Temporary Internet Files

Jake75 · Apr 17, 2004

My computer crashed (read other thread) and chkdsk found alot of crosslinked files while it did it's run.

However, my Temporary internet files directory contains around 2.76 GB of junk that I simply can't delete.
When I brows the dir I can't see any files (I've checked 'show hidden files' etc), but when I select properties for the dir it clearly states that there are 10 files in 2 sub directories in temporary internet files.

I did a search and got a few hits of the files in the dir, the names where all garbled like : 1/\´44x...well, messed up files I suppose.

How can I get rid of them?

Youth is wasted on the young

alltaken · Apr 17, 2004

uncheck "hide system files"

then try again

windows compresses temp internet files into a normally unreadable state (on my computer i cannot browse T.I.F's in thumbnail mode because it has no way to decompress it all and then create a thumbnail file.

this could have somthing to do with it being gobildy goop.

Alltaken

<A HREF="http://www.mud-puddle.co.nz" target="_new">http://www.mud-puddle.co.nz</A> its where its all going on, oh and its also all going on HERE <A HREF="http://doug.mud-puddle.co.nz/gallery/" target="_new">http://doug.mud-puddle.co.nz/gallery/</A>

Jake75 · Apr 17, 2004

Yeah, forgot to mention, I have unchecked it...I think chkdsk went nuts and wrote some really large files that really aren't needed...I usually have around a few hundreds megabyte of temp files, no more no less.

If I try to delete them I get a message that says that windows can't locate the files or something similar, but they're still there.

Youth is wasted on the young

_WW_ · Apr 17, 2004

Ok...See if I remember this right. To find the super hidden files in temporary internet files do this:
Turn on your Anti-virus and select to scan certain files...find your way to
C:\Documents and Settings\USER NAME HERE\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files

You should see a plus sign next to it, click it and you should be greeted with Content.IE5 ... Or you can type into the address bar
C:\Documents and Settings\USER NAME HERE\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5

After browsing through what you find in there you will discover that most of these files are stored images etc. from all the web pages you've been to so when you go back to them they can load faster.

Most of these can be deleted with no harmful effects...

....WW (4.0)

Jake75 · Apr 17, 2004

*sigh*, yes...I've found the culprits...but I can't delete them, they are zero byte in size but still they magically adds up to around 2.75 GB on my HD (I figure this out as I check the folder they are in, no hidden files)

Ó vk <---- that's the file name of all of them (with slight variations)

When I try to delete them it says something about "can't read from the source..."

Frustrating.

Youth is wasted on the young

_WW_ · Apr 17, 2004

<A HREF="http://www.theeldergeek.com/delete_undeletable_file.htm" target="_new">Delete A File That Is Seemingly Undeletable</A>

....WW (4.0)

Jake75 · Apr 18, 2004

Did'nt work.

I tried to delete the files and the folder, I just got a message "No such files/directory"

Thanks for the help anyway =)

Youth is wasted on the young

Toejam31 · Apr 19, 2004

I'd suggest that you use a third-party file manager that can "see" super hidden files and remove them, such as <A HREF="http://www.ghisler.com/" target="_new">Total Commander</A> or <A HREF="http://www.winnc.net/en/?chapter=6" target="_new">WinNc.Net</A>. Personally, I think this is the easiest workaround. Most of the Registry hacks I've seen online don't work, so using an alterate tool solves the problem.

Toey

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Jake75 · Apr 19, 2004

Thanks for the links, however they're still refuse to be wiped off my disk

I only get a "Can't find the file" error, still it clearly shows that there are files in the folder.

Is this the right time to freak out? ^^

EDIT: They are marked as system files when running Diskkeeper if that is of any help.

Youth is wasted on the youngEdited by Jake75 on 04/18/04 06:01 PM.

Toejam31 · Apr 19, 2004

I wonder if this link will help?

<A HREF="http://www.aade.com/XPhint/zero byte.htm" target="_new">How to delete a zero byte file that cannot be deleted in windows</A>

You could also try using the above instructions after booting up as the Administrator in Safe Mode, and see if the files can be deleted ... not as yourself (even if you are an Administrator), but as the system default Administrator. I do this whenever I wish to remove extra large or corrupted .dat files ... and in your situation, getting rid of the index.dat file in the Content.IE5 folder would probably be a good idea, after deleting the other files. Windows will create a new one after a reboot. If this file is corrupted, that could have been the start of your problem in the first place.

You could also try installing one of those other file managers as the default Administrator, booting up in Safe Mode, and then seeing if the files can be removed, if they can't be deleted via the Command Prompt. Trying this with the explorer.exe process temporarily killed couldn't hurt, if all else fails.

Toey

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Jake75 · Apr 19, 2004

I'll be f*cking damned.

I found an old DOS disk after some serious searching and booted from it.

After some messing with various "Dir /AS Dir /AHDH Dir /DAMP" and so on I finally
managed to navigate myself to the correct dir.

First I tried with the standard ERASE command, no use...can't find any files, ain't that a b*tch.

Then I suddenly remembered the good ol' DELTREE command (been more than 10 years since
I used DOS mind you), naturally that exe file were non present on my bootdisk.

Finally I found a nice Techworm bootdisk with DELTREE on it, repeated the procedure
and got the question if I wanted to delete the folder, Y for yes, no message that
it could not find the folder...yay, success.

