Deleting Temporary Files Painlessly

Author Message Kathy Haras Posted on Sunday, February 4, 2001 - 7:27 am:    Dear Trish, I truly appreciated your recent "Deleting Temporary Files Painlessly", but unfortunately I do not "already have a basic knowledge of DOS commands, the autoexec.bat file and the consequences ...." In fact, I have never done anything in DOS. I'm running WIN 95. Would it be possible to talk me through getting into DOS and adding your autoexec.bat File? I hate the idea of MS having spy files on my computer. Thank you, Kathy Trish Posted on Monday, February 5, 2001 - 6:48 am:    You don't necessarily have to get there. The autoexec.bat file (located on the top level of C:\ drive) can be edited in Windows by opening the file with Notepad. If you do not have this file in the root directory of your C:\ drive, just create it in Notepad (make sure that the "Word Wrap" option is OFF) and save as autoexec.bat. The cleanup will occur the next time you boot your machine. Brent Hughes Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2001 - 10:54 am:    Trish; Again Kudos on the deleting temp files article. I am having some difficulty however under Win 98 first release as the system hangs on "tempor~1" line as this directory contains sub-directory "content.ie5". As you can tell this is a machine with multiple users and a home network. This line makes the boot process take up to ten minutes long! Also the index.dat doesn't get deleted as the article suggests. This dam index has everything! Every page, every fax, every voice call.....who the hell invented this file and why is it there? Marshall Posted on Friday, June 29, 2001 - 12:25 pm:    Hi Trish I recently implemented your "deleting temp files painlessly" through DOS. How do I know it's working. Can I view the an area which would show me if it was deleted or not in windows or DOS. Brent Hughes (Brenthughes) Posted on Saturday, June 30, 2001 - 1:22 pm:    Followup: Deleting files painlessly After Trish set me Smartdrv.exe the "ten minutes" for a boot dropped to under 90 seconds and all the files went bye bye the way they should have. The sub directory Content IE5 also went away with the addidion of another DELTREE line in the autoexec.bat file. So that takes care of the Win98 machine. Window ME however has me stumped. I thought that the same technique could be used on ME, but how naieve can one be? Something fishy is going on here, at least for this broken down old stereo salesman.:-) I opened the Autoexec file and edited the file to accomplish the same thing and saved the file with the full confidence that it would work in the same way. Suprise, suprise....the old autoexec.bat (the one I had changed, saved and rechecked by looking at it after a save)had been replaced by a brand new autoexec.bat (same as the unedited one before I started all of this) and the one I had changed was renamed autoexec.bak. It seems that ME, in it's very limited support of DOS, won't even let you write a custom batch file and yet another way of making Windows a little better, user wise, has been taken away. Please Trish, Vera or any one else, help me out here. Is my contempt and cynisism of Microsoft clouding my judgement and or am I just stupid? I know, I know....never ask a qhestion that you don't want to hear the answer to. Brent Brent Hughes (Brenthughes) Posted on Saturday, June 30, 2001 - 1:29 pm:    Marshall: Sorry, forgot to answer your question...just use Explorer to check the contents of the directories you have used the DELTREE commands on. If your batch file is working correctly then the directories will be empty. If you have different profiles you should add lines to accomodate the different Cookies directories. The INDEX.DAT does indeed get erased but Windows replaces it with a generic 16k file. Thus it appears the files does not go away but it does. V (Vera) Posted on Saturday, June 30, 2001 - 4:45 pm:    hi never worked with win me. only win98 and under. does win me have the msconfig utility ( start>run>msconfig ) where you can alter the autoexec.bat file ( and other system files ) one idea Marshall Posted on Sunday, July 1, 2001 - 1:09 am:    Brent or Trish I have made an autoexec.bat file in dos. To check to see if I did it correctly I use the dos TYPE command to bring up the file and it did. But when I get into windows and check the cookies and temp internet files they are still full of stuff. What could it be? Trish has mentioned creating the file in Notepad in windows. Does this mean I can open up Notepad and type in all the DELTREE etc. lines into Notepad and get the same result as if I went into dos? I'm using Win-98 SE. Thanks Brent Hughes (Brenthughes) Posted on Sunday, July 1, 2001 - 4:29 pm:    Marshall You have it right. Be extremely careful with your syntax. Type the commands exactly as they appear in the artlcle. DOS is very unforgiving when it comes to even the smallest of mistakes. Also take note of the reference to Profiles in the posts as the cookies and the temp files are duplicated in the various profiles for each user on the machine. Vera Several things appear to be different about ME. Yes MSCONFIG is available but I think you are refering to SYSEDIT which allows for the modifications to the various .ini, .sys and .bat files that govern win and dos applications. Sysedit is not present, instead a right click on the file under Explorer gives and edit function. This is how I modified the Autoexec.bat in the first place. The problem is that the modifided file is replaced, upon a re-boot, with the original autoexec.bat. This file is identical to the autoexec.bat that I first opened and then added to. But it does not contain the modifications...it has been restored to it's original form. The file I changed and then saved as AUTOEXEC.BAT is still there but it has been renamed to AUTOEXEC.BAK. Any thoughts, anyone? V (Vera) Posted on Monday, July 2, 2001 - 7:03 am:    hi again http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000361.htm concerning ms-dos and dealing with autoexec.bat good to know thought you might be interested Brent Hughes (Brenthughes) Posted on Monday, July 2, 2001 - 3:51 pm:    Most helpful Vera and thank you, I'm off to edit the registry. