Ghost Files?

[NBee]

I've been having a clear out, running out of disk space.

When I right click on Temporary Internet Files in my profile, it says the directory contains 1.4Gb of files. I've cleared them, there's just a few cookies left.

Any ideas what's going on?

[David_Jones]

Are you viewing the folder in Windows Explorer?

If so, do you have the option set to 'show all files'?

If not, they are possibly 'hidden' or 'system' files that are not being displayed, but are actually there.

Having said that, 1.4Gb is quite a lot!

HTH,

David.

[NBee]

Yes, the option is set to show all files.

No idea what's happening.

[David_Jones]

Do they show up from a DOS prompt?

What if you ue the ATTRIB *.* command?

[NBee]

I have no knowledge of this command - could you give an example please?

[David_Jones]

From a DOS prompt, go to the directory in question, then type "ATTRIB *.*" (without the quotes) and see whether it lists any files not shown in Windows Explorer.

Can't recall what it does with hidden subdirectories though.

[NBee]

The attrib command returns nothing at all. But it other directories it does what you'd expect.

The property tab tells me there are 27,000 files and 29 folders. I can't see anything there at all.

Weird.

[David_Jones]

In Windows explorer, when you have the directory selected (click once on it) on the left hand pane (tree view), is there a + sign (to expand and show sub directories)?

If so, click on that, and see if any sub directories show up, either in the left hand pane or the right.

David.

[NBee]

No there isn't - I looked for that.

No wonder I'm running out of disk space if my system starts making the up!

[mike breck]

Try running Scandisk or Checkdisk (depending on the OS) to correct any possible errors.

Then defrag the HD.

HTH

[David_Jones]

What is the full path to the directory in question?

[NBee]

Mike - this sounds daft but how do I run scandisk?! I thought it was in Programs->System, but it's not. Defrag is there along with a load of other stuff.

I haven't defrag'd yet, but I did the analyzing, and sure enough it seems to think that loads of files are hugely defragmented from within the Temporary Internet Files directory.

David - the full path is:

C:\My Documents And Settings\myUser\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files.

[glc]

Open a command prompt (Run - cmd) and type CHKDSK /F

If you have NTFS file system, it will tell you that the volume is locked and do you want to do it on next restart, say yes then reboot.

[mike breck]

Hi NBee,

Scandisk is used in Win9x and Check Disk is used in W2K/XP.

I see now, from your previous posts, that you appear to be running XP.

Use the Command prompt as glc suggested or, alternatively, in Windows it's:

My Computer>Right-Click on a Drive>Properties>Tools>Error Checking>Check Now.

Check Disk will run.

HTH

[David_Jones]

Not sure about this idea, but you could consider deleting the whole "C:\My Documents And Settings\myUser\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files" folder.

I don't know what effect this might have, and whether Windows will re-create a new, empty one upon re-boot.

Has anyone tried that?

If you have Ghost, you could always backup the partition, try it, and if it turns to jelly, restore the backup.

David.

[NBee]

Well I haven't run checkdisc from the command line, but I did the one that happens automatically when you boot up if the machine wasn't shut down properly.

I have also defragged as well.

No errors were reported, and I still have 1.4Gb in that folder.

I might have to try what you suggested Mike, but I'm a little nervous about it - from my experience things are sometimes left to their own devices. I'll certainly do some backing up first.

Thanks.

[mike breck]

There's really no danger in running a full Check Disk unless your Hard Drive is faulty anyway. That's what's it's there for - to check your files and do a full surface scan of the HD.

If space is being misreported, it should find the error and hopefully fix it.

I do quick scan of my HDs once a week before I defrag them and a full scan every two - four weeks.

[NBee]

Ok. I've done the full CheckDisc, I've defrag'd. I've also attempted to delete the folder - it won't let me as it's a windows system folder.

It still thinks there's 1.4Gb in there.

Aaargh.

Is there anything else I can try?!

[David_Jones]

Can you see that folder if you boot up using a boot disk (say, Win98)?

If so, could you see any files in there to delete using that?

David.

[mike breck]

Go to Start Menu>Find Files or Folders
Type in the "Named" box: "C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5"
Miss out the quotation marks
In the "Look in" box, choose "My Computer"
Click "Find Now".
If a lot of files appear, then highlight and delete them
To do this, go to "File" and, while holding down the "Shift" key, click on "Delete".
If you don't hold the Shift key down before you click on Delete, they will go to the Recycle Bin

See if this method turns up anything.