-3B0CFBDBFF2D
It seems that when some files are downloaded there's no option to select a destination folder, and the download ends up in C:\~temp\. The backup files should not be there.

I've moved data files to the correct area, and deleted a lot of duplicate data files that were in C:\~\temp\.

Can someone please advise me of the purpose of C:\~\temp\, and how I can stop files from being put in there? TIA

samuria · 16 Jul 2017

If you open a CMD prompt then type set you will see you have more than one temp folder. In general if you install software it will unzip all the files it needs to install to temp those funny named folders are a code for the software. Anything can use temp it's better than writing files all over the disk. It's used as it's known you have permission to write to it if you try writing to another folder it may fail

torchwood · 16 Jul 2017

Hi Tharwatime,

See you like seeing whats going on "inside" your system.

That folder is hidden by default, 1 of the reasons is to stop users panicing

Whenever you install/download a program that folder is used as either a holding point or a working area.
its also the designated work area for internal operations.

You SHOULD NOT stop anything from going there, otherwise your system will fall over.

As for clearing it thats fine just use the built in MS tool, disk cleaner. NO reason to move them else where.
(i actually use TFC by Oldtimer to clear ALL my temp files)

Roy

ThrashZone · 16 Jul 2017

torchwood said:

Hi Tharwatime,

(i actually use TFC by Oldtimer to clear ALL my temp files)

Roy

Hi,
If one wants to use tfc it must be downloaded to the desktop and right click and select run as administrator to work properly.

TFC - Temp File Cleaner by OldTimer Download - Geeks to Go Forum

Tharwatime · 16 Jul 2017

Thanks for that. It looks like autoexec.bat on drugs. I stopped editing these sorts of things after Edlin was dropped; well, it seems that long ago. Also, while I can do things in the deeper reaches of the computer, I have no wish to suffer a self-inflicted crash. I understand that format C: /u is harmful.

I've left all the program folders alone, and parked the rest in C:\~\temp\TT, with no ill effects - yet. I'll monitor the temp folders and see what turns up. The SSD with the OS and programs and no data is about half full, and I like it that way. I may write a batch file to list the new files and move them. Edlin will not be involved.

RoWin7 · 17 Jul 2017

There's no reason to save those files. They're "junk" generated by the system during installations + the cache from your browser(s). They've been in Windows since the very first version. I just ran TFC after neglecting it for some weeks and deleted over 1 GB of junk.

Tharwatime · 17 Jul 2017

Thanks for that. I figured that at least some files were junk; parking files in the ~tt\ folder has made no difference to the performance. There's also a lot of folders with non-MS software names. I'm less sure about deleting these. I cannot find disk cleaner, but disk cleanup seems to be the way to go. Good grief! I just opened two attachments, saved one, and both are in the ~\temp folder. This sort of thing could fill a 120 GB SSD rather quicker than I would like.

I'm not panicing. The smoke is mainly inside the computer, and there's only small sparks coming from the router, all normal.

mjf · 17 Jul 2017

Tharwatime said:

This sort of thing could fill a 120 GB SSD rather quicker than I would like.

I just leave it alone and run disk cleanup (plus system files) from time to time. You can check your disk (C) properties and may see a little creep over time but I put this mainly down Windows updates. Of course installing new programs is going to increase the size.
The main thing I think is to keep your large data off the OS drive.

RoWin7 · 17 Jul 2017

Tharwatime said:

Thanks for that. I figured that at least some files were junk; parking files in the ~tt\ folder has made no difference to the performance. There's also a lot of folders with non-MS software names. I'm less sure about deleting these. I cannot find disk cleaner, but disk cleanup seems to be the way to go. Good grief! I just opened two attachments, saved one, and both are in the ~\temp folder. This sort of thing could fill a 120 GB SSD rather quicker than I would like.

I'm not panicing. The smoke is mainly inside the computer, and there's only small sparks coming from the router, all normal.

They're ALL junk. If you run Ccleaner or Diskcleanup, they'll toss those files+ some other junk from the system. Might as well go the whole 9 yards.

If the flame gets bigger, turn off your lamp and save some money on electricity.

TechnoMage2016 · 17 Jul 2017

I guess some would call this old tech a nut case, because I run a 120GB SSD and I don't want it loaded with junk, so......

I have a "Temp File Cleaner" program given to me by an IT guy. I'm fairly certain that it was originally written in Batch Language and then Compiled. I've written such programs myself in the past, and still use them sometimes to get rid of certain junk files in specific folders, not even covered by the other TFC type programs.

But "Temp File Cleaner" does clean out all "Temp" folders for all users and does it quite quickly and then tells me how many meg's of junk it removes. After letting me read the results for about five seconds, it vanishes! NO user intervention required. I've put it in my STARTUP folder so I get what I call "Free Maid Service" every time I boot up my PC. It sets right next to my "Force a new restore Point" script that I got from BRINK.

Then I also have a shortcut to MS's "Disk Cleanup", which I run in extended cleanup mode, on my desktop.
That gets run at least once a week, and before I do any backups. Likewise I have a shortcut to "Win Utilities" on my desktop as well, and that too gets run at least once a week, and before I do any backups.
I do lots of backups but, I don't like backing up JUNK!

Everything I've mentioned here are cleanup routines/programs that I've run thousands of times on hundreds of PC, with never a problem.

I've tested many program over the years that claim to clean up one's PC, and some of them are like C-4.
They do more damage than good, and can even Wreck some PC's.

Cheers Mates!