Rebooted, got into Windows and found out that the folder still is there.

As it is now I only have 80Mb left on my C:\ drive and windows kindly let me know
this by displaying an annoying pop up message from time to time.

*Sigh*

Youth is wasted on the young

Toejam31 · Apr 19, 2004

I still think your best bet is to log into the system in Safe Mode as the default Administrator and delete the index.dat file, and then the Content.IE5 subdirectories. Unless that just didn't work for you ... although I can't imagine why it wouldn't.

As for the hard disk space warning ... it can be disabled with a Registry edit, but in this situation, it seems to me that the warning is correct. 80MB is not much free space for an OS to function correctly. And this might even be part of the reason that the files can't be removed.

Have you got a way to resize that partition, or is this just one partition on a single drive?

You might have to start uninstalling some programs to free up some space on that partition, if possible.

Perhaps running a repair on the OS with the OS CD would be a possible solution, since that would replace the Internet Explorer files. Afterwards, using another browser might help with the Temporary Internet Files; I personally use Mozilla Firefox most of the time, as it is easier to maintain, and doesn't have super hidden files that are ordinarily inaccessible by the user from the default file manager.

Windows can be nothing but workaround after workaround. So what else is new?

Toey

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Jake75 · Apr 19, 2004

I appreciate your advice, sadly I'm still sitting with some 2.75Gb of
'magical' files which simply wont disappear for some reason.

I've tried all the suggestions.

I tried to virus-scan them just for the fun of it but that didn't work either.

As for repartitioning, that would be an option if it would not take hours and hours
just to move a few Gb.

Last time I did it it took 5 hours, still not finished I tired and pulled the plug.
Bad idea...it obviously took as long to 'fix' the messed up partition, I pulled
the plug again and just wiped all my movies, mp3 off...luckily I'm on a fairly
fast 8Mbit line so getting the movies won't be much problem.

Anyway, how hard can it be to delete som files? what can be wrong? why!?

*pissed off*

Youth is wasted on the young

Toejam31 · Apr 19, 2004

Hmmm. Let me clarify a few things before I get you in trouble.

One, if you log in as the default Administrator, in order to delete the files and folders ... you will still need a way for the files to be accessible before you can remove them. That will still require a third-party file manager, or some kind of Content.IE5 viewer (they're out there, I've seen them while browsing around.)

However, with the limited space in the partition, you may not be able to install anything else ... which would require either making room, or installing the program in a separate partition. Since I don't know the status or set up of your hard drive(s), I can't say what you need to do in advance.

Two, the OS repair might be what you need, but again ... with the low disk space, you might be looking at a potential problem, as the paging file will be re-established during the process. If you already have the paging file in a separate partition ... that's good, but if you've moved it off, and now need a repair, you won't have enough disk space available for the file when Windows creates a new one with a default size and position.

And, of course ... there is the fact that repairs can be kinda messy, resulting in needing to download a dozen different things from Windows Update so your security isn't compromised; which means the repair should be the last option. Trying to reinstall Internet Explorer from within WinXP is almost impossible, Registry hacks or not, which is why the repair is the better decision, if it comes down to that.

Perhaps you might tell me a little more about your hard drives, such as the size, and the amount of paritions per drive.

More information on Total Commander coming in a private message, so be on the lookout for it.

By the way:

Rebooted, got into Windows and found out that the folder still is there.

No big surprise with that, Bud ... it's not only a super hidden folder, but a system folder ... so Windows automatically recreated it during the reboot. That's part of <A HREF="http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=290" target="_new">Windows File Protection</A> ... which is not exactly fun to kill, requiring yet another Registry edit and a hex editor to stop, especially if you've got SP1 installed.

Toey

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Toejam31 · Apr 19, 2004

I understand your frustration. [-peep-] happens ... regularly, and it's not a whole lot of fun.

However, storing those personal files in the C: partition was not really the best idea in the first place, and optimally should be somewhere else, for safety, if nothing else. For the best results, I'd have to advise doing your level best to keep the majority of files that aren't necessary for the OS operation off on a separate partition, and/or backed up on optical media.

I know that moving the files will be a pain, and so will resizing the partition ... but, you may have no other choice, unfortunately.

Toey

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Jake75 · Apr 19, 2004

Once again, many thanks.

As for the personal files, they were on another partition as logic tells me
to keep C:\ as clean as possible.

I have 5 other partitions, not counting the one Windows is on.

I logged in as administrator and tried to remove the files with Total Commander, all in
vain.
It says the files can't be found, please remove your 'write protection' on the disk"
I managed to delete all the other files, except those few.

Now they have size though, from 300Mb to 400Mb (didn't have the first time I checked
, maybe I missed something :/)

Oh well, As I'm not using C:\ for anything special I might as well leave it as
it is for now.
I'll just format the drive when it's time for my next Windows XP install.

Youth is wasted on the young

peartree · May 1, 2004

Have you tried something really simple, like selecting the bad files, right-clicking on them, hoosing Properties and checking to see if they're actually protected? If they are, then you're really going to have a hard time getting rid of them unless you cancel the write-protect/hidden/system file settings.

=== Never assume ANYTHING ====

Jake75 · May 1, 2004

Yes, been there done that, thanks anyway =)

Did a format and installed Win 98...problems solved ;P

Youth is wasted on the young

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