Is it safe to clear C:\Windows\Temp ?

[Cool Joe]

Is it safe to delete the contents of C:\Windows\Temp ? it takes so much space....

 

[Ramakrishnan]

of course. I am clearing it every now and then. Nothing will happen.

 

[goobimama]

In my years of cleaning out the Temp folder, yes, it is safe to delete that stuff. But then again, I'm known to crash Windows more often than most so better look out for someone wiser than me.

 

[krazzy]

Contents? I deleted the folder several times. It comes back again later.

 

[nvidia]

Its safe to delete it as long as you haven't installed something in that folder

 

[dOm1naTOr]

also u can clear c:\documents and setings\username\local setings\temp contents
it ll become as alrge as 5~6 GB if u dont clear them.
also in my experience, its safe to delete contents of c:\windows\temp

 

[Cool Joe]

^^ ya, my folder is 5 GB!! OS bcame really slow due to the lack of space. then i had to change the location of the page file to free some space.

 

[dOm1naTOr]

those are the temps used to store installation files which comes in compressed package. some installers dont clear the temporary space used, resulting in huge junk files.
good installers must clear the temps after installation is complete.

 

[Cool G5]

Thanks for the info dominator, mine was 67MB in size.
Deleted it.

 

[Cool Joe]

i think nero uses this folder by default when copying disks.

 

[abhi.eternal]

this is just a temporary file storage folder... don't delete the folder, just delete the contents inside.

 

[dOm1naTOr]

the folder gets autocreated even if deleted.
btw nero uses its own seperate cach...we can manually set its location.
and conflict with nero arises only if we delete those while burning a disc.

 

[karmanya]

I have a related question, how do i empty up my C drive? the only thing i've installed in it is XP, but out of 10gigs only about 200 mb is free, makes my computer slower than a snake that can't wiggle right,

 

[dheeraj_kumar]

Buy lotsa dvds at <=8 bucks and write whatever you may need later.

Delete all games. Dont uninstall. Do the badass way Shift+Del. Even if it doesnt free much more than uninstall, it gives you a good feeling

Delete all software you dont use. Including bloated apps like nero, adobe apps, visual studio, 3d apps etc.

While installing any soft, go to the settings and untick all you dont need. You dont really need microsoft office onenote and visio and stuff. I installed only word and powerpoint. Same with nero - who needs anything except nero burning rom and express? Same with visual studio - if you know only vc++, i dont see why you need crystal reports and mobile development stuff.

The bottom line is whatever you dont need in software, untick it while installing, dont press the next button like a maniac.

Hope it helped.

ps: last but recommended, backup settings, full format c:, reinstall. It gives me a really good feeling, that I have the entire 50 GB free

 

[dOm1naTOr]

good one.....and yup, it works gr8

and lastly move those downloaded junks off the desktop and documents
and move the pagefile from C: to some other partition. And also disable hibernation if u are not gonna use it.

 

[Cool Joe]

@ dheeraj- yeah im planning to format my C: ill back up all the needed things to an external HDD. then ill do a format> reinstall. its the best way to kick back some life into a sleepy windows XP. i now have 5.78 on C:

 

[pimpom]

I have a related question, how do i empty up my C drive? the only thing i've installed in it is XP, but out of 10gigs only about 200 mb is free, makes my computer slower than a snake that can't wiggle right,

Do you have My Documents in C: (default location)? With many users, this is the reason why the C: drive fills up quickly because they save just about everything in My Documents. I suggest you relocate it in another partition.

With new HDDs (for myself and for my clients), I usually create a partition for use mainly for My Documents. This way, even if the contents of C: are so screwed up that it has to be formatted and reinstalled, there's no need to back up the mixed collection of junk and important files that many people pile up in their "My Documents".

 

[dOm1naTOr]

gr8 idea....this will a boon for those who reinstall each and every week.

 

[dheeraj_kumar]

Thanks to pimpom for that suggestion I've got more to add to that, you can also create a partition for downloads only. Considering that most of us spend our free internet time on utorrent we might as well have a seperate partition for that. Also, since all downloads are stored there, it'd be easy to defragment it regularly

 

[pimpom]

Another possibility is to turn off System Restore. Most of us don't restore anyway - we just reinstall everything. I've seen huge system backup data in the System Volume Information folder in some people's computers.

For those who regularly screw up their system drive and reinstall very often, Norton Ghost or other similar backup software is invaluable. I use the DOS version of Ghost that came bundled with a motherboard.

I install the OS, drivers, apps and utilities. I set up everything ready for use exactly the way I want them - printer settings, word processor settings, download settings, file associations, internet connection, desktop shortcuts, registrations and validations, etc., etc. Then I make a Ghost image of the system partition.

It takes a lot of patience, but it's worth it. Whenever I want to reinstall everything, which is roughly once every three to five months, I just restore it from the Ghost backup and it takes less than 10 minutes.

After that, I just need to update my anti-virus and some vital utilities that have had newer versions released. Then I make a fresh Ghost image for the next time, and that takes another few minutes - say half an hour to one hour total for a process that would take several hours if done from scratch.