Removing folders

[mike42]

Hi again!

 

I start a new thread here following up my post from the bug section http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=24611

I finally figured, that I was mixing up two different things. One was a bug concerning recursively searching for files (which was partly but not quite fixed in v2.25, see http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=24944), the other thing was searching for folders. I was fooled by the |REMOVESELF option, thinking this was in order to search for a folder recursively and then remove it. But REMOVESELF is somehow misleading. It rather searches for file(s) recursively, and when found the file(s) are deleted and if that folder is then empty the folder is removed too.

 

However, I see no way to search for a specific foldername (preferably recursively) and remove all of them. So this would be an entirely new feature.

 

I know a couple of applications leaving some nasty temp-folders in the middle of my data partition, and you never know exactly where. Maybe in addition to FileKey and RegKey a new FolderKey could be implemented?

 

What are the thoughts of the Devs about this? Please let me know!

 

Thanks,

Mike

[mike42]

Is nobody else lacking this feature? To me, removing folders is just as essential as removing files.

 

I'd really like to know people's opinion on that.

[Incar]

I'd say that the uninstaller should remove leftover folders from the application during uninstall instead, because some empty folders in windows can't be and may shouldn't be deleted.

[marmite]

I know a couple of applications leaving some nasty temp-folders in the middle of my data partition, and you never know exactly where. Maybe in addition to FileKey and RegKey a new FolderKey could be implemented?

'Nasty temp folders' ... the mind boggles

 

I must admit I can't think of any examples of folders that I'd either want or need to regularly delete ... especially on my data partition!

 

Most programs don't assume a non-system partition (I presume you're saying you have something like C: for your system partition and D: for a data partition), and so will only create files there if you specify a particular location. For example my download manager downloads to a folder on my D: drive ... but only because I've specified that. So I'm just wondering what programs you have that not only randomly write to your data partition, but write to random locations on your data partition!

 

Also, the fact that you want to add these to ccleaner implies that they are being re-created (otherwise how would you know what names to look for). So either i) you need to recurse from the partition root because you don't know where they'll reappear, which doesn't seem particularly efficient, or ii) they are being recreated in the same place ... so what's the point in constantly deleting them ... they're taking up almost no space and you can add the folder locations to ccleaner to tidy up the files within them?

 

If you're doing a deep recurse, you would have to be damn sure that your specified folder name isn't legitimately in use elsewhere in the folder structure, or you could really mess things up.

 

Since it's largely junk files that take up space on your drive and which ccleaner already removes, I'm not sure why you feel the need to be able to delete folders in a similar manner ... I can't see the practical value. Perhaps if you could elucidate on the nature of temp folders you mentioned originally it might help to explain your requirement.

 

I have to say Mike (and purely my opinion of course - everyone has different needs) I see no real use to such a feature. Outside of the system folders, 'program files' and 'documents and settings' there are almost no folders on my machine that I haven't created or instigated the creation of myself.

[mike42]

I'd say that the uninstaller should remove leftover folders from the application during uninstall instead, because some empty folders in windows can't be and may shouldn't be deleted.

I wasn't talking about left-over folders after uninstalling an application. I was talking about folders created by applications during normal operation (see my next post).

[mike42]

I must admit I can't think of any examples of folders that I'd either want or need to regularly delete ... especially on my data partition!

Eg.:

Adobe Premiere leaves a "CG Cache" folder and "video previews" next to any video file that was opened in Premiere.

Steinberg Cubase creates a whole lot of folders for decompressed mpeg files and other stuff wherever you open a project (Cubase can delete those files automatically but it leaves the folders behind).

TMPGEnc creates a temp folder.

My C compiler creates "bin" and "obj" folders, that I want to remove from time to time.

etc.

So I'm just wondering what programs you have that not only randomly write to your data partition, but write to random locations on your data partition!

They don't write randomly, but they leave folders wherever you open a data file. They are like a dog, dropping everywhere you take it. Of course I know, where my data files are and I could delete those folders manually. But it is tedious. After all, a cleaner program is intended to remove left over stuff (files and folders) that reappears regularly in an automatic fashion (at least in my view).

... they're taking up almost no space and you can add the folder locations to ccleaner to tidy up the files within them?

True, mostly those folders are left empty. But what is the point in leaving empty folders all over your data drive?

I have to say Mike (and purely my opinion of course - everyone has different needs) I see no real use to such a feature.

Well, as you say, everyone has different needs. In this view I think a tool as flexible and versatile as possible would cover more people's needs. As I said in my OP, there are keys for removing registry entries and files. So I think it is only natural to ask: why not folders?