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread! Brent Marshall Posted on Wednesday, July 4, 2001 - 7:39 pm:    Hello again Brent, I want to check the syntax and edit the dos autoexec.bat file I created. Could you tell me how to do this? My dos 1.1 book from IBM seems to be a little out of date as I tried the EDLIN command to edit. Also, what if the autoexec.bat file is created twice? Once in dos and once in the notepad through windows? Trish Posted on Thursday, July 5, 2001 - 10:02 am:    Wow! Looking at this thread, I guess I have been busy. Sorry. Hope no one thought I was ignoring them. AND first of all, THANKS to those of you that have helped keep things running so smoothly. All of your help really is appreciated. Ok, Brent, your contempt and cynicism of Microsoft is perfectly valid. Your judgement is not clouded and you certainly are not stupid. So now that we know we share a similar view on the subject...This is why I have stated in the addendum page I added thatI haven't used ME and do not plan to. I'm sure it's just fine for many users, but to me, why not just get a rope and tie my hands? Windows Me doesn't process CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT at startup. Instead, these files are maintained on the sly by Windows Me for backwards compat. with apps that expect to find them there. But any changes you make to either file will be overwritten each time the system boots. (Why all the extra effort to hide something that really is still there? To tie our hands?) Thanks for the link, Vera. I hadn't heard about the registry setting. Guess we can't play in something we don't have. Marshall, You can edit your autoexec.bat file in Windows. Just open the file with Notepad, or maybe less confusing would be, open Notepad, then select the file through the File Menu "Open" option. There is only one autoexec.bat file that is located directly on your C: drive. If you really want to edit it in DOS, just use the edit command. Same file, same place. If done correctly, I'm not sure why your files would still be showing up. Was there anything else in your autoexec.bat file before? If so, cut it and paste it below the cleanup commands. Also, make sure you aren't using the long filenames used in Windows for the paths, which are being executed in DOS. Long filenames are only recognized in DOS through a DOS prompt box from Windows. You can check the syntax on the original article page. You probably won't find the syntax explained any simpler than what is currently shown below the autoexec.bat sample. ESPECIALLY in a DOS manual. That probably came from years of deciphering the normally confusing DOS documentation. Ok, that's it for now. I have finger pecking cramp. Brent Hughes (Brenthughes) Posted on Thursday, July 5, 2001 - 1:24 pm:    Just a thought Marshall, Changes in the directory won't be noticable until after a reboot. So edit in Notepad as Trish suggests and save after changes are made. Then reboot to see what effect the changes made. Use Explorer to look into the directories specified in the DELTREE commands. EG: DELTREE /y c:\window\history\*.* >nul In this example you would look in Windows and then History using Explorer to see if the directory is empty. Trish is correct the long file names are important to handle properly. Temporary Internet Files becomes \tempor~1\ for this exercise. This is shown in the original article. Trish: Several attempts at editing the Registry have been fruitless on my part. Have you any references for me dealing with editing the Registry for WinME? Mostly concerned with the proper syntax to accomplish the cleanup on a boot. I've gone too far to admit defeat now! Brent Marshall Posted on Thursday, July 5, 2001 - 11:17 pm:    Hello Brent and Trish, thank you for your patience for newbies like me. Could you please tell me if the "greyed out line" needs to be typed into the list of commands as well? I'm referring to the line just below "@ECHO OFF". Trish Posted on Friday, July 6, 2001 - 4:57 am:    No, you do not need the grayed out part. I was just showing my autoexec.bat in it's entirety. Brent, Sorry, I'm no help on the ME reg thing. I know all about the not admitting defeat thing. There are times that things will to continue to anatgonize me, even after I really don't care or it doesn't matter. I know you know what I mean... V (Vera) Posted on Friday, July 6, 2001 - 6:01 am:    hello again brent do you have this link http://members.aol.com/axcel216/ here you may find something to help a lot of tweaks hacks and imports Marshall Posted on Tuesday, July 10, 2001 - 9:04 am:    Hello Trish and Brent, I'm still trying to figure this thing out. Do I have to get into the "real DOS mode" for the autoexec.bat file to work? What is real DOS mode. Is it the mode that comes up when I "restart computer in DOS mode" from inside windows? I typed the .bat file into three different places: DOS (with windows prompt), Notepad, autoexec.bat file within windows folder and after rebooting I could not get back into windows. But I did get stuck into a screen with figures running up and down. I was told by someone to reformat my hard drive. Now I'm beginning again, a little further in the beginning than I'd like. But I'm not giving up. So bare with me. V (Vera) Posted on Tuesday, July 10, 2001 - 2:57 pm:    hi one way to get to real dos mode is start>shutdown>restart in ms-dos mode. autoexec.bat gets proccessed before windows even begins, so all you need is for the autoexec.bat to be configured properly,boot up your pc and the work automatically gets done from there. also the correct place for your autoexec.bat file is in the root directory (your c: drive where