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Q: Windows: Temporary Internet Files ( Answered 5 out of 5 stars,   1 Comment )
Question  
Subject: Windows: Temporary Internet Files
Category: Computers > Operating Systems
Asked by: respree-ga
List Price: $2.00
Posted: 21 Jun 2003 11:49 PDT
Expires: 21 Jul 2003 11:49 PDT
Question ID: 220114
I am curious about the temporary internet files which get created
while browsing the Net.

Conceptually, I understand why they get written (no need to explain
that part) but don't understand why they don't get cleared when using:
Tools->Internet Options->Delete Files (using IE 6).

In Explorer, if I look at Windows->TemporaryInternetFiles->ContentIE5,
there are about 30 directories (at least, on my system) under
ContentIE5 that look something like:

0DYL09ST
0HERGLUZ
0TURC9UJ

Under these directories are the actual temporary files (which I would
imagine would get cleared, along with the temp directories) when you
run Tools->Internet Options->Delete Files.

These directories appear to be randomly generated filenames that hold
the temporary Internet files.

Question:  What is its purpose and is it safe to delete them.

I assume its safe to delete them, but we all know what happens when
you 'assume.'

Thanks for your help.
Answer  
Subject: Re: Windows: Temporary Internet Files
Answered By: missy-ga on 21 Jun 2003 12:19 PDT
Rated:5 out of 5 stars
 
Hello Garrick!

As you're already aware, what you're looking at is your browser's
cache - for the folks playing along at home, let me explain what the
cache is:

"Each time you open a Web page, your browser creates a cache file (a
temporary copy) of the page's text and graphics. When you open the
page again, for example, when you click on the toolbar Back button,
your browser checks the Web site server for changes to the page. If
the page has changed, your browser retrieves a new version over the
network. If the page hasn't changed, your browser uses the cache files
from your RAM or hard drive to display the page. For example, Internet
Explorer caches Web pages to both memory (RAM) and disk (hard drive)
until the respective cache is full; Internet Explorer  then rotates
out pages based on age. Internet Explorer  designed this system to
help load Web pages quicker."

Temporary Internet Files-What is it ?
http://www.acesoft.net/temporary_internet_files.htm

Yes, I know, you knew all this already.  But it also helps to
partially explain why your cache isn't automatically dumping itself
out as soon as you close your browser - the purpose of it is to make
your web surfing a little faster by storing frequently visited sites.

If you visit a particular page once a day (as opposed to several times
in a single surfing session), and your cache automatically empties as
soon as you close your browser, the caching function isn't going to
help you much.

Yes, it is safe to delete your Temporary Internet Files.  You can do
it one of several ways:

1)  Open your Temporary Internet Files folder, select Edit-->Select
All, then File-->Delete  (could take a little time to process)

2)  Open Exploder (sorry, Mozilla fan here!).  Select Tools, then
Internet Options -->General-->Delete files  (maybe a little faster)

You can control how much disk space your cache uses by selecting
Tools-->Internet Options-->General-->Settings, and manually adjusting
the amount of space allocated to your cache.

Alternatively, if you'd like your cache to automatically empty itself
when you close your browser, select Tools-->Internet
Options-->Advanced, then scroll down to the Security section (the last
section in the list).

Check the "Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is
closed" box.  Click Apply, then OK, then close and restart your
browser.  Voila!  No more extraneous files to clutter up your hard
drive!

Hope that helps!

--Missy

Search terms:  [ "delete temporary internet files" ] and a look at IE
6.

Request for Answer Clarification by respree-ga on 21 Jun 2003 13:35 PDT
Hi Missy:

Thanks for your answer.

>2)  Open Exploder (sorry, Mozilla fan here!).  Select Tools, then
>Internet Options -->General-->Delete files  (maybe a little faster)
 
Actually, this is the part is that isn't working for me.  When I do
this, those temporary directories I mentioned (nor the temporary files
in them) in my question are not getting deleted.  I know I could just
go into Explorer and hit delete (to get rid of them), but I'm
wondering what the purpose of the temporary directories are and
how/why they are created. Can you see if you could find out why.

Thanks for your help.

Clarification of Answer by missy-ga on 21 Jun 2003 14:13 PDT
Using the Tools-->Internet Options -->General-->Delete files
apparently doesn't delete *all* files in your Temporary Internet Files
folder:

"Q:   Under Windows/Temporary Internet files/Content. IE 5 can these
files be deleted? I have five files that appear as, for example,
"4DUFKTUV" that pile up thousands of files within and really slow my
system down until I go in and clean out each file. At one point I had
over 100,000 files there. After I deleted the content of each file my
system ran much faster. Can someone please help me out with this.

A:  This is normal. In IE, click Tools, Internet Options and under
Temporary Internet files section click the Delete files.. button. Then
click OK. This will delete most of the files in these folders."

.Content. IE 5
http://www.computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/32269.html

These are files created by IE to cache the websites you visit (see
cache explanation above).

To remove all of them, you'll have to do it manually (it's safe).  If
you want to see what's in them before you delete them, open one of the
directories, select View-->Thumbnails, and you'll be presented with
images of each file in the folder.  You may even be able to determine
precisely which page they came from based on image files stored in
these cache folders.

There are a number of other methods suggested for getting rid of them:

"Another way is to go to the System Tools menu every week or so and
run the Disk CleanUp program. It will clean out a lot of temp junk for
you, including expired cookies. Run it often.

Both will delete most of the files that are loaded from the web sites
you visit.

To do a good one time clean, there are things like DELINDEX.BAT (see
posts in this form) that you can use. Or if you are a DOS command line
user, make a bootable Windows ME recovery diskette. Boot the system
with it and do a
DELTREE /Y C:\WINDOWS\TEMPOR~1
command to delete all of these files yourself."

.Content. IE 5
http://www.computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/32269.html


"Any files in the C:\Windows\Temp file can safely be removed. Send
them all to the recycle bin. Leave them there for a while until you
are satisfied everything is working as it should. Then empty the
Recycle bin.

While you are searching for useless files, go to:

C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5

There can be thousands of files in these folders. These as well can be
safely deleted."
 
I have 122MB of Temp Files
http://bizforums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x2aefed6464a6d611abdb0090277a778c,00.html

--Missy
respree-ga rated this answer:5 out of 5 stars and gave an additional tip of: $3.00
Many thanks for your help, Missy.

Comments  
Subject: Re: Windows: Temporary Internet Files
From: missy-ga on 21 Jun 2003 15:46 PDT
 
Thank you, Garrick!  Always happy to help out our regulars!

--M

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