Flaw Temporary Internet Files

rogersch · 12th July 2002

There is a flaw in Internet Explorer. One of our work computers had a build up of 12,000 files using 968MB of space. Since the hard drive was only 3 gig, we had problems until we cleared the 968MB using the following. You may think the C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Folder is empty if you use Norton System works, or windows Accessories, System tools, Disk Cleanup, or open the Temporary Internet Folder and manually delete the files. This is not the case, and that is the flaw.

To clear C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files in windows 95 or 98 of all files do the following.

Go to START, then Find,then Files and Folders.

In "Look in:" type the following: C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files

You will find folders and files, one folder is called:" Content.IE5" Note: if there are to many files you will get a massage that find file can not open. If this is the case go to Advanced and search only for "folders". (If you have a different version of Internet Explorer, the folder name may be different)

Right click the Content.IE5 folder and go to Properties. You will see the number of files and the amount of space being used.

Delete the "Content.IE5" folder or any other folder that shows up . This will clear all files and folders in the Temporary Internet folder.

You will not be able to empty the following "index.dat" from the trash folder until you next restart your computer. All the other files and folders in the trash can be deleted at once. This will clean out the files and folders you deleted from the Temporary internet folder.

If you want more information and a different way to clear the Temporary Internet folder go to the Microsoft web site. http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;Q301057

Temporary Internet Files Use More Disk Space Than Specified (Q301057)
The information in this article applies to:

· Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6 for Windows XP
· Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6 for Windows 2000
· Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 5 , 5.01 , 5.01 Service Pack 1 , 5.01 Service Pack 2 , 5.5 , 5.5 Service Pack 1 , 5.5 Service Pack 2 , for Windows 2000
· Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6 for Windows NT 4.0
· Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 5 , 5.01 , 5.01 Service Pack 1 , 5.01 Service Pack 2 , 5.5 , 5.5 Service Pack 1 , 5.5 Service Pack 2 , for Windows NT 4.0
· Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6 for Windows Millennium Edition
· Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 5.5 , 5.5 Service Pack 1 , 5.5 Service Pack 2 , for Windows Millennium Edition
· Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6 for Windows 98 Second Edition
· Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 5 , 5.01 , 5.01 Service Pack 1 , 5.01 Service Pack 2 , 5.5 , 5.5 Service Pack 1 , 5.5 Service Pack 2 , for Windows 98 Second Edition
· Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6 for Windows 98
· Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 5 , 5.01 , 5.01 Service Pack 1 , 5.01 Service Pack 2 , 5.5 , 5.5 Service Pack 1 , 5.5 Service Pack 2 , for Windows 98
· Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 5 , 5.01 , 5.01 Service Pack 1 , 5.01 Service Pack 2 , 5.5 , 5.5 Service Pack 1 , 5.5 Service Pack 2 , for Windows 95
SYMPTOMS
You may experience either or both of the following symptoms:
· Your Temporary Internet Files folder may use more disk space than you specified in Amount of disk space to use (to locate Amount of disk space to use , click Settings on the General tab of the Internet Options dialog box).
· Files that are downloaded from Web sites may remain in your Temporary Internet Files folder (but are not visible in Windows Explorer) after you click Delete Files on the General tab of the Internet Options dialog box, and then click to select the Delete all offline content check box.

NOTE : By design, Windows Explorer uses the Desktop.ini and Index.dat files to provide the functionality of the Temporary Internet Files shell extension. Index.dat is the Internet Explorer cache index file. It facilitates the browser cache mechanism that speeds access to frequently accessed web pages across different browser processes in the same user context.Cookies are also displayed when you view the Temporary Internet Files folder in Windows Explorer, but these files are physically stored in your Cookies folder; this is also by design.
CAUSE
This problem can occur for any of the following reasons:

The content on a Web page is only partially downloaded (for example, if you click Stop while a page is still being opened, or if you navigate to another page before a page is completely downloaded).

You are downloading streaming video with the AxisCamControl ActiveX control (distributed by Axis Communications), which is used to stream live video from a camera.

Some of the files in the Temporary Internet Files folder are hidden, used by other processes, or otherwise protected files.

WORKAROUND
To work around this problem, move your Temporary Internet Files folder to another location, delete the old folder, and then (if you want to) move your Temporary Internet Files folder back to the original location:
1. In either My Computer or Windows Explorer, create a new folder.
2. In Internet Explorer, click Internet Options on the Tools menu.
3. On the General tab, click Settings under Temporary Internet Files .
4. In the Settings dialog box, click Move Folder under Temporary Internet Files folder .
5. Click the folder that you created in step 1, and then click OK .
6. If you are prompted to log off, click Yes , and then log on to Windows again. If you are not prompted to log off, click OK to close all of the dialog boxes.
7. In either My Computer or Windows Explorer, delete the old Temporary Internet Files folder, and then create a new folder in the same location with the same name.
8. Repeat steps two through six again, but in step five, click to select the new folder that you created in step seven.
NOTE : You must repeat this process when logged on as each user of the computer.

**Arie** · 12th July 2002

Please don't double post