your command.com and config.sys etc. are.) it won't be processed if it's in another folder. rather than typing your file it's much easier to copy and paste the example into your opened ( in notepad)autoexec.bat then hi-lite and delete the grayed-out part also when you edit it in dos it's the same file you see in windows, so any changes you make and save through dos will be there when you view it in windows you can't save files with the same name in the same directory, so the rootdrive can only have one autoexec.bat file even if you make one in dos editor and the other in windows notepad if you have already formated and re-installed windows.. before you start messing with it,it would be a good idea to make a copy of your autoexec.bat file and rename it to something like autoexec.ba1 then if you run into problems you can go into dos via a boot floppy delete the messed up copy and rename autoexec.ba1 to autoexec.bat( good to do with any file your trying to alter) keep at it you'll get the hang of it good luck Marshall Posted on Wednesday, July 11, 2001 - 11:27 am:    Hi On the second line, "if exist c:\windows\smartdrv.exe c:\windows\smartdrv.exe 2048 16". What is the number 2048 16? Does it change to a different setting specific to my computer make up? Thanks Vera for your tips. V (Vera) Posted on Wednesday, July 11, 2001 - 1:08 pm:    here's a writeup explaining smartdrv.exe and it's parameters http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles%2Farchive%2Fdos%2Fdos9996%2Fdos9996%2Easp and here in sec.2 http://www.kisser.net.au/tontodan/Memory.html about 3/4 down the page V (Vera) Posted on Wednesday, July 11, 2001 - 1:12 pm:    sorry forgot to add 2048 16 shouldn't need changing Marshall Posted on Thursday, July 12, 2001 - 6:07 pm:    Halleluiah! It works. I opened up autoexec from within Notepad and entered the command lines. It took me almost 4 hours of installing and formatting my c: drive due to ignorant difficulties do it but it was worth it. The computer works better now. It use to crash quite often while on the internet. I am much more acquainted with our computer and how it works now. I tried Win/Me and no thanks. Having web sites like yours are really a blessing. Thank you Trish, Brent and Vera. Keep it up! Brent Hughes (Brenthughes) Posted on Thursday, July 12, 2001 - 8:44 pm:    Thanks Marshall, although I'm sad to say I've given up on the autoexec.bat method under WinME. I opted to do this little chore with some third party software. It's called System Mechanic and it's shareware available from ZNet. This little program was designed with WinME in mind and it works so well, I'm going to send the author some money! V (Vera) Posted on Friday, July 13, 2001 - 7:59 pm:    i came across this while roaming and thought of this post about winme and autoexec.bat http://www.geocities.com/mfd4life_2000/ do you think it would do it should i not put the temptation there Brent Hughes (Brenthughes) Posted on Friday, July 13, 2001 - 8:37 pm:    You are a wicked person! :-) Brent John Macey Posted on Sunday, July 15, 2001 - 1:27 pm:    Do you have to run it through the autoexec.bat file, or can you simply open up the DOS prompt on Windows 98 and enter the commands. Will this just clear everything up once? Mark Dawson Posted on Sunday, July 15, 2001 - 8:00 pm:    I would like to back up a bit. I run Windows 2000. I have actually a number of files called index.dat, but the biggest is in the Internet Temporary files directory. If I understand you correctly, it is safe to delete this index.dat file, right? And I can use a command called DELTREE in DOS to do it in Windows 2000? Thanks Mark Trish Posted on Tuesday, July 17, 2001 - 5:19 am:    Yes, you can delete the index.dat, however, not in Windows, only in DOS. Then when Windows is starting up, it will recreate the file, less all the bloat. 2000 does not have a deltree command, but it does have a rmdir command. Rather than: deltree /y TRY: rmdir /s or you may want to try the del command. Rather than: deltree /y TRY: del /s/f/q NOTE: Not sure, but I don't believe this will delete any subdirectories contained therein, only their files, but isn't that what counts? Marshall Posted on Monday, July 30, 2001 - 10:51 am:    Hey, Trish, Brent and Vera what would the command line be to delete the Temporary Internet Files within the Local Settings folder of Win/98. Marshall Posted on Monday, July 30, 2001 - 12:39 pm:    Hello again I'm not sure if I got my last message posted so I'll ask again. I stumbled across my Local Settings folder within C:Windows. In Local Settings is two files: Application Data and Temporary Internet Files. AD was empty but TIF's was full of stuff. Can you give me a command line to empty the TIF's within Local Settings. I've tried to create a DOS command line but it's not working. Dan Renner Posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2001 - 7:55 pm:    Marshall, The line you want to add to your autoexec.bat file to delete the Temporary Internet Files folder is as follows: deltree /y c:\windows\tempor~1 You do not need to re-create this folder either as Windows will do this automatically upon restarting. Marshall Posted on Wednesday, August 1, 2001 - 12:05 pm:    Thanks Dan, but I already have your suggested command line in Autoexec. When I check C: cookies, history, and temp files they are all empty but, when I go into the temporary internet files file within local settings folder it is full. Why is that? V (Vera) Posted on Wednesday, August 1, 2001 - 7:28 pm:    hi i added this line to my autoexec.bat file to see what would happen,and still there were a lot of files left. i went to IE tools internet options temporary internet files settings set TIF folder "space to use "setting to 1 mb (the lowest available) rebooted and still more files than expected went again to ie tools \options\security\custom level\ disabled cookies and per-session cookies to see if it would make a difference it