Why Does Windows Cleaning Miss Temp Folder?

win9598xp7 · Aug 29, 2024

I've noticed that when running Disk Cleanup in Windows 11, it generally does a poor job of clearing my appdata > local > temp folder. Most the times it leaves this folder untouched after running. The same can be said for using the comparable option located in Settings > System > Storage > Temporary Files. I know these files are not locked by in-use programs, because I can clear them manually. And some are extremely old, from over a month ago (so they're not considered "critical" at this point). A few images of my family I unzipped using Winrar, for example.

To compare, BitDefender has an optimizer that will clear the temp folder, and it removes about 80% of the files/folders (not all, but most).

I'm just wondering why Windows 11 is missing so much of this folder at scan (and sometimes missing it all together)?

Ghot · Aug 30, 2024

win9598xp7 said:
appdata > local > temp folder

I use an old version of CCLeaner, and my appdata > local > temp folder is a total of 4 bytes.
I use CCleaner v5.78

And these are the CCleaner settings I use....

CCleaner from here, scans clean with Bitdefender and at Virustotal...

Download CCleaner 5.78.8558 - Download - Filepuma.com

CCleaner, CCleaner A powerful PC cleaning tool for optimizing system performance.

www.filepuma.com

VirusTotal

www.virustotal.com

NOTE: Since Avast bought CCleaner, I added these entries to my HOSTS file...

0.0.0.0 ncc.avast.com
0.0.0.0 ncc.avast.com.edgesuite.net
0.0.0.0 license.piriform.com
0.0.0.0 ipm-provider.ff.avast.com
0.0.0.0 shepherd.ff.avast.com
0.0.0.0 ip-info.ff.avast.com
0.0.0.0 analytics.ff.avast.com

My CCleaner topic...

My CCleaner Tweaks...

I use CCleaner 5.78 I installed it offline, and I blocked it and it's updaters in MY firewall. And... since it was purchased by Avast, I also entered these lines in my HOSTS file... C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\HOSTS 0.0.0.0 ncc.avast.com 0.0.0.0 ncc.avast.com.edgesuite.net 0.0.0.0...

www.elevenforum.com

Steve C · Aug 30, 2024

I have a shortcut to that temp folder and delete the contents manually.

spapakons · Aug 30, 2024

When you load Disk Cleanup you see an "advanced" button. Click on it to include more locations. This has the temp files as well. Check all the boxes to free as much space as possible.

PerpetualCycle · Aug 30, 2024

Windows cleaner deliberately only deletes items that are unlocked and 7 days or older in case they may still be needed. At least that is the way it used to work.Files older than 7 days sometimes get left behind, IDK why, maybe they were locked, or an artifact of the way it is done, or a bug.

Wrote my own powershell script to delete unlocked temp files older than n days which i use.

Steve C · Aug 30, 2024

spapakons said:
When you load Disk Cleanup you see an "advanced" button. Click on it to include more locations. This has the temp files as well. Check all the boxes to free as much space as possible.

What "advanced" button?

spapakons · Aug 30, 2024

Steve C · Aug 30, 2024

spapakons said:
View attachment 106611

That doesn't clean the Appdata temp files either

spapakons · Aug 30, 2024

Maybe you have set a different temp folder and that one is not default anymore?

wiganken · Aug 30, 2024

This seems to be a long-standing bug. See post #12 in the following thread I started last December: -

Disk Clean-up always shows 0.99GB Temporary Internet Files?

Win 11 Pro 23H2 build 22631.2861 As the title says, I can run 'Disk Clean-up' several times with 'Temporary Internet Files' selected for deletion and it still shows 0.99GB files for deletion after they are supposedly deleted in the previous run. I did not go on the internet in-between runs. Are...

www.elevenforum.com

abactuon · Aug 30, 2024

I have temporary files on my RAM disk, so I didn't wonder about that, but maybe that's the case?

Steve C · Aug 30, 2024

spapakons said:
Maybe you have set a different temp folder and that one is not default anymore?

