deleting temp files (Windows XP)

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Hello everyone:

can anyone explain why following is not working:

C:>del “%systemdrive%Documents and Settings%username%Local
SettingsTemporary Internet FilesContent.IE5index.dat”

I have tried it from C:documents and settings should I put the % around my username?

thanks

dillon65

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No, I can’t explain it since when I try with DIR rather than DEL it gives me what you’d expect.

Could you say what error message you get, both for DIR and DEL?

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JohnGray:

It was my understanding that this forum was designed for people like myself to be able to ask a question, and wait for a response, however, your response appears to be mordant, and does not leave any room for myself or anyone else who is reading your response to be able to grasp your answer.

dillon65

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What is it about my answer that you don’t understand?

Using different words, I said:

a) I’ve tried it and it works for me when I used the DIR command rather than the DEL command. This is a standard method of testing that you can get to a file in a non-destructive manner. When you try it with DIR you prove that you can get at the file in question. Then you do it again using DEL with the same path and it should work to delete the file.

it would help if you indicated what error message you got, if any. This also a standard technique. It gives a few more clues about what was the result of your command, and could help someone give you a useful answer.

Thanks for the word “mordant”! I had to look it up in the dictionary, and however inappropriate it is to my answer, I’ve tucked it away for future use!

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This is a forum for people who wish to learn about the technical issues, that could help them resolve matters; not a forum for people such as yourself to exercise your level of imperious attitudes.

Thanks for the word “mordant”! I had to look it up in the dictionary, and however inappropriate it is to my answer, I’ve tucked it away for future use!

You shouldn’t have to look it up, you could of spent that time doing other things; like being kind in your reply!

dillon65

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Hello Dillon65,

JohnGray’s first reply in the thread about deleting temp files in the Windows XP forum may be rather terse, but I wouldn’t call it mordant. He wrote that he couldn’t reproduce your problem using a variant of the command you used, and asked you to report the error message you get. He then expanded his reply, and tried to defuse the situation in his second post in the thread. The word ‘mordant’ could be applied to both your replies with more justification than to those of John.

When we communicate via Internet, it is all too easy to read too much into somebody else’s words. John means well, and I am sure that you do too. Please try to look at things in perspective. The Lounge is too good to let it be spoilt by mutual irritation.

I sincerely hope that you won’t take my remarks the wrong way; they are absolutely not meant to deter you from further posting.

Regards,
Hans

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Hello Dillon65,

JohnGray’s first reply in the thread about deleting temp files in the Windows XP forum may be rather terse, but I wouldn’t call it mordant. He wrote that he couldn’t reproduce your problem using a variant of the command you used, and asked you to report the error message you get. He then expanded his reply, and tried to defuse the situation in his second post in the thread. The word ‘mordant’ could be applied to both your replies with more justification than to those of John.

When we communicate via Internet, it is all too easy to read too much into somebody else’s words. John means well, and I am sure that you do too. Please try to look at things in perspective. The Lounge is too good to let it be spoilt by mutual irritation.

I sincerely hope that you won’t take my remarks the wrong way; they are absolutely not meant to deter you from further posting.

Regards,
Hans

Reply | Quote

This is a forum for people who wish to learn about the technical issues, that could help them resolve matters; not a forum for people such as yourself to exercise your level of imperious attitudes.

Thanks for the word “mordant”! I had to look it up in the dictionary, and however inappropriate it is to my answer, I’ve tucked it away for future use!

You shouldn’t have to look it up, you could of spent that time doing other things; like being kind in your reply!

dillon65

Reply | Quote

What is it about my answer that you don’t understand?

Using different words, I said:

a) I’ve tried it and it works for me when I used the DIR command rather than the DEL command. This is a standard method of testing that you can get to a file in a non-destructive manner. When you try it with DIR you prove that you can get at the file in question. Then you do it again using DEL with the same path and it should work to delete the file.

it would help if you indicated what error message you got, if any. This also a standard technique. It gives a few more clues about what was the result of your command, and could help someone give you a useful answer.

Thanks for the word “mordant”! I had to look it up in the dictionary, and however inappropriate it is to my answer, I’ve tucked it away for future use!

Reply | Quote

JohnGray:

It was my understanding that this forum was designed for people like myself to be able to ask a question, and wait for a response, however, your response appears to be mordant, and does not leave any room for myself or anyone else who is reading your response to be able to grasp your answer.

dillon65

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No, I can’t explain it since when I try with DIR rather than DEL it gives me what you’d expect.

Could you say what error message you get, both for DIR and DEL?

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A system process in Windows 2000 and 2002 appears to open that file and keep it open; with no applications open, any attempt to delete it yields a “Sharing Violation” type error message.

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A system process in Windows 2000 and 2002 appears to open that file and keep it open; with no applications open, any attempt to delete it yields a “Sharing Violation” type error message.

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Index.dat is a system file that is ALWAYS used by windows and can not be deleted while windows is running.

There are software programs that are available to delete and view this file. You can do a google search under:
“index.dat” “delete”
and you can get further info on it and some sites with software.