did some pages won't load without cookies enabled such as yahoo re-enabled cookies and those sites did load after reboot i checked the to see what was left in the temp internet folder again right clicked on those files to find that they are cookies so i guess what i'm getting at is this is a work around to minimize the size of that folder hope that helps of course when your intent on a specific method it probably isn't satisfying Brent Hughes (Brenthughes) Posted on Wednesday, August 1, 2001 - 7:36 pm:    Hey Marshall Where is this file? Can't seem to find a local settings directory any where. I you have it then put it this way deltree /y c:\windows\locals~1\tempor~1 at least I think anyway, otherwise Dan is right. My Temporary Internet Files folder is in the Windows directory where it should be and I suspect yours is too. Check the syntax again as that may be the problem. Brent V (Vera) Posted on Thursday, August 2, 2001 - 7:21 am:    hi i noticed that some of my setups,running win98, do contain the windows>local settings folder with application data folder and temporary internet files folder and some setups don't have the local settings folder maybe it has to do with install options??? Brent Hughes (Brenthughes) Posted on Thursday, August 2, 2001 - 7:55 am:    Vera is right. some do some do not, just looked at my son's machine and he has it so perhaps it is in the setup somewhere. Don't forget the rest of the above mentioned line Marshall. \*.* >null Marshall Posted on Thursday, August 2, 2001 - 6:17 pm:    Thank you Vera and Brent. Brent you were right about syntax in DOS. I did add the command line previously but I missed putting the "s" behind "local" which did not execute the desired result. How did you know to s or not to s local? Is it a six letter scheme thing in DOS? Also Vera, do you have any extra Autoexec command lines you came up with which I could use in Win/98? V (Vera) Posted on Thursday, August 2, 2001 - 8:06 pm:    hi no it's not a six letter scheme. it's an eight.three dos can only recognize an eight letter maximum file name with a three letter extension. so if a file name has more than eight letters,such as magazines.doc DOS would truncate it to magazi~1.doc (8.3) for folders (DIR) such as Program Files DOS would truncate it to PROGRA~1 (8) no extra lines i'll go to extra lengths for days on some things on my pc's and other things i'll just neglect to do. who can figure Shawn Posted on Friday, August 3, 2001 - 5:16 pm:    Open your browser, go to tools, then internet options. Where it says temporary internet files, click on settings. Change your directory to c:\windows\ instead of c:\windows\local settings\temporary internet files. It'll automatically make a folder call temporary internet files, so that's why you just put c:\windows\. It changed on me too, and I just told it to put the tif folder back to the way it was and problem solved. For some reason it won't delete it if you leave in the local settings folder. Also you have to turn on show all files in folder options to see the local settings folder, it's a hidden system folder. Rob Posted on Friday, August 3, 2001 - 6:17 pm:    How do you use the delete command if you have an old version of dos that will not work with the deltree ? Version 4.1 Windows 98 here. Jeff C. Posted on Thursday, August 16, 2001 - 4:59 pm:    Hi Trish. Just wanted to say thanx for the help on this area. It seems that you struck a real chord with Windoze users. I have used your script within w98 and w95 with great results. In fact, almost every time I work on a friend's computer now, I go to your website and copy and paste those commands into their autoexec.bat file. Ok, enough flattery. Can you put me in touch with someone like the reader John who wrote in with his suggestions for performing this task in W2k. Something about adding a deltree command from w9x, creating a bin file and a path for it. I'm lost on that one. Edmund Lim Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2001 - 11:01 pm:    Hi Trish, I am very much a newbe. Copied the autoexec.bat file ad verbatim to the Notepad, saved it as autoexec.bat. My index files are still full. Help! V (Vera) Posted on Friday, August 24, 2001 - 8:31 am:    hi first thought is did you save the autoexec.bat file to your root directory? usually c:\ where your config.sys and msdos.sys and others are stored. it won't work if it's not stored there. Edmund Lim Posted on Friday, August 24, 2001 - 6:29 pm:    hi Vera, Yes, I have saved it in c:\. There also exists other autoexec files in that directory. eg autoexec.001 autoexec.nav, autoexec.dos autoexec.bak etc See, told you i was a newbe. Do i modify these files, or save a brand new autoexec.bat file? would appreciate if you could walk me thru this. V (Vera) Posted on Saturday, August 25, 2001 - 3:31 pm:    hi first i would ask if you have statements in the autoexec.bat file that are needed for an older device, such as a sound card, to function. if there are needed statements i would suggest making a copy of it and save to a different name to restore in case things go flooey. open notepad 1. next hi-lite and copy trishes autoexec.bat example ( except for the grayed out part ) and paste into notepad , save as autoexec.bat in c:\ drive 2. or open your needed autoexec.bat file through notepad and paste the "example" beneath any existing needed lines, save and exit i would make sure the path statements in the example reflects the folder locations on your harddrive for example, take this statement DELTREE /y c:\windows\history\*.* > NUL if your "history" folder is in the "microsoft" folder in the "windows" folder you would need that statement to look like this DELTREE /y c:\windows\microsoft\history\*.* > NUL thats the path the c:\ drive , to the windows folder, to the microsoft folder, to the history folder also, if you don't happen to use microsoft office , you wouldn't need this line DELTREE /y c:\windows\applic~1\micros~1\office\recent\*.