Tuesday, August 30, 2011

How to Clear Windows 7 Temporary Files in the Temp Folder

How to Clear Windows 7 Temporary Files in the Temp Folder - where .tmp, .docx, .xlsx, .pptx and .pdf are shadowed


Update - Sept 2017 - Do not use CCleaner its been hacked
Read my post on CCleaner containing malware and an alternative.

Information

The Temp folder is where Windows 7 and programs sometimes store temporary files. Sometimes these files are not deleted after Windows 7 or the program is finished with them. This can cause the temp folder to fill up with junk temp files which may cause Vista to take longer to access the Temp folder and create a slight delay.

This will show you how to clear the Windows 7 temporary files through Disk Cleanup or manually in the Temp folder.   
Note

The Windows 7 Temp folder is located at:

C:\Users\(UserName)\AppData\Local\Temp
or
cd %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%\AppData\Local\Temp

You can obtain you current logged on UserName,
if you are not sure by 
Start->Run->Cmd and type 

whoami 


will return domainname\UserName

If you are browsing to this folder, you may need to show AppData and other hidden files, folders and drives. See image below.

click for larger

 Warning
While it is safe to delete these files, it is best not to do this while installing or uninstalling anything.
Tip
BleachBit is a free program that is great at keeping the temporary files cleaned up and more.


Example: Windows 7  User Account Temp Folder Location
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METHOD ONE



Thorough Disk Cleanup (PREFERRED METHOD)

 Note

Disk Cleanup will only delete Temporary files that have not been modified in 7 days. To clear everything, see METHOD TWO below.
1. Open Disk Cleanup.
2. Check Temporary files. (See image below) 


4. After, Click on Delete Files to confirm the action.

click for larger image




METHOD TWO

Manually Clear the Temp Folder



 Note
The Temp folder is located at the hidden system folder:

C:\Users\(Your Username)\AppData\Local\Temp

If you are browsing to this folder, you may need to show Appdata and other hidden files, folders and drives.

click for larger

1. Open the Start Menu.
2. Search for Run and click.
Type %temp% and press Enter  and then do  
Type %windir%\Temp and press Enter. 


Select all files and click Shift + Del key.
NOTE: This is a shortcut and opens the Temp folder.  

3. Delete anything you want in this folder. (See image below) 
click for larger
  Warning
If you delete the Low folder, it can prevent you from printing from Internet Explorer. To fix this, close all Internet Explorer windows and reopen Internet Explorer to recreate the Low folder.

You can also manually fix this by recreating the Low folder in the Temp folder below, open a elevated command prompt (Start->Search for "CMD.exe", right-click and run as Administrator.                                                                                
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Then Copy and Paste the command below in the command prompt and press enter.

Code:
 Note
If you receive a File In Use pop-up error message while the files are being deleted, then this just means that one of the temp files is in use by a program right now.
Click check-box Do this for all current items and click Skip to continue deleting the other files, then close all open programs, and repeat the steps above.                                                                                                            
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If you still receive the message, then restart the computer or logoff and logon, and repeat the process again. Furthermore, you can run windows with run no services for hard core cleaning, in case of trojans and virus tracking.                      

4. Generally some residuals temp files will remain, if you have not closed all programs and/or services 
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Extra: Temp folder, ideal state close all programs
 and 
run no services generating temporary locked files.

click for larger
Close the Temp folder when done.





20 comments:

  1. One year before i used ccleaner, may be i don't know unfortunately my computer crashed.After that next version it was so powerful and now a days i am using ccleaner.Still i am using soft cleaner ie http://softcleaner.in, It as like as top in the result of system cleaning.i am openly using this software after my browsing.
    i used other cleaners,why because advertising too much so only.but no result.but this is a very good gift as my own experience.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The info you posted above on cleaning up temp files just saved me dearly. Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  3. very informative ... keep it up

    ReplyDelete
  4. This was really helpful - my temp folder was HUGE and was seriously impacting my computer's performance. Deleting the files helped a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm downloading Ccleaner now,hope it works,my temp file is 40G lol

    ReplyDelete
  6. thanks dude that helped me alot

    ReplyDelete
  7. fastest solution - create .BAT file:

    rmdir c:\users\(your user name)\AppData\Local\Temp /s /q
    rmdir c:\windows\Temp /s /q

    and run - thats all ;)

    ReplyDelete
  8. i have a querry... while burning disc the files are first saved in c drive anywhere... but dont know where... i have searched in temorary folder also, but cant found.. now these files are consuming my c space .. so please any one tell where to find these files...

    ReplyDelete
  9. To get your temp folder you dont need to type whoami. you can just run "explorer %temp%"

    ReplyDelete
  10. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hello friends, just try long path tool.its really helpful and awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thanks,
    I worked and now my PC is working fast & better...

    ReplyDelete
  13. thanks its 100% working...........

    ReplyDelete
  14. whenever i am trying to select all the temporary files through #temp# my PC is getting hanged up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. you can use the command prompt to delete the file or you can use 3rd party cleaner like ccleaner as mentioned above

      Delete
  15. saurav
    re: "...files through #temp# my PC is getting hanged up"
    you either do not have folder options set to view hidden and system files,
    or have many many files - so many that the system can't process them all quickly,
    (I once had a folder where I used WINRAR incorrectly -
    told it to split the archive into files and made a typo, -
    so instead of making a few files of 15 megabytes each -
    it made over ten thousand files of 15 bytes each -
    it took almost ten minutes to display them in windows GUI)

    hope this helps

    best regards

    ReplyDelete