Deleted but Found

[socalgal]

I noticed something recently.

When I delete all files, through Explorer, from all folders/subfolders in C:\Windows\Temp Internet Files, they appear properly deleted - gone.

Then, doing a Find on *.gif, *.htm shows these files' path at the same Temp Internet Files directory.

Why? Is this normal?

Someone told me that in order for them to be really deleted, I have to reboot.

I can't believe I never noticed this one before...

[psyklone]

actually it's been my experience that sometimes not even a reboot does the trick. often times i'll have a customer with corrupted files lodged in their temporary internet files folder and it causes TONS of problems, one of which is you can't adjust your cache directory size, but i'll have them delete the files in the temporary internet files directory and the problem still exists. it only goes away by dropping to dos and doing a deltree tempor~1 from the c:\windows prompt. this directory as well as your c:\windows\cookies and c:\windows\history are safe to delete like that because upon restarting windows they are re-created if they're missing. from what i can tell, not being able to delete files like that is pointing toa damaged temporary internet files directory and i wouldn't be surprised if you were to deltree that directory (c:\windows\tempor~1) and restart that it will let you empty it in windows properly. well, at least until it becomes corrupted again.

cheers!

[Lacy]

What I do is go into my sysedit and in Autoexec.bat type:
ECHO Y|DEL C:\WINDOWS\TEMPOR~1\*.* >NUL (use whatever the path is as some change the location of the cache files). Not sure what OS you're using, but it works great in 95B & C.

I do this with all folders I want cleaned out everytime I boot up or reboot.

[OuTpaTienT]

socalgal, I believe this is what's happening: As long as the files are still in the recycle bin, then they are still recoverable and therefore Windows will include them in a find (in case you didn't mean to delete them).

If this is true, then a fix would be this: When deleting these files (assuming you're deleting them while in Windows) highlight the files/directories to be deleted and just hold down SHIFT while you hit the DELETE key. This way they will not be put into the recycle bin but instead "permantly" deleted.

BTW, a reboot should have nothing to do with this process and shouldn't affect whether files appear or don't.

[socalgal]

Thanks! http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

Ok, I've printed this out for reference.

I'm going to let a few files build up and try yours first, OuT, (it's easiest http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif ) and see if that works.

psyklone? If the Shift+Del DOES work with the files NOT showing up in Find, I can assume the files you referenced are not corrupt and I need not deltree in DOS, yes/no?

Lacy, that's a good idea - I've seen something like that before but never got around to doing it (like so many things!).

Anyway, I'll be trying combos of each of the above and get back with the results, probably tomorrow.

Thanks again for the great suggestions. I sure do appreciate it! http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[psyklone]

socal ...

if the shift+del seems to get rid of them okay, that may be your fix. i have my doubts, though, that what OuT mentioned is the case because windows doesn't include the recycle bin in a search unless you make some registry changes or have manually changed your recycle bin attributes. test it out, make a test file and then put it in the recycle bin and do a search for it ... i bet it doesn't come up.

it sounds to me like you're probably going to need to clear out that directory (quick and painless) and then just go into your IE options, to the advanced tab, and then browse down to 'security' and you'll see an option that you can check that will empty your temporary internet files for you automatically when you close the browser.

cheers!

[OuTpaTienT]

psyklone's probably right. I was just making an educated guess (the "educated" part is questionable).

You could always just put something like this (and similar to what psyklone mentioned) in your autoexec.bat:

deltree c:\windows\temp /Y
md c:\windows\temp

http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gifuT

[Dave_H]

I think that would clear the temp folder, not the temporary internet folder.
I use psyklone's tip quite often, but I use the smartdrv command to speed it up like this:
(In DOS)
smartdrv <enter>
deltree C:\Windows\tempor~1 <enter>
(you get prompted for confirmation, enter Y)
Reboot, or continue with:
deltree C:\windows\history <enter>
deltree C:\windows\cookies <enter>
Dave

Added to post-
I wanted to add for anyone wanting to do this that the above locations for these files are the default locations, but may be different on some systems. You need to check and see first because systems that are set for more then one user or identity, or systems upgraded from Win-95 and/or IE 4.0 may have them in different locations.

IE 5.x seems to have a fairly common problem with the index files getting corrupted for temp internet files (TIF). Thats why clearing out the whole folder in DOS works so well, it causes Windows to recreate the folder and a new index file. With a corrupted index file, the TIF folder can actually contain a bunch of stuff that will not get cleaned thru Windows. You can check this by after clearing the temp files thru IE, going to the "Content.IE5" folder and checking the size of it. Of course this folder will contain copies of your cookies, if the size stated is way bigger than the cookie folder, it means that you have a bunch of junk still sitting there, you just can't see it because the index file is not properly "pointing" to all the files.
Dave




[This message has been edited by Dave_H (edited 06-25-2000).]

