Temp Files

[JackNaylorPE]

1. Why does Windows store temp files in places other the the Temp folder ? Long before SSDs, I have kept the OS on its own partition w/ TMP and TEMO environment variables set to D:\Temp and do cleaning regularly. Have wifie's puter set up to run ccleaner and disk cleanup (once a month). Looking in there today, the temp folder was clean, but searching C:\ there were 16,673 files taking up 264 MB. Ya would think deleteing temp files would get rid of all of them.

2. And since most of 2/3 of them are phantom files ..... same file in 2, 3 or more different locations so that when ya delete 1 they all go, it's a PITA to delete. What's the deal with this dupe thing ?

 

[Berton]

Windows is not always the fault, some program installations may create the Folder as they need. And there may be a Folder for each User such as the main one, Administrator, Default, Public, etc. I recall some years ago where a program required a "scratch disk" used to hold data being worked on, without a suitable temp Folder it either wouldn't install or wouldn't run. Maybe a batch file or a script used to search for .tmp files then delete them would be useful?

 

[Layback Bear]

If Windows 7 Disk Clean and Ccleaner don't clean them I just leave them alone. Something on the computer needs and uses them.

You could reboot and see if those temp files are still there or if they build up while using programs.

 

[LMiller7]

Temp files created by applications would normally be stored in a folder in the users profile. This automatically provides applications appropriate rights to the files and at the same time prevents access by other users. This is important as temp files could potentially contain sensitive information. If applications use the standard API functions for creating temp files that is where they will go. But this is just a convenience for applications and in reality they can put them wherever they want, which they sometimes do. Nothing you can do about that.

There is also the windows\temp folder which would be used by processes running under one of the system accounts. Applications running under a standard account have no access here. Since application installers run under an admin account with full access they could use this folder if they wished. Of course they can put them wherever they want and with more freedom than standard applications.

Edit: If applications or installers wish to use non standard methods to create or allocate temp files there is nothing you can do about it. If you were to somehow override this the results would be unpredictable, but likely unpleasant.