* > NUL the next time you boot up, the autoexec.bat should work hope this helps good luck . jtan Posted on Sunday, August 26, 2001 - 10:03 am:    Hi, First, I would like to suggest adding this line to the batch files DELTREE /y c:\windows\applog\*.* > NUL 1. Is it advisable to add delete swp in the batch? del c:\windows\win386.swp 2. Is there a way to delete ms words/excel recent file open list? thanks jtan Mort Hershy Posted on Sunday, August 26, 2001 - 10:50 am:    Thank you so much - this is the best tip I've ever received. I'm using Win98se and it worked perfectly! I did, however, remove the line that deletes cookies, from Your autoexec.bat, because I enjoy having my home page (and other sites) open to my configured settings without going through the sign-in process. You are a comp-u genius! jtan Posted on Monday, August 27, 2001 - 7:21 am:    Regarding DELTREE /y c:\windows\tempor~1\*.* > NUL windows 98se sometime create this directory C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5 I have add the following line in the batch file but it does not really delete that folder please advice. DELTREE /y C:\WINDOWS\TEMPOR~1\CONTEN~1\*.* > NUL jtan V (Vera) Posted on Monday, August 27, 2001 - 8:29 am:    jtan some info regarding win386.swp http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000358.htm Bobby Roos Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 9:36 am:    Deleting index.dat files under WindowsME: This should allow you to run all those cleanup commands from the autoexec.bat under WindowsME. 1. Make a file init.bat that contains the commands you want to run at startup, such as: DELTREE /y c:\window\history\*.* >nul, etc. 2. Save it in c:\ 3. In Windows Explorer, select init.bat, right click to get the menu, choose "Properties", "Program", then make sure "Close on exit" is selected" 4. Using Regedit, under "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" add a new string value, name it "init" and set its value to "c:\init.bat". When you start up, WindowsME will open a DOS box and run the commands in the batch file, then close the DOS box. This is working for me... V (Vera) Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 5:31 pm:    bobby i haven't had the opportunity to use winme yet, but if it's working for you, sounds good to me. great tip i'm sure there are some that will agree :-) mrfragger Posted on Friday, August 31, 2001 - 2:32 pm:    I finished doing my win2000 privacy batch. I just started a week ago so here's my batch file for dealing with those nasty index.dat files and history, temp, recent, cache, etc...netscape and IE. http://geocities.com/mrfragger/windoze.html mrfragger Posted on Wednesday, September 5, 2001 - 1:47 pm:    ok I fixed a few things. I must have had 10+ versions floating around my computer and used the wrong one...updated it and now should be 100% mrfragger Posted on Monday, September 17, 2001 - 2:14 am:    ok I've thoroughly tested WinXP and have added it as well. same url as above Janet Posted on Sunday, September 23, 2001 - 8:01 pm:    I need help here! I am using Win98 and below is my autoexec.bat file. The problem is that is still does not get rid of either of the index.dat files. I even added an extra line with the file name in it and it doesn't do it. When I go to DOS and manually type in "deltree c:\windows\tempor~1\index.dat" it says it is deleting it, but it doesn't. Am I doing something wrong here? THANKS! Janet PATH=%PATH%; if exist c:\windows\smartdrv.exe c:\windows\smartdrv.exe 2048 16 DELTREE /y c:\windows\history\*.* > NUL DELTREE /y c:\windows\tempor~1\*.* > NUL DELTREE /y c:\windows\temp\*.* > NUL DELTREE /y c:\windows\cookies\*.* > NUL DELTREE /y c:\windows\applic~1\micros~1\office\recent\*.* > NUL DELTREE /y c:\windows\ShellIconCache DELTREE /y c:\windows\recent\*.* > NUL if exist DELTREE /y c:\windows\tempor~1\index.dat > NUL if exist DELTREE /y c:\windows\cookies\index.dat > NUL if exist del c:\windows\ff*.tmp if exist del c:\windows\system\advert.dll SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T2 SET SNDSCAPE=C:\WINDOWS @ECHO OFF Steve Harvey Posted on Tuesday, September 25, 2001 - 5:11 pm:    Hi!guys.could you tell me if its safe to delete the sent mail,deleted mail,cleanup and so on folders in application data,identities and so on, down in outlook express.thanx Trish it's kinda tough when you're a newbie at this but well worth it.SH. Brent Hughes (Brenthughes) Posted on Tuesday, September 25, 2001 - 5:46 pm:    Janet, The index.dat file is a system file and Windows creates a new one if you have deleted the old one. Your syntax looks OK and it should be doing the job, its just that you are seeing the new index.dat file after it has been put back. To confirm this for yourself, note the size of the index.dat file after a web session (in Kilobytes) then compare the index.dat file after a boot....the new one should be 16kB in size while the old one would have been much larger. raj Posted on Wednesday, September 26, 2001 - 5:05 am:    hi folks, does anybody know of a script which will delete all files based on wildcards or filters from the root directories and the sub directories but will not delete the sub directories. hunted for it over the net but still now no luck regards raj Janet Posted on Wednesday, September 26, 2001 - 11:39 am:    Brent, Thanks for replying! Before autoexec.bat is run, my index.dat file in Temporary Internet Files is 32KB. It is the same after autoexec.bat is run. The index.dat file in Cookies is 320KB before it is run. After it is 16KB. I would think your explanation may be true for the one in the Cookies folder because it changed. But why didn't the one in the TIF folder change? And also, shouldn't both index.dat files be non-existent until I open internet explorer? Thanks for your help! Janet Kim Greene Posted on Tuesday, October 2, 2001 - 2:48 pm:    Will running these commands via login script work as well? I currently