Should I Delete Temporary Files?

Temporary files are a type of data created for holding information temporarily. Sometimes, Windows or some app needs to create a file only for limited use and then forgets to delete it. Some files get deleted after closing or uninstalling the program.

But most of them remain on your PC. These files take up quite a lot of space over time. These can be log files, downloaded files, unnecessary Windows registry entries, etc.

But many of you don’t know or are wondering what to do with them? Do we keep them or not? Will there be any problem if I delete those files?

Don’t worry I’m here to help you today. So, let’s get started with it.

​Is it Safe to Delete Temp Files?

The main question that everyone asks is whether they should delete it or not? Well, the answer would be yes, you can go ahead and remove them.

Well, temp files aren’t that important in Windows 10. Once your system uses these files, there isn’t any reason to keep those files.

The files inside of this folder only contain info that Windows just use one time but then it doesn’t need anymore.

There are two locations for these files:

C:\Windows\Temp

C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Temp

This folder also contains temporary files. Here, Username is the name of your account. If multiple persons use the PC, then you need to go into your Username and then delete the files. You can also delete the other users’ files if they don’t need it for some reason.

You’ll find different types of files in these two locations. Such as Temporary Internet files, these are used to speed up the browser. A browser would save this file while loading a website. These files stay even when you close the browser.

If you are using an app installer, then you might have many program files left behind. These programs leave behind unnecessary files after getting rid of them. So, just remove them without any problem.

Computer ​maintenance programs like CCleaner is programmed to delete temp files which are older than 24 hours. Thus, reducing the risk of accidentally deleting useful files.

Sometimes browsers store offline web pages which take up a lot of spaces. You can quickly load these web pages even when the internet is slow. But you don’t need it and can get rid of and save space.

How Do I Delete Them?

There are two methods to delete these files. Just follow the following steps and get rid of these files,

Method 1

Step-1: Firstly, Press Windows Key + R, this will open Run.

Step-2: Now type in the following and press Enter:

%temp%

This command will automatically take you to the temp file in AppData.

Step-3: Now select all the files and folders that you want to delete if you don’t want to remove them all. Then Press Del or Right-click and choose Delete.

Note: You’ll also get warning messages here too! Click Skip if you see an error message stating a File In Use or a Folder In Use.

It might be several gigabytes, and it might take a little bit of time. If the folder size is small, then it’ll get moved to Recycle Bin. And if the size is big enough then they’ll be permanently deleted.

You can manually delete the temp folder in Windows. Just go the path and delete the files using Ctrl +A and then Del.

Windows might show some error message while deleting the files. Ignore those and clear the folder.

Method 2

Step-1: First you need to go to the Settings app. So, go ahead and click on the icon from left-pane of the Start menu. Or you can just go to the Action Center and go from there.

Step-2: After that, go to System. And then look for Storage in the left pane and click it when you find it.

Step-3: Next, under the Storage section, you’ll see all the drives here. Just click on the one where you install the Windows 10. If you haven’t changed the default, then it should be C drive.

Step-4: After clicking on the system drive where you install Windows 10, you will see the Storage usage page.

This page will let you know how much disk space is used by the system and other such as apps & games, documents, pictures, music, videos, mail, desktop, other users, maps, OneDrive, and temporary files.

Step-5: Click on the Temporary Files here. You’ll see an option to remove these files. You’ll see different options to deal.

Step-6: Next, select the checkbox next to Temporary files. And after that, Remove files button to delete all temporary files from your Windows 10 PC. You can also get rid of the downloaded files and recycled files from here if you don’t need them.

Lastly,

The second method is an easy way to do it without manually going to the locations and deleting them. But if you want to save some individual files then you need to remove those you don’t need manually, as the second method would get rid all of it at once.

I hope now all your confusion and problems are solved. So, if you are running low on disk space, just go ahead and claim back your storage without a fuss.

Hasib Bin Anowar

Hasib is a born geek and loves tweaking his computer and gadgets for effectiveness and productivity. At WindowsChimp, he specializes in writing Tutorial guides and discovering new hacks to share.