No I don't. Disk Cleaner does not clean the Appdata temp folder of any of my four PCs.

neves · Aug 30, 2024

TEMP folders fill-up continually - after all, the name of the folder (TEMP - abbreviation from temporary files) is self-explanatory. Thus, you'll clean older entries (which could mean - even as recent as yesterday or couple of hours ago) - but since it's needed by certain app or scheduled setting - can take few hours (if there's multiple scheduled entries - for the day in question) - and dozen of folders and files - will be present once again.

That being said, for clearing Temp folders - i prefer this Lite app: Temp Cleaner v1.3 - which will clear all temp folders with 1 click and display de results (number of removed files/folder) - in system tray.

As for general cleaning - that's something i do only weekly (or weeks if not a month apart).

Bree · Aug 30, 2024

Steve C said:
No I don't. Disk Cleaner does not clean the Appdata temp folder of any of my four PCs.advaced.

I think the default for CCLeaner is not to clean temp files or recycle bin that are less than 24 hours old.
You can change that in Options > Advanced.

andrew129260 · Aug 30, 2024

The proper way of doing disk cleanup is in the settings panel under system > storage > temporary files. You can clean everything disk cleanup used to clean from there.

The old Disk cleanup is a bit buggy as of late and is going away. It has been removed from the drive properties panel and has been deprecated since windows 10.

In any case, you really don't need to worry about cleaning out your temp folder.

Unless your trying to save space, in general you shouldn't really need to run disk cleanup.

IanMosley · Aug 30, 2024

I re-direct ALL my temporary files to a folder using mods to the system environment variables -

You can also re-direct Temporary Internet Files as well -

where they can easily be deleted.

TechnoMage2021 · Aug 30, 2024

Any time that Anyone mentions the "Temp" folder, I have only to ask, "Which one?" because there are probably a dozen or so temp folders located around Windows. And they don't all contain files with the .tmp extension.

The worse offenders are the Browser's Temporary Internet Files. Firefox, for instance can create a thousand of those per day, for anyone doing a lot of browsing or web page visiting. My own Cleanup.bat program, that I wrote, can remove garbage files numbering up into six digits, when run Daily.

It took many hours of digging around in Windows to find the hiding places of all the Temp files and other such Garbage.
I tried to put every one of those locations into my Cleanup.bat (batch file program). By running that program daily, I manage to keep my SSD pretty much FREE of Garbage. Does that improve over all system performance? I think it does! Having a Clean Machine, makes ME feel better anyway. :wink:

just this one simple line, run from a Command Prompt, will kill every .tmp file on your PC, regardless of where they may be hiding.

Del /F /S /Q "C:\*.tmp"

Give it a try!

Cheers Mates!

TM

win9598xp7 · Aug 30, 2024

All great info! And yeah, I'm reading here and elsewhere this is a known bug (but didn't realize the old Disk Cleanup was going the way of Cortana). BitDefender does a decent job, but the version in Windows Settings really needs to be improved if it's the only one we'll have (I don't think it even sees the temp folder contents half the time). Just manually deleting the contents seems to be the best bet. Just glad to know it's not just something weird I was only dealing with. Thanks!

win9598xp7 · Aug 30, 2024

ALSO...

After replying I was suggested to try Microsoft's native PC Manager. It actually does a pretty good job for this (including temps). Not perfect, but definitely would recommend!

TechnoMage2021 · Aug 31, 2024

After years, and more years, of trying every cleanup program that came down the pike, and being somewhat disappointed by them all, I finally decided to just find where all the junk is stored, and put all those locations into a Batch File, so I can delete all the junk in one fell swoop!
It runs a bit long, since one very helpful member gave me the command line to count all the files on my HD, both before and after the cleaning, so I get a total of how many files were removed. Sometimes, it blows my mind, just how many junk files can be created in just one day of computing.

And, that's just one day's junk removal.
I've actually cleaned up PC's for customers, and had to remove Millions of junk files, totaling into the Gigabytes. And then there's those dang Tracking Cookies, that also build up forever! But Super Anti Spyware does a good job of removing those.
It's a never ending process, to keep a busy computer clean, lean and mean! And after 40+ years, I'm getting pretty good at it!

Cheers Mates!
TM