manage a network of 130 workstations running WIn 98 SE. Users RARELY to NEVER clean up their PCs; so, I'm attempting to do it for them whenever they logon the network. Also, many times *.tmp files build up in various locations. Is there any command to search the hard drive & delete these files via MS-DOS scripting? Thanks much. Your input is appreciated. Kim Mike Posted on Wednesday, October 10, 2001 - 12:22 pm:    How do i find or install autoexec.bat file for windows 98 John Adkins Posted on Wednesday, October 10, 2001 - 5:48 pm:    I'm so fed up with my system I would be just happy to format the whole thing and reinstall windows me. My question: Can I use the factory system restore cd's to reinstall from DOS. Say I make a bootable floppy then format the hard disk. Could I then restart with the system restore cd in the drive and expect it to be that easy? Afron Posted on Monday, October 22, 2001 - 6:31 am:    Please help. Anyone knows how to delete temp / cookies automatically in Windows 2000? I am having a hard time following Mrfragger's info. Please send me a screen shot or something on the files that supposed to have that info. Is it supposed to be Config.Nt or autoexec.nt? IF you change one, how do you change the other? Think I may have fugged it up. If so, please help!!! Michael Posted on Tuesday, October 23, 2001 - 5:53 am:    John, in general those factory restore CD-ROMS format your drve and reinstall the software the way it came out of the factory. Go ahead and try it, if that's really what you want it to do. If it warns you that it's about to format, you're good to go. charles Posted on Friday, October 26, 2001 - 6:17 pm:    I'm hooked up to a network. Are my indexes stored on a mother computer somewhere? Is there any way of knowing? Is my url history stored? thanks, cdw Michael Posted on Sunday, October 28, 2001 - 6:33 am:    Hard to say, and impossible to know. It all depends on how the network administrator has set up the network. In general, your internet history and temp files are stored on your workstation's HDD, but the admin can go in and look at them any time without your knowledge. Depending on the policies the admin has set, you may be unable to delete them or otherwise cover your tracks. Thus it is advisable to be cautious when using the internet on a network computer. Save your surfing for when you are home Margaret Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2001 - 12:01 pm:    Hi, Sorry to post a newbie question on a board which is obviously way above my head, but I've been reading the threads regarding the deletion of Temporary Internet Files with interest. Basically, my hard drive appears to be shrinking. It's a pretty old PC (pentium 1.33), running windows 95. I only use it for Microsoft Office and using the internet. While I initially had about 400 megs of hard drive space (I've only added about 20 megs of Word stuff, and installed no other hardware since) I'm now told that there's only about 240 left -- the shrinkage has been gradual, but continous. Obviously, I regularly empty my Temporary Internet folder, in addition to other temp files. Will the inclusion of the additional script in my autoexec.bat file make any difference or do I have an entirely different problem? V (Vera) Posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2001 - 11:00 am:    we're all newbies at the beginning aren't we.i don't know if you have a different problem.but it's worth a shot. sometimes i forget to empty the recycle bin and then get amazed at how much is in there. when you install different programs their install routines create temp files in the windows Temp folder and they don't always get deleted.that can grow in size over time and then there's the temp internet folder,cookies folder and may be others to search for on your machine if you use aol you can adjust the amount of online graphics that get stored on your harddrive. maybe someone else has some tips too. hope this helps Margaret Posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2001 - 8:30 pm:    Hi V(Vera!), Thanks for your advice, but that ain't the problem-- I'm aware of all that stuff, and it isn't causing it. It's certainly something else. Regards m Ffoeg Posted on Thursday, November 1, 2001 - 12:08 pm:    A couple of things I have found out about this process, and a few of my own ideas: #1 - Look in your /windows folder, and find File Manager. Make a shortcut to this in your start menu under system tools. File manager can display the contents of your temporary internet files folder, whereas a file called desktop.ini that exists in all of the subdirectories is capable of preventing you from seeing files that are actually there in (Windows) Explorer. More usefully, though, File Manager already displays the DOS path rather than the long filenames. This is good as two paths, one named "Temporary Internet Files", and one named "Temporary Stuff" will be distingushed only by the number 1 or 2 in the DOS file name. To tell which is which, simply look in the folders. #2 - RENAME ALL OF THESE FOLDERS: \Windows\Temporary Internet Files \Windows\COOKIES \Windows\History Windows will give you a warning about renaming system folders. Ignore this, as your system will still operate the same. The reason for it is this: Say Joe wants to find out where you've been. The are plenty of expoloits in MS software that allow him to actually read files from your computer, but Joe needs to know the path to the file or he can't read it. The big one I would go after to find out about you would be: C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.ie5\index.dat So, if this path does not exist, too bad for Joe. This is neccessary because the index.dat file keeps growing while you are browsing, and can not be deleted from Windows, no matter what you do. An extremely dilligent hacker could theoretically use environment settings or something along those lines to read it anyway, but hey.. at