Disk Cleanup - C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp

torchwood · Dec 12, 2023

so you dont use the closeprocesses command, followed by this command Emptytemp:

should show somethin like this
BITS transfer queue => 1572864 B
DOMStore, IE Recovery, AppCache, Feeds Cache, Thumbcache, IconCache => 119074239 B
Java, Discord, Steam htmlcache, WinHttpAutoProxySvc/winhttp *.cache => 0 B
Windows/system/drivers => 14511665 B
Edge => 0 B
Chrome => 849834503 B
Brave => 426215852 B
Firefox => 0 B
Opera => 0 B

Temp, IE cache, history, cookies, recent:
Default => 0 B
ProgramData => 0 B
Public => 0 B
systemprofile => 0 B
systemprofile32 => 0 B
LocalService => 0 B
NetworkService => 0 B

TechnoMage2021 · Dec 12, 2023

You may find this hard to believe, but I've never heard of it before.

How would you enter that into a Batch File?
I'm contemplating running my Batch File in SAFE mode. That should make it possible to delete more files.

torchwood · Dec 12, 2023

Safe mode is NOT required, for the example i provided.....
its not my set-up, i have tweeked a BleepingComputers malware FRST64 set-up

all you need to do is to include/use the 2 command settings i reported

TechnoMage2021 · Dec 12, 2023

Show me your Batch file!
I don't remember those commands being a part of the DOS Batch File language.

Well, I just ran my Cleanup.bat program in Safe mode, and WOW, the amount of junk files that floated to the surface, like dead fish in a pond.
Here's the After Action Report:

And I just ran the program in Normal mode, yesterday evening, before I shut the PC down for the day.
So this report covers less than 24 hours.

I think I'll do that again, about once a week, just to get what is missed in Normal Mode.
It's really simple for me to use Safe Mode. That's probably not so for most people.
TM

torchwood · Dec 12, 2023

all i do is run the >> fix << option on this program,
Download Farbar Recovery Scan Tool

with the 2 commands i posted

Start::
CreateRestorePoint:
CloseProcesses:

EmptyTemp:
End::

drag from notepad

TechnoMage2021 · Dec 12, 2023

I know it will make me sound really stupid, but, I have no idea what you're doing.

I've been writing DOS Batch Files since 1980, and I've never seen anything like that, or even close.

In the last 1.5 hours, I've cleaned out my HD of thousands of junk files, and done a Ghost Backup.
I'm done with PC Maintenance for today.

Thank you, and Merry Christmas,
TM

kelper · Dec 13, 2023

@TechnoMage2021

I booted into Command propmt and ran del /s /f /q "C:\*.tmp but was left with over 500MB of *.tmp files?

And a similar command left loads of *.old files.

Haydon · Dec 13, 2023

Dunno, I hesitate to say 'I am better than MS in cleaning up my disk'. I also hesitate to say 'I am better than Beethoven in composing symphonies' LOL Perhaps AI/GPT-4 can

TechnoMage2021 · Dec 13, 2023

I can do a pretty good job, of cleaning up my PC. I've been at it for 40+ years, but I would fail miserably at composing a symphony.

Kelper, are you using an "Elevated Command Prompt". The only files those commands will not delete are files that are OPEN.
If I got that result, I'd go back and run it again in Safe Mode.
I did run my Cleanup.bat program last evening, in Safe Mode and got a TON of junk. See?

Or, it may be that some things just don't work the same in Scotland. Eh?

I like to do my cleanups from a Batch File, with "Pause" as the last line. That keeps the window open on the screen so I can scroll back up through the listing to see just what's been deleted, and what has not. Files that cannot be deleted, because they are OPEN, will be shown as such.
Also, and I don't know just how important it is, I always run my batch file from a desktop shortcut, where I can tell it to run the batch file with "Administrator Privileges". That may help too. The actual batch file resides in its own folder on the root directory of C:.

Whenever someone tells me that they ran the same commands I run but get different results, I always suspect that it's not "What you do, but how you do it". Of course, there could be other limitations imposed by other software running on their PC.

