How to clean out just the temp folder

[Kitkat48]

Please forgive me if this information is easily accessible through the documentation, I looked and couldn't find it.

 

I have CC 2.15.815 and a very bloated C:\Documents and Settings\[user name]\Local Settings\Temp folder which has over 2 Gb of stuff in it and has never been cleaned out. I would like to use CC to safely clear out all but the previous 48 hours worth of stuff. What do I need to have checked in the CC program to get that done? I tried putting a check in System->Temporary files, but that didn't seem to do it. (I've only run the Analysis so far, I'm afraid of deleting the wrong thing so I want to be sure first.)

[Nergal]

first of all upgrade your ccleaner, there is no reason to use such an old version

 

if the only thing you want to clean is the temporary files dir then yes only place a check mark in that box and press clean, if you ran analyis you can look at the results to see what will be cleaned when you press clean; though in this case would it not just be easier to sort the directory by date and manually delete the items?

To note ccleaner (if the option is checked in OPTIONS>ADVANCED) will clean all but the last 24 hours of temp files not 48.

[Kitkat48]

Thank you for your response.

 

I know my version is old. To be honest, I downloaded the version I have and I've never used it.

 

I really like the 'analyze' feature, so you can see what's going to be deleted before you actually do it.

 

My version still says it leaves the last 48 hours of temp files, not 24.

 

And I did try putting a check only in the temp box, and it only chooses 6 empty folders and none of the myriads of temp files and other folders in there. Why is that? I would say most of those files are not new. Does it not delete files with a .tmp extension?

 

As for manually deleting them--I thought CCleaner would be the easier way.

 

Well, maybe I should save the questions for after I update the program. I wasn't able to get to that today, life called me away from the computers until now.

[JDPower]

My version still says it leaves the last 48 hours of temp files, not 24.

The older versions did say 48 hours.

 

And I did try putting a check only in the temp box, and it only chooses 6 empty folders and none of the myriads of temp files and other folders in there. Why is that? I would say most of those files are not new.

What makes you say that? Have you looked at the file properties to check? Of course the easiest way to find out is to simply untick the "Only clean files older than 48 hours" then run CCleaner and see if those files are gone. It won't do any harm unless you're in the middle of installing something, I don't have the 48 hours box ticked at all and have never had an issue caused by it.

[Think+]

Perhaps there is some file that is being used by a program, so the exclusion is interrupted.

I think it is.

 

I hope I have helped.

 

[Kitkat48]

What makes you say that? Have you looked at the file properties to check? Of course the easiest way to find out is to simply untick the "Only clean files older than 48 hours" then run CCleaner and see if those files are gone. It won't do any harm unless you're in the middle of installing something, I don't have the 48 hours box ticked at all and have never had an issue caused by it.

 

I did look at the dates on those files. When I left the check beside the '48 hours' box, CCleaner only offered to clean 5 or 6 folders, and they were empty. Well, maybe the situation will change after I update CCleaner. I haven't had a chance to do that yet.

 

I'm on a different computer than the one I originally mentioned, but the one I'm on now has over 300 Mb of stuff in the Temp folder. I just ran CCleaner (also an older version) with the check in the '48 hours' box, and after analysis, it came up with one empty folder to clean. Some of those .tmp files in the Temp folder are from last year and even from 2008. If I remove the check from the 48 hours box, I get 311 Mb to be removed.

 

Perhaps there is some file that is being used by a program, so the exclusion is interrupted.

I think it is.

 

 

If it were only a small number of files, I would say that is likely, but it was most of the files in a Temp folder containing about 2 Gb of stuff. So I don't know, I wondered if I needed to check anything else besides the Temp box. Anyway, I'll see what happens after I update CCleaner

 

Thank you both for your input.

 

Just a thought--I scan my computers every day with Malwarebytes and Superantispyware, and SAS scans the Temp folder. Would that do something to make CCleaner think those files were all recently used?

[Alan_B]

You MUST ignore the Last Modified date which is shown by default.

 

The important date is "Last ACCESSED".

 

Alan

[JDPower]

Just a thought--I scan my computers every day with Malwarebytes and Superantispyware, and SAS scans the Temp folder. Would that do something to make CCleaner think those files were all recently used?

As Alan said, you need to look at the last accessed date. And yes, having those scan the folder may well update the last accessed date, meaning that date may never get to 48 hours old so they won't be picked up by CCleaner as old enough to clean.

[ident]

"Just a thought--I scan my computers every day with Malwarebytes and Superantispyware, and SAS scans the Temp folder. Would that do something to make CCleaner think those files were all recently used? "

 

Nothing wrong with being safe, but for the general user. Don't you think thats a little OTT?

[Nergal]

"Just a thought--I scan my computers every day with Malwarebytes and Superantispyware, and SAS scans the Temp folder. Would that do something to make CCleaner think those files were all recently used? "

 

Nothing wrong with being safe, but for the general user. Don't you think thats a little OTT?

 

iirc SAS should use backup semantics and thus not touch access date.

 

EDITed b/c I was misreading Ident's quote as a statement and not a quote

[Kitkat48]

@Ident:

 

Can't hurt. Unless I get a FP, hehe! (All I've had thus far is the occasional FP, fortunately.) But I always investigate before I quarantine or delete.

 

Nergal, Thank you.

 

OK, update.

 

I updated CCleaner on the desktop computer, left the check in the 24 hours box and only in the Temp box, ran Analyze, and yesterday it came up with 1 file, 10k in size. Today I removed the check from the 24 hours box, ran Analyze, it came up with 8,858 files. I put the check back in, and it came up with 143 files. I am puzzled by this.

[Kitkat48]

OK, mystery solved.

 

I waited for 24 hours to elapse since last running quick scans with Malwarebytes and Superantispyware. CCleaner with the check in the 24 hours box, 8,841 files to clean out.

 

Ran SuperAntispyware scan. CCleaner analyze: 8,844 files to delete.

 

Ran Malwarebytes quick scan. CCleaner analyze: 143 files.

 

It looks like Malwarebytes does something during its scan of the temp folder which makes CCleaner think the files in there have been accessed.

 

JD, Alan, I don't know why I didn't see your replies when I looked at this thread earlier, but thanks. Looks like Malwarebytes is the one. I'll just have to keep that in mind when I go to clean out that folder.

[JDPower]

It looks like Malwarebytes does something during its scan of the temp folder which makes CCleaner think the files in there have been accessed.

 

JD, Alan, I don't know why I didn't see your replies when I looked at this thread earlier, but thanks. Looks like Malwarebytes is the one. I'll just have to keep that in mind when I go to clean out that folder.

A lot of virus/malware scanners when run update the last access date. Like I said earlier though, I haven't had the "temp files older than..." box ticked for a long time and it's never caused a problem, the only precaution I take is not to run CCleaner in the middle of installing something (ie before restarting computer if an install requires a restart). If I was in your position I would rather have CCleaner delete everything in the temp folder than be scanning it every single day.