least you tried huh? Anyone feel free to email me (misterffoeg@hotmail.com) with questions or answers on this subject. Ffoeg Posted on Thursday, November 1, 2001 - 12:15 pm:    Also, if you are using the autoexec.bat "cleaner" file, you will need to change the paths in that file to match the new names of your Temporary Internet Files, COOKIES, and History folders. AND, I HAVE ONLY TRIED THESE CHANGES UNDER WINDOWS 95!!! BEFORE TRYING IT UNDER ANOTHER OS, MAKE BACKUPS, AND BE SURE THAT THE FOLDERS DO NOT MIGRATE ON YOU!! THESE FOLDERS ARE CAPABLE OF RELOCATING THEMSELVES AND YOU WILL THEN HAVE TO SEARCH FOR THEM!!! Again, this is a matter of interest to me, so anyone feel free to mail me (misterffoeg@hotmail.com) Ffoeg Posted on Thursday, November 1, 2001 - 12:32 pm:    I also noted that some of you are finding the "Local Settings" folder. This is a result of tampering with your Temporary Internet Files folder too much. Windows will only take so much from you before it moves the T.I.F. folder to more concealed places. I just called this migration above, but that might be a term for something else. There are also other places it will show up if you tamper with the Local Settings folder too much. Solution: Start Menu/Find/Files or Folders/ and search for content.ie5 To get it to go back to the original folder (I think) all you have to do is move the whole local settings folder to the T.I.F. directory manually, and then delete the inactive content.ie5 folders. Once this is done, move the active content.ie5 up one level into the T.I.F. folder and delete the now empty Local Settings or User Data or whatever folder. You may have to repeat this with history.ie5 and cookies. I'm not sure. It is sort of like a rubik's cube, but the system (95 at least) will not be harmed no matter how many of these folders you delete or move. Kathy StPierre Posted on Friday, November 9, 2001 - 12:45 pm:    Hi! I'm studying for A+ and have a very basic question. How does the FDD get its drive letter? PSDVM Posted on Friday, November 9, 2001 - 10:36 pm:    right clik on start button, then explore, then look for temp. internet files. Open folder hit ctrl+a then, hit delete key.This will delete temp. files and your cookies at the same time. Jonathan Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2001 - 7:52 pm:    I just deleted my index.dat files from windows, without using DOS. I don't know if there are any holes in it or not, frankly I'm too lazy to try and see right now, I'm just glad it's finally gone, and I didn't have to go through all that DOS crap. You know DOS is sooo boring, I need the VIsuALs damn it. But don't you just love using it in front of people that don't know what the hell your doing, makes me feel kind of smart. As it was now I'm heading over to work so I can take care of my computer there... index.dat-properties-archive-delete I'm sorry, did you say painless? John Adkins Posted on Wednesday, November 14, 2001 - 5:49 pm:    I was wondering if anybody knows how to get rid of .cpy file in restore/temp folders under Windows ME. These files seem to take up an awful amount of hard drive space. What are these files and how do I turn off the restore function? This ME might be more trouble than it's worth... keith Posted on Sunday, November 25, 2001 - 3:49 am:    any xp info? rosey Posted on Monday, December 10, 2001 - 11:43 pm:    this is all "beyond me"...i must be sooo stooopid or something lol...can anyone describe (as if speaking to a five year old..) how to delete the index.dat file automatically and what is a autoexe.bat file...and where does this fit in the picture. I have had an awful time with hackers...hard drive wiped out twice...and i just wanna defend myself. pleeeeeeeeeeeeez thanks heaps in advance, rosey Robin Peters Posted on Friday, December 21, 2001 - 1:53 pm:    OK, what did I do wrong? I have win 98 2nd edition. I followed the commands on the autoexec.bat file on your web page, in dos mode. It evens show up in the msconfig edit box. But it does not delete the files??? Any Ideas??? How can I read what in the index.dat file? How would one find autoexec.bat in thier Note pad??? How would one know what a Wrap option is??? Thanks for any help. I got the basic bit trying to fine tune it. Thanks again Robin Peters Posted on Friday, December 21, 2001 - 4:32 pm:    Rosey, E-mail me at petersfam@juno.com I need to know what system you have? Ken Bolen Posted on Tuesday, December 25, 2001 - 3:57 pm:    I updated my Autoexec.bat with the commands suggested, but the line: DELTREE /y c:\windows\ShellIconCache doesn't work on my machine (running Windows 98) since the file does not get erased. Is this because it is a Hidden File? I tried converting it to the 8-digit format and deleting it as a file and then as a directory but none of them worked (the same file ~1.5MB from 3 days ago was always there.) And I couldn't navigate to this file while in DOS (probably since it's hidden), so does this actually get deleted for any of you? FYI, I could manually delete it from Windows Explorer no problem, but I would like to find an automated way like all of the other "fix's" presented here to delete it. Thanks, Ken Bolen Ken Bolen Posted on Tuesday, December 25, 2001 - 4:04 pm:    For anyone with MS Word, I would add this line as well: if exist del c:\windows\applic~1\micros~1\office\templa~1\normal.dot It is a file similiar to the index.dat (that'll show up every time the computer is booted) and it also gets way too large when left alone. The problem is that it could cause problems when opening Word. jrdvan Posted on Tuesday, December 25, 2001 - 10:22 pm:    Wife's 98se wasn't deleting temporary internet files on disk cleanup it was showing 0.00MB for TIF's went to index.dat in "find files" and it was loaded with 15MB here's what I did apparently the index.dat was corrupted because this fixed it 1.Re-boot your computer 2.As it is re-booting tap the F8 key until you get a startup menu 3.From the startup menu choose Command Prompt Only, if the number is "5" for Command Prompt Only hit the "5" key and then hit "enter" or if it's 4 hit 4 etc. 4.At the c prompt, type in "smartdrv" (without the quotations) and hit enter 5.Change to your Windows directory i.e. type in "cd windows" and hit enter, again do not use quotations. 