Y'all have a great day now, y'hear?
TM

kelper · Dec 13, 2023

I think command prompt from the recovery screen runs as admin? May I suggest that you measure the size of the files removed rather than just the number. Many of the tmp files were 1 KB or less.

I'd be interested if you would run Ccleaner first, note the size of your C: drive, then run your bat file and see how much more it removes. I'm not really bothered about saving a few MBs, GBs yes.

Ccleaner certainly removes temporary files from Edge, Chrome and Firefox.

TechnoMage2021 · Dec 13, 2023

You MAY suggest that, but then that opens up another bucket of worms. I had enough trouble just getting the file counters to work.
Obviously, I had help.

Yes, everything on the HD takes up space, even just those little 1k files. They add up quickly when you have thousands of them.

When I'm doing my backups, Ghost will copy every file, in the designated partition, in sequence. Makes no difference how big they are. So every file takes X amount of time, and SPACE in the Backup Image File. Fewer files means faster backups. And, smaller Backup Image Files too!
My Backup Image File is already up to 17GB, using FAST Compression.

I don't know where this thread is going, but it seems to have gotten a bit off track.
I think I'm done here.
TM

PS: You mentioned CCleaner! Arggg! That POS will never have a place on any PC of mine.
After it destroyed my OS twice, over a period of time, it's now on my permanent Sh** List.
It's crap like that, that prompted me to write my own Cleanup.bat program. My program cleans out exactly what I tell it to, and nothing more, and NEVER messes with the Registry or System Files.
And I can send it to anyone, anywhere in the world, and they can run it without ever having to install it.

MilesAhead · Dec 13, 2023

TechnoMage2021 said:
Is that so it will delete temp files that would otherwise be Open?

TM

In my case the concern is deleting the thumbnails in Fast Dial extension. It is really annoying. In the past Wise Care 365 would delete the Opera SpeedDial thumbnails. Even with Macrium incremental backups I hate to restore just to get thumbnails. For some reason ReloadAll either is not an option or does not work. At least for now I have a working solution.

Edit: To answer your question I only reboot to make sure Edge Fast Dial does not get hosed. Something deletes the thumbnails and I will likely never learn exactly what causes it.

TechnoMage2021 · Dec 13, 2023

Elfin magic!

I have no idea what Fast Dial is, so ya got me there!
I really very seldom use Edge and only for a search, so I can't be of much help. It comes with too much MS BS.!
And I've Never installed any Extensions in Edge.

And, my program only deals with Edge, Firefox, and now Chrome, Temporary Internet Files.
It would have no effect on Opera or any other browser that I've not mentioned here.

TM

kelper · Dec 13, 2023

TechnoMage2021 said:
You MAY suggest that, but then that opens up another bucket of worms. I had enough trouble just getting the file counters to work.
Obviously, I had help.

Yes, everything on the HD takes up space, even just those little 1k files. They add up quickly when you have thousands of them.

When I'm doing my backups, Ghost will copy every file, in the designated partition, in sequence. Makes no difference how big they are. So every file takes X amount of time, and SPACE in the Backup Image File. Fewer files means faster backups. And, smaller Backup Image Files too!
My Backup Image File is already up to 17GB, using FAST Compression.

I don't know where this thread is going, but it seems to have gotten a bit off track.
I think I'm done here.
TM

Are you saying a thousand 1 KB files would noticeably slow down a backup?

TechnoMage2021 · Dec 13, 2023

Not by 'Hours' but yes, by some amount of time, depending on the speed of the system.
And, with an old HD, its even slower than with an SSD.

So what is your argument? Are you speaking against my even trying to maintain a CLEAN computer? Sure sounds like it.
That would be fruitless! For I've been cleaning up computer messes for 40+ years, and I'm certainly not going to stop now.
I'll just get better at it. Practice makes perfect!