Steve

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Index.dat is a system file that is ALWAYS used by windows and can not be deleted while windows is running.

There are software programs that are available to delete and view this file. You can do a google search under:
“index.dat” “delete”
and you can get further info on it and some sites with software.

Steve

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There were some posts on the Internet Explorer board many moon ago about deleting this file. However, you had to boot in a special way (e.g., to a command prompt) in order to do it. R2 would probably know the details.

Is there any reason to do this manually, rather than letting Windows clear the TIF??

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Hello JohnBF;SDckapr;Jscher2000

Thank you for all of your kind responses, over the weekend I went to a site called astalavista.com, and I read an article called ” Microsoft has Hidden files on your computer “, this article was very adamant hat the files from the content.ie5 are always your system; I am aware that the article refers to the win95-98 editions, however, this is still a known fact for XP.

I did searches on google.groups and they indicated that by going to the Dos prompt, one could clear the the folder that holds every internet site that an individual has visited; again these particular files are still in the folder despite using the “internet options” to clear them.

The following line was C:del “user name”local settingstemporary internet filescontent.ie5index.dat

sdckapr: thanks for the following, There are software programs that are available to delete and view this file. You can do a google search under:
“index.dat” “delete”

I would really appreciate your views or opinions

dillon65

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I have not studied those files in detail, but I think it makes sense that they stick around after you clear the contents. The moment you visit a new web site, they would have to be re-created, so IE probably doesn’t bother to delete them. Anyway, I wouldn’t worry about this too much. It would be difficult for anyone to actually look in your browser cache, and if you keep it to a modest size, it should overwrite itself regularly. (Why on earth is mine set to 124MB?)

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I’ve found that the default size that all flavours of Windows set the temp internet folder to is far to big for any practical use whatsoever. Given the size of most TIF files (1-5k appears pretty typical), your default folder size could potentially grow to ~60,000 files. With this many files, is local caching truly going to be any faster than pulling down new files while browsing?

A solution that I’ve found to both the index.dat file and the bloat in TIF is to move the folder to a ram drive. Power down and the folder, and all contents, blink out of existence. And, instead of having to read temp files from your hard drive while browsing all of your temp files are accessed from the much faster ram drive. The biggest limitation is the need for physical memory that can be sacrificed to power the drive.

Reply | Quote

I’ve found that the default size that all flavours of Windows set the temp internet folder to is far to big for any practical use whatsoever. Given the size of most TIF files (1-5k appears pretty typical), your default folder size could potentially grow to ~60,000 files. With this many files, is local caching truly going to be any faster than pulling down new files while browsing?

A solution that I’ve found to both the index.dat file and the bloat in TIF is to move the folder to a ram drive. Power down and the folder, and all contents, blink out of existence. And, instead of having to read temp files from your hard drive while browsing all of your temp files are accessed from the much faster ram drive. The biggest limitation is the need for physical memory that can be sacrificed to power the drive.

Reply | Quote

I have not studied those files in detail, but I think it makes sense that they stick around after you clear the contents. The moment you visit a new web site, they would have to be re-created, so IE probably doesn’t bother to delete them. Anyway, I wouldn’t worry about this too much. It would be difficult for anyone to actually look in your browser cache, and if you keep it to a modest size, it should overwrite itself regularly. (Why on earth is mine set to 124MB?)

Reply | Quote

Hello JohnBF;SDckapr;Jscher2000

Thank you for all of your kind responses, over the weekend I went to a site called astalavista.com, and I read an article called ” Microsoft has Hidden files on your computer “, this article was very adamant hat the files from the content.ie5 are always your system; I am aware that the article refers to the win95-98 editions, however, this is still a known fact for XP.

I did searches on google.groups and they indicated that by going to the Dos prompt, one could clear the the folder that holds every internet site that an individual has visited; again these particular files are still in the folder despite using the “internet options” to clear them.

The following line was C:del “user name”local settingstemporary internet filescontent.ie5index.dat

sdckapr: thanks for the following, There are software programs that are available to delete and view this file. You can do a google search under:
“index.dat” “delete”

I would really appreciate your views or opinions

dillon65

Reply | Quote

There were some posts on the Internet Explorer board many moon ago about deleting this file. However, you had to boot in a special way (e.g., to a command prompt) in order to do it. R2 would probably know the details.

Is there any reason to do this manually, rather than letting Windows clear the TIF??

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Index.dat is not a temporary file. With XP, the explorer.exe process always has the file assigned. To delete this file: Start task manager. Then open a command window – start | run | cmd.exe. Stop all running programs except the command window. Then using task manager stop the explorer.exe process. Then in the command window navigate to the folder containing index.dat. You should be able to use del at this point. You can use task manager – file | new task to restart explorer.exe.

Joe

--Joe

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Index.dat is not a temporary file. With XP, the explorer.exe process always has the file assigned. To delete this file: Start task manager. Then open a command window – start | run | cmd.exe. Stop all running programs except the command window. Then using task manager stop the explorer.exe process. Then in the command window navigate to the folder containing index.dat. You should be able to use del at this point. You can use task manager – file | new task to restart explorer.exe.

Joe

--Joe

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