Every time you visit a web page, your internet browser creates a temporary copy of the page’s text and graphics. When you open the page again, your internet browser checks the web page server for changes to the page. If the page has changed, your web browser will retrieve a new version of it. If the page hasn’t changed, your browser uses the temporary files stored on your computer to display the page. However, when you view lots of web pages, over time, this temporary storage area will continue to fill up and cause problems. Therefore, this technical brief will show you how to Clean Up all Your Temporary Files.
For Windows XP
For best results reboot your computer before performing this procedure.
Begin by first clicking on your Start Button.
Then click on Search, then click on All Files and Folders.
In the Search Companion window on the left, click on the All Files and Folders option.
Ensure that the Look in: box is pointing to you C: Drive and not just a single directory.
In the All or part of the file name: box, type in *.TMP
That’s the Star symbol - with a Period - followed by the TMP extension.
Then click on the Search button located in the lower left corner of the screen.
Your computer will do a search for all files that end with the .TMP file extension.
They will be listed in the right side area of the screen with their name and Folder location.
Then click on the word Edit, which is contained, in your top tool bar area.
This will pull down a menu for you to now click on Select All.
All these .TMP files on you hard drive will become highlighted.
Now simply press the delete key on your keyboard to wipe out these temporary files.
All the files formally contained in the right side area of the screen will become empty.
And Windows will state that the Search is complete. There are no results to display.
Then close the Search Results window to return back to your Windows session.
For Windows 98 And Windows Millennium
For best results reboot your computer before performing this procedure.
Begin by first clicking on your Start Button.
Then click on Search, (or Find for Windows 98) then For Files or Folders.
Ensure that the Look in: box is pointing to your C: Drive and not just a single directory.
In the Search for files or folders named: box, type in *.TMP
That’s the Star symbol - with a Period - followed by the TMP extension.
Then click on the button entitled Search Now or (or Find Now for Windows 98).
Your computer will do a search for all files that end with the .TMP file extension.
They will be listed in the right side area of the screen with their Name and Folder location.
Then click on the word Edit, which is contained in your top tool bar area.
This will pull down a menu for you to now click on Select All.
All these .TMP files on you hard drive will become highlighted.
Now simply press the delete key on your keyboard to wipe out these temporary files.
All the files formally contained in the right side area of the screen will become empty.
And Windows will state that the Search is complete. There are no results to display.
Then close the Search Results (or Find Files) window to return back to your Windows session.
The "GID" Files
Software companies now place their manuals onto the CD-Rom of their purchased software. The last version of Microsoft Office that physically contained manuals was Microsoft Office Version 4.3. If one purchases a later version of Office, they will not receive any hard copy manuals. Instead, Microsoft places the help files onto the CD Rom so that when you install the program, the main help files are also installed.
Therefore, we now refer to these help files to get our questions answered. This is fine, as your questions do get answered, but believe it or not your hard drive becomes accumulated with files that end with the extension .GID. The more you access the help files, the more accumulations your hard drive receives.
You can check this out for yourself by opening up Windows Explorer and double clicking on any help file in the C:\Windows\Help\ directory. Help files are those that end with the extension .HLP. If you double click on the file Windows.hlp, it will open up the basic Windows Help File. Now, when you close this help file, Windows will create an additional file entitled Windows.gid that will appear at the bottom of your directory.
Therefore we treat these files that end with the .GID extension the same way we treat the files that end with the .TMP extension. We enter *.GID in the steps outlined above and proceed onward.
You Can Also Automatically Clean Temporary Files By Reading: How To Clean Temporary File Folders
