Deleting Local settings/temp files

noodles · 12-13-2007, 09:40 AM

I would like to know if there is any risk in deleting all of the temp files in C/Document and Settings/ User/Local Settings/ Temp. I found this forum doing a Google search on this and came up with some posts from 2005. I would like some current advice please.
Thanks in advance...

Go The Power · 12-13-2007, 06:33 PM

It is safe to delete them. I have never heard of anyone experiencing problems when deleteing TEMP files, that doesn't mean that it is 100% safe.

noodles · 12-13-2007, 06:49 PM

Thanks for the reply. I am concerned because there are about 89,000 ojects using almost 9 gigs of space. I first learned of the so called "useless" files researching a problem about an error screen during shutdowm about unable to close an Adobe font process. In an effort to clean up, and speed up my virus scans, I would like to dump them. I suppose I can recover them from the trash bin if I screw something up.

1101doc · 12-13-2007, 07:03 PM

If you'd like a less radical approach to the problem use ATF Cleaner: http://www.atribune.org/content/view/19/2/

No-install. Just download and run. Will not remove any vital files. Will still dump gigs of 'junk.'

noodles · 12-13-2007, 07:41 PM

1101doc, Thanks, I downloaded and ran ATF Cleaner and chose everything except cookies. It cleaned up 4,500,000mb of unwanted files! Upon checking my C/Document and Settings/ User/Local Settings/ Temp folder, there are still 8.8 gig of files...about 87,000 objects. These are the ones that I am trying to decide if I should manually remove. Hmmm?

Go The Power · 12-13-2007, 10:35 PM

Do you recognize any files or folders in the Temp folder?

It could be that when you download files you click Run instead of Save and the files need to save somewhere and they go to the TEMP locations.

noodles · 12-14-2007, 07:10 AM

There are a few hundred folders and sub-folders. Some of them are obvious software folders created upon install to store temp files, and many are empty. Many of them I do not recognize, and there are quite a few 30+ alpha-numeric named folders. Windows Explorer takes a few minutes to display them all, and creates a minor freeze as I scroll through the list. I have found many of them to Illustrator clip art files, and I suppose if I went through the list I can determine what program they belong to, and delete whatever I don't deem necessary.
The files are not creating any problem that I know of.
A process called Font Capture, not closing upon restart is what started my investigation. An Adobe Acrobat feature that saves fonts from documents that you import. That folder is empty in my list, but I was surprized to find so many others. I thought that they might be slowing down my box, and I am a proponent of speed even with my single core processor.
Thanks for your replys.

Nora.Brown · 03-22-2010, 04:06 AM

No, I am positive, that there is no risk in deleting ALL the temp files, think about it, what harm can be caused? None...I guess...
And just an advice, if you want to permanently delete your temp files or other details of your computer usage: Windows temporary files, deleted files in Recycle Bin, MS Office temporary files, scandisk file fragments, prefetch files and much more, see if History Killer Pro Can help u.