[BFlurie]

Want a good TIF & cookies manager? Look @ Cache Sentry here:
http://www.mindspring.com/~dpoch/enigmatic/index.html

[fishbob]

There is a program known as "Window Washer" that does all that for you. As I understand the Cache Memory holds all the locations you have been to. So unless you delete the Cache the fields still exist in temporary memory that is saved unless they are "washed and bleached." There is also a program called "Evidense Eliminator" and BCWipe that will in essense do the same thing.

[socalgal]

Correct, 'Find' does not find my deleted test file in the Recycle Bin.

IE Options/Advanced: 'Empty TempInternetFiles when browser is closed' is already checked.

fishbob: I already have BCWipe: The 'delete with wiping' function deletes the 'TempInternetFiles' folders, but the BCWipe function is not available for the individual files.

However, going to delete the folder: 'Content.IE5' and it's subfolders, warns that they are system folders and Win and other programs may not work correctly.

True or scare tactic?

Also, I have TweakUI and just hit the Repair TempInternetFiles, haven't rebooted yet.

Upon reboot, I'll make those DOS entries, Dave.

I'll report back with an update...

Thanks for the help all, and for the explanation, Dave.

BFlurie, thanks for the link, but if there's a way I can do this without a 3rd party, I'd prefer it. I'll keep it in mind tho.

Hope I covered everything for now...

[BFlurie]

Socalgal, I agree that 3rd party stuff is usually a "fix". However, this program is very small, adds no registry entries or .dlls, deletes "stray" TIFs, and fixes a "size" bug in the TIFs that shaves off TIFs at random once the TIF cache size limit has been reached. With the fix, the TIFs are shaved off by oldest date as they should be. All this is important in my case since I still have an ancient 28.8 modem connection & the TIFs greatly increase browsing speed.

[socalgal]

Bleh.... :/

Here's what I've done since last nite:

Ran SFC, explore.exe corrupt, replaced.

Dave, did your

(In DOS)
smartdrv <enter>
deltree C:\Windows\tempor~1 <enter>
(you get prompted for confirmation, enter Y)
Reboot, or continue with:
deltree C:\windows\history <enter>
deltree C:\windows\cookies <enter>

stuff and when I rebooted, there were no TIFs and the Content.IE5 folders were reduced too. But, still had TIF's in Find. :/

Lacy, entered your ECHO Y|DEL C:\WINDOWS\TEMPOR~1\*.* >NUL into autoexec.bat, saved, and it was present during boot proccess. But, then I had a gangload of TIFs! Argghh...

Somewhere in there, clicking only the TIF and Content.IE5 folders brought up an IPF on wininet.dll. Rebooted, ok.

Well... So will the IE Repair function from Control Panel perhaps fix this?

Or maybe it's time for a win setup.exe :P

Oh, smokin gave me a good link you may be interested in - thanks smokin.

http://www.winmag.com/library/1999/0901/sol001.htm

I'll keep on hacking away on this til I figure out what's wrong! .. when time permits. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

Thanks again if you're still reading, hope I'm not forgetting something... http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

EDIT: Discovery! Deleting the TIFs thru Tools/Internet Options/General, and they are gone from Find also! Should I hope? http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif






[This message has been edited by socalgal (edited 06-27-2000).]

[Lacy]

Socalgal

Sorry it didn't work. Should have known it wouldn't with IE.

[socalgal]

That's ok, Lacy! http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif I appreciate the suggestion. It seems like it should work; I'm not sure why it doesn't seem to, unless it is a corrupt index...

[socalgal]

Just wanted to let everyone know, the Delete function through Tools/InternetOptions seems to be doing the trick... Thanks for the tip, BBA!!

I haven't rebooted in a couple of days and when I do, I'll check again to see if that autoexec.bat entry is working.

Thanks again for your help everyone!

[This message has been edited by socalgal (edited 06-29-2000).]

[BBA]

http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

[Kruppt]

http://www.fsm.nl/ward/

Go to this page and download Spider then run Spider.exe (Not the other program SpiderBite.exe)unless you know your version of IE is mentioned on this page. Neverless you CAN run Spider.exe and run Scan. It will show you the true path to these dat files and what is currently in them. Then once you have determined the true path (they will be listed and you can log them to a text file), you can then use the DELTREE /y commands to the path of each hidden data file from pure DOS. You will have to find though, the true DOS folder and file names not the long file names to use the Deltree /y commands from Autoexec.bat, or make a .bat file with these commands/paths in it or type them in from a pure dos prompt, not from a dos window for them to work. (Windows won't allow you to delete these hidden files otherwise)

[socalgal]

Thanks, Kruppt! That sounds pretty cool http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

I guess this thread should've been in Tech Support eh? lol.. Moved there.