6.Type in the following command deltree tempor~1 and then hit enter it should confirm the deletion, type in "y" for yes and hit enter again type exit and then hit enter if this doesn't work hit Ctrl-Alt-delete and this will bring you back to windows I'd recommend re-booting system at this point ...brought the index.dat down to 96kb and temp internet files are now showing accumulated files again. You can do this every once in awhile to keep the TIF file from becoming corrupted Robin Peters Posted on Thursday, December 27, 2001 - 1:16 am:    Rosey, It is Windows 98,2nd edition. It has 56 megs of ram, compaq Presario modle 7471. It is a pain in the but at this time, but working with it. Thanks again for the help again Ken Bolen Posted on Friday, January 4, 2002 - 5:42 pm:    I noticed that these lines weren't actually deleting anything on my computer (running Windows 98 SE): if exist del c:\windows\ff*.tmp if exist del c:\windows\system\advert.dll I changed them to: if exist c:\windows\ff*.tmp del c:\windows\ff*.tmp if exist c:\windows\system\advert.dll del c:\windows\system\advert.dll Now they do delete the files. Also, referring to my previous post about the normal.dot file, this same change will need to be made (Also Note: my directory structure wasn't quite right for this one so I fixed that too.) Correct format for it is: if exist c:\windows\applic~1\micros~1\templa~1\normal.dot del c:\windows\applic~1\micros~1\templa~1\normal.dot Good Luck, Ken leroybrown Posted on Wednesday, January 9, 2002 - 6:31 pm:    How can I add my IE6 browser cache to the bat file? Everything else is getting deleted. By the way, is this any different then just deleting these files through Explorer? Is it completely wiping them out or what? leroybrown Posted on Wednesday, January 9, 2002 - 6:45 pm:    What I meant in the above thread was how can I delete the drop down menu, not the actual history folder. Trish Posted on Friday, January 11, 2002 - 11:11 am:    You have to change the path in this line: DELTREE /y c:\windows\tempor~1\*.* > NUL to the actual path that IE6 is putting the files. Yes, this is different, because it is deleting the index.dat file that will still hold all of the info about all of the files that you deleted. It can become quite huge and corrupted. When Windows first starts up, it will create a new index.dat that is by default, 32K. What drops down in the menu is your History. That is deleted with the line: DELTREE /y c:\windows\history\*.* > NUL TO ALL: This thread has really gotten long winded here. Great thread, but sorry if anyones questions got lost in the process. If so, try posting your questions again as a new topic. This will create easier access for others to help. jim Posted on Saturday, January 12, 2002 - 2:20 pm:    Hello, I am writing a C++ program to delete temporary internet files such as WindowWasher or EvidenceEliminator. I don't want the user to have to reboot their PC, or have the user's screen switch from Windows to DOS then back to Windows. If I create a batch file shown below and save as it as clean.bat and then call this batch file from a C++ program, will it delete my index.dat file? I think I know the answer but I would appreicate your input! Also, I have placed a comment in uppercase regrading direcories in the following batch file. Again, many thanks for any assitance you may provide! Privacy for Windows 2000 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ @echo off rem cleans Cookies, History, Temporary Internet Files for Windows 2000 rem Internet 4.x, 5.x, 6.x and Netscape 4.x,6.x rem Note-- check your Netscape path instead of your 'default' it could be your username rem there are two places to replace yourusername with your own account rem IE and Netscape URL drop down lists are stored in the registry rem Netscape Edit - Preferences - Clear Location Bar and use the url_recent.reg above rem name this entire file privacy.cmd rem suggest putting in your StartUp folder privacy.cmd and url_recent.reg rem HINT quick way is to logoff and login and voila all clean rem IE and Windows @echo on c:\ REM MY COMMENT. I AM USING WIN 2K, AND DON'T HAVE THESE SUBDIRECTORIES (I.E. TEMPOR~1, COOKIES, HISTROY, TEMP) UNDER THE WINNT DIRECOTRY. I HAVE THEM UNDER THE DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS DIRECTORY. rd /s/q c:\winnt\tempor~1 rd /s/q c:\winnt\cookies rd /s/q c:\winnt\history rd /s/q c:\winnt\temp md c:\winnt\temp cd c:\docume~1\yourusername rd /s/q cookies rd /s/q locals~1\history rd /s/q recent md recent rd /s/q temp md temp rem Netscape 4.x and 6.x rd /s/q c:\progra~1\netscape\users\default\cache del /s/q c:\progra~1\netscape\users\default\cookies.txt del /s/q c:\progra~1\netscape\users\default\netscape.hst @echo off rem del /s/q c:\progra~1\netscape\users\default\*.db rem del /s/q c:\progra~1\netscape\users\default\*.dat rem del /s/q c:\progra~1\netscape\users\default\*.js rem *.db deletes cert7.db key3.db secmod.db rem *.dat deletes \news\host-news\hostinfo.dat file rem *.js deletes prefs.js and liprefs.js rem (probably not wise or have to reconfigure Netscape each time your start it) rem best thing to do is Edit | Preferences | Clear Location Bar rem making index.dat files (cache of cookies, history, temp internet files) 0 bytes rem to prevent growing in size and invasion of privacy. Need to do this ONLY ONCE. rem logoff and under the Administrator account create a text file rem in c:\ called index.dat and right click | properties and make it READ-ONLY rem Copy and then paste by right clicking in command prompt the following lines (exclude rem) rem copy c:\index.dat c:\winnt\