Most users in one way or another come across a concept such as Temporary Files. What is it, in general terms, is imagined by any more or less competent user. But far from everyone knows that such files can correspond to different categories and belong to different processes or programs. Even fewer are those who understand how to remove such objects painlessly for the system and in full.
Temporary Files: what is it generally understood?
In order to understand what these objects are in Windows-systems, you just need to translate the name of this term. In Russian equivalent, this means "temporary files", that is, those that are not permanently in the system, but only at certain points.
Sometimes they can be deleted automatically, sometimes you have to do the cleaning manually - it all depends on exactly which processes such objects were mapped to. Usually they have a TMP extension, but not always.
Types of Temporary Files
Some users mistakenly believe that temporary files appear only when working with the Internet (Temporary Internet Files), when the browser saves them on your hard drive to speed up access to previously visited pages. But this is only a special case.
Conventionally, all objects can be classified according to the following main types:
- temporary system files;
- created and deleted objects during application installation;
- temporary objects associated with the work of application programs;
- Internet files (cache, cookies, page thumbnails, etc.).
Thus, the removal of such objects should be decided solely depending on the type. Some files are deleted automatically (for example, installer files or objects created when working with some programs).
In this sense, another look at Temporary Files objects will help. What this is from the point of view of software components can best be understood by opening documents in a Word text editor . Please note that at the moment of opening in the same folder where the original file is located, a temporary copy is created with a name starting with the “~” symbol (sometimes such objects may be hidden). After the work with the document is completed and it is closed, the temporary file is deleted automatically.
The same applies to cases when the editor was completed incorrectly. From a temporary object, the program also offers to restore a document that was abnormally closed (of course, if the auto-save function is enabled, indicating some period of time after which it should be done).
Sometimes, when installing games or some kind of repack, crashes like “Internal error Extract Temporary File” may occur with a link to the libraries isdone.dll, islogo.dll, isgsg.dll or with messages about the return of a certain code by the Unarc.dll service. Most of these messages are generated due to the fact that some processes are blocked by an antivirus (most often this appears in Comodo Antivirus). But you can eliminate such failures by adding programs to the trusted lists. The message says that you need to check the RAM, but most often this problem has nothing to do with RAM.
Windows Temporary Internet Files: how to remove?
Now a few words about deleting temporary objects. In any browser, this can be done very simply. Simply call up the browsing history menu and press the clear button.
In this case, it is advisable to indicate the cleaning for the entire period, as well as note the points of removal of the browser cache, cookies and other site data, cached images and download history.
In the case of system objects, you can do something else. Since they are usually stored in TEMP directories, which can be hidden (in the root directory of the system and in user folders), in order to simplify your work, you need to use the Run console and set% TEMP% to it. In the found directories, you just need to select all the objects and press the Del key to delete. If you want to perform a deletion bypassing the "Recycle Bin", use the combination Shift + Del.
In some cases, you can use the disk cleaner, where in the list of objects to be deleted, check the box next to the line of temporary files.
However, the simplest method of cleaning the system from temporary files can be called the use of special optimizer programs, in which for quick maintenance it is necessary to note the appropriate modules (garbage removal, privacy, deleting Internet history, etc.).
Instead of an afterword
That’s all for a concept like Temporary Files. What these objects are, I think, many have already understood. It is obvious that the appearance of files is not connected exclusively with the Internet (look at the above list). As for cleaning the system from such objects, the methods used for deletion depend only on which type these objects belong to and whether they are deleted automatically.