TM

PS: While being a new mainframe operator, years ago, I cleaned up the system that had NO maintenance in almost ten years.
I deleted thousands of junk files and then Defragmented the main HD. The system had become painfully slow, but after my Cleanup and Defrag, it ran like New again.
That old system supported all the terminals in the County Court House. Delays and wait times had become horrendous.
But after a good cleaning, no one had to wait.
I apply the same technique to my own PC's and I get the same results. I have an old PC, bios date 2008, but it runs as good as a new one.
I run Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 11/Pro/64 on this old PC, with narry a problem.

kelper · Dec 13, 2023

Mrbig · Apr 2, 2024

TechnoMage2021 said:
I can do a pretty good job, of cleaning up my PC. I've been at it for 40+ years, but I would fail miserably at composing a symphony.

Kelper, are you using an "Elevated Command Prompt". The only files those commands will not delete are files that are OPEN.
If I got that result, I'd go back and run it again in Safe Mode.
I did run my Cleanup.bat program last evening, in Safe Mode and got a TON of junk. See?
View attachment 81083

Or, it may be that some things just don't work the same in Scotland. Eh?

I like to do my cleanups from a Batch File, with "Pause" as the last line. That keeps the window open on the screen so I can scroll back up through the listing to see just what's been deleted, and what has not. Files that cannot be deleted, because they are OPEN, will be shown as such.
Also, and I don't know just how important it is, I always run my batch file from a desktop shortcut, where I can tell it to run the batch file with "Administrator Privileges". That may help too. The actual batch file resides in its own folder on the root directory of C:.

Whenever someone tells me that they ran the same commands I run but get different results, I always suspect that it's not "What you do, but how you do it". Of course, there could be other limitations imposed by other software running on their PC.

Y'all have a great day now, y'hear?
TM

So I copied and used your batch file. Unfortunately it does not work as you describe. I rebooted my Windows 11 pro PC ND Ran your batch file as Admin. Here are the results:
Disk Cleanup is now complete.
Performing File Count, After Cleaning. Please Wait!
File Count before cleaning: 1881332 files
File count after cleaning: 1881266 files
Files deleted: 66 files
Time is 19:32:34.14
Date Is Tue 04/02/2024

As you can see it only deleted 66 files out of 1,881,332 files.
I have not tried safe mode yet, but it rejected millions of files.

TechnoMage2021 · Apr 2, 2024

Duh! Apparently, you've totally misunderstood what those numbers mean.
You say that the program rejected millions of files. No it only rejected the GOOD files, but deleted 66 JUNK Files.
It looks to me like the program worked as written. And I'd have to conclude that you had not been doing much internet surfing before running the program.

Because if you to a lot of internet work, like I do, you'd get a report more like this:

As the program runs, it opens up a window on your desktop. By you scrolling back up through the printout, you can see exactly what it has deleted and what files were not deleted because they were open and in use at the time.
I always find it interesting to see just what's been deleted.

Cheers Mate,
TM

Mrbig · Apr 2, 2024

TechnoMage2021 said:
Duh! Apparently, you've totally misunderstood what those numbers mean.
You say that the program rejected millions of files. No it only rejected the GOOD files, but deleted 66 JUNK Files.
It looks to me like the program worked as written. And I'd have to conclude that you had not been doing much internet surfing before running the program.

Because if you to a lot of internet work, like I do, you'd get a report more like this:
View attachment 92359

As the program runs, it opens up a window on your desktop. By you scrolling back up through the printout, you can see exactly what it has deleted and what files were not deleted because they were open and in use at the time.
I always find it interesting to see just what's been deleted.

Cheers Mate,
TM

Actually, I've been a tech since PC DOS 1, before MS DOS. With that said, with the exception of booting in safe mode, I rebooted and ran your latest batch file. I have not cleaned out my PC for months and expected it to delete more temp files. We also have windows\temp and windows\prefetch that should be periodically deleted. I did those manually, but it would be good to add them to your batch file. I'm not complaining, but I was confused that it left so many temp files behind. I also mostly use Edge, so there wasn't many edge temp files.

TechnoMage2021 · Apr 2, 2024

Edge also creates a ton of .old files. Did you notice them?

I always run my batch file from a desktop shortcut, in which I specify that I want the batch file run with "Administrative Privileges".
I don't know if that's absolutely necessary, but it seems to "Work for me.".

I'm sorry if you misunderstood my program, but thanks for trying it anyway.

Cheers mate!
TM