Windows Temporary Directory automatic cleanup

[MPREv]

Hi!

Is there somehow a mechanism that automatic cleaning the temporary directories?
Is there any? Is it Default turned off? Or when dies it clean? And how? Files oder than x days?

Somehow my temp directories Are getting bigger ans bigger .. So I think they had to ne cleaned.
Is there really no Windows built in feature to Do so?
How so I get such thing?

 

[Ztruker]

Most folks install a program like CCLeaner then run it nightly or weekly.

 

[Callender]

Suggestion

If you just want to use Windows to clean up try:

Open an elevated command prompt

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/783-elevated-command-prompt.html

In the command prompt window type cleanmgr.exe sageset:20

Press Enter

(The number 20 can be any number. It's the number that will be used to remember the settings that you apply next).



On the screen that opens up -choose your cleanup options. It's safe to tick all checkboxes but just tick the Temporary Files box if it suits your needs. Then click OK.

In the command prompt window type:

cleanmgr.exe sagerun20

Windows will run advanced disk cleanup as per your specified choices.


There are other ways to clean up temp files but cleaning all temp files can sometimes cause problems. I regularly use a tool called D7 to delete all temp and zero byte files on a partition but it's not a wise move without having a system image backup in place.

Another good tool is Temp File Cleaner by Old Timer. It's mentioned often on this forum.

TFC - Temp File Cleaner by OldTimer - Geeks to Go Forums

 

[LMiller7]

Windows has no automatic facility for deleting temp files. It can be done manually with disk cleanup or other utilities. An automatic facility could cause problems for some programs and that is likely why there is none.

 

[MPREv]

I'm realy a bit irritated that there is no real onboard solution ...

As for the "problem" of removing files:
From my point of view there should be no problem by removing the files by some restrictions:
- delet files older than X Days
- keep only the newest file up to 1 GB

As Applications only store temporary files in the temp directories there should not be any problems.

 

[Callender]

Changing Windows disk cleanup options

I'm realy a bit irritated that there is no real onboard solution ...

As for the "problem" of removing files:
From my point of view there should be no problem by removing the files by some restrictions:
- delet files older than X Days
- keep only the newest file up to 1 GB

As Applications only store temporary files in the temp directories there should not be any problems.

Hi,

Well windows disk cleanup excludes temp files that are newer than 7 days old but it's done that way so that it won't cause problems.

You could change this setting with a registry hack:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Temporary Files

by setting a lower value for "last access" but personally I leave it set to 1 - in other words 24 hours.

As for excluding files over a certain size - I don't know of a way in Windows. As you say, that feature doesn't seem to be included.

A user could waste a lot of time and effort attempting to clean "system clutter" for a minimal performance benefit when most of the time the tools built into windows are adequate.

However my personal preference is to get rid of anything that's not needed where possible and I'm sorry to say that it requires third party software and in some cases writing custom scripts!

 

[LMiller7]

As Applications only store temporary files in the temp directories there should not be any problems.

The problem is in how you define "temporary". Some applications have a rather different view of temporary than many users and if they are prematurely deleted there can be problems. Any automatic deletion of these files could cause problems. Remember that temporary files are for the most part created by applications for application use. It is a very sensitive matter for Windows to delete files created by applications and Windows tends toward a very conservative view. And knowing what I know of temporary files I think it the right approach.

 

[kado897]

CCleaner has an option, which is on by default, to only delete files older than 24 hours. You can also automate CCleaner using the Windows task scheduler. You can exclude specific files from deletion if it is causing problems.

 

[MPREv]

Well windows disk cleanup excludes temp files that are newer than 7 days old but it's done that way so that it won't cause problems.

That sounds good!

There's an interesting article here that does indicate that a user could waste a lot of time and effort attempting to clean "system clutter" for a minimal performance benefit when most of the time the tools biult into windows are adequate.

Thats not a matter of performance, its a matter of disc space

 

[Ztruker]

If you are so tight on disk space that cleaning out temp files makes a difference, you need a larger hard drive.

 

[MPREv]

If you are so tight on disk space that cleaning out temp files makes a difference, you need a larger hard drive.

No, thats definitely NOT the case.
Temp files are not limited in size ... they could reach 1 TB if not cleaned up by the programms creating them or by the system / user.
To reason it only to the size of a hard drive would be to easy

 

[Ztruker]

1TB?? I find that hard to believe, though I suppose if you are recording TV continuously it could.

I'm not against cleaning up temp files. I run CCleaner every day or two for that reason.

In this case, he has a 450GB drive and only has 13GB free. I doubt temp files occupy much space, maybe a few gig. What is using the rest of the drive? Movies, music, games, ??? If so, a larger drive would solve the problem.

 

[MPREv]

1TB?? I find that hard to believe, ...

1T is just a number.
But everything is relative.
A c-drive with about 65GB total and about 20GB free ... but temp files are growing and growing so that only 3MB are free (this comes due to the special usage of the PC I guess). Cleaning up is everything what was needed, no new hard drive.
I also have had now also a similar issue on a server PC (not "temp" files like in one of the temp directories, but also not needed after a few days ...). Cleaning up every week keeping files younger than 30 days saves hd-space, money and oure environment

If the HDD have had more free space the temp files could also reach 1TB without anybody even noticed.

 

[20pictures]

SSD

I have to agree with MPREv on this one.

I have a 60GB SSD for my OS which takes up about 29GB (with additional Programs). In one week I collected enough Temp data (no video) to trigger the Red HDD alert..!

 

[Ztruker]

Install and run CCleaner nightly to cleanup any accumulation of temp files. That's what I do and it typically deletes 300 to 500 MB.