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  • Directory \var\TEMP

    From PaulRS@21:1/5 to All on Fri Aug 19 22:25:01 2016
    I noticed a lot of "stuff" in this directory. Since it appears to be
    stuff associated with web downloads and the directory is labeled
    TEMP, is it safe to delete files in this directory without wreaking
    havoc somewhere else?

    Paul
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  • From A.D. Fundum@21:1/5 to All on Sat Aug 20 10:03:21 2016
    I noticed a lot of "stuff" in this directory.

    Go to a prompt near you, and type "ECHO %TEMP%". It's a (default)
    environment variable, set in CONFIG.SYS. The other one may be "%TMP%".
    Using a RAM disk is an option.

    TEMP and/or TMP may occur more than once in a CONFIG.SYS. IIRC IBM's
    VisualAge C++ package sets it again, instead of changing or using the
    existing default setting.

    is it safe to delete files in this directory without wreaking
    havoc somewhere else?

    Yes, by design, perhaps unless you're browsing. So "DELTREE *" after a
    reboot first, but don't try to unlock and delete all remaning files
    and directories without thinking.

    I'm not sure if it's still valid, but one may be able to find more
    rare and cached, large video files in the Mozilla directories too.
    Parts of possibly crashed videos, like temporarely files not saved in
    a TEMP or TMP directory. IIRC there's no file extension, with names of
    those large video files like "MEDIA_CACHE_2". The size of the files is
    more clear than a recalled name. You can play those files with a video
    player like KMP, just like parts of video files recreated by CHKDSK
    can be played, to check what they are.


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  • From Dave Yeo@21:1/5 to PaulRS on Sat Aug 20 20:14:50 2016
    PaulRS wrote:
    I noticed a lot of "stuff" in this directory. Since it appears to be
    stuff associated with web downloads and the directory is labeled
    TEMP, is it safe to delete files in this directory without wreaking
    havoc somewhere else?

    Yes, ideally right after booting up and before you start up your browser
    etc. Some of those files might be required by a running program, at
    least for a while.
    I have %TEMP%, %TMP% and %TMPDIR% pointed at a ramdisk so it gets
    cleaned on every reboot. Linux usually has a script to clean /tmp during startup. I think Windows hides it all to force you to buy a new computer
    and Windows license regularly.
    Dave

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  • From Dave Yeo@21:1/5 to A.D. Fundum on Sat Aug 20 20:17:23 2016
    A.D. Fundum wrote:
    > I noticed a lot of "stuff" in this directory.

    Go to a prompt near you, and type "ECHO %TEMP%". It's a (default)
    environment variable, set in CONFIG.SYS. The other one may be "%TMP%"

    Easier to type "set temp" without the quotes. There's also %TMPDIR%.
    Dave

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