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Is there any software for cleaning Windows' local settings / temp folder?

With no installing, not many options, just a simple, nice interface with buttons to do what's needed and which wouldn't scare the younger users. Explicitly made for clearing the temp folder? Or maybe there is some command which can be run in Command Prompt (cmd.exe)?

It's just that Adobe Shockwave Player has some weird bug. It stores the files in this folder and now I and few other users are experiencing problems with files being used, not found and lot of mess generally which I guess is caused by the files being stored in this folder and not overwriting.

So it's kind of a hard situation here.. Disk Cleanup does not help in clearing this folder and CCleaner is very confusing for young users and people not into the OS.

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  • Why doesn't Disk Cleanup's "clear temporary files" work? I use it all the time.
    – Mark Sowul
    Commented Mar 9, 2011 at 20:28
  • It doesn't clean the contents of folder temp.
    – Rihards
    Commented Mar 9, 2011 at 20:38
  • %temp% usually refers to a variable,temp, in a batch file but now %temp% refers to regular files on the hard disk
    – user115004
    Commented Jan 24, 2012 at 2:39

4 Answers 4

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You really don't need special software to do a straight delete of all files in any folder, this can be done with a simple batch file or from the command line:

del /s /q /f %temp%\*
del /s /q /f %windir%\temp\*

The first will get the current user temp folder, the other will get the system temp folder that some applications like to use.

EDIT: Per request, here is an explanation of the switches used, as found on MS Documentation:

/f : Forces deletion of read-only files.

/s : Deletes specified files from the current directory and all subdirectories. Displays the names of the files as they are being deleted.

/q : Specifies quiet mode. You are not prompted for delete confirmation.

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  • isn't %windir%\temp only used if the TEMP or TMP environment variable (should that last one not be in your answer as well?) is set to that dir?
    – stijn
    Commented Jul 11, 2012 at 17:01
  • How do you refer in a batch to the different tmp folders in user or system context if the system temporary folder has been moved somewhere else than %windir%\temp? E.g., my user %tmp% and %temp% variables refer both to the folder C:\tmp-sys\win7user. But my system temp folder has been moved to C:\tmp-sys\win7syst (I changed the location with the help of the Advanced System Settings GUI).
    – Thorsten Albrecht
    Commented Mar 1, 2018 at 9:57
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menu Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup does exactly what you want, it will walk you through the whole process. If you want something more in depth CCleaner is a great free program for this. You can also automate both of these with scheduled tasks.

Let's document this so you can see that it does clean %Temp%.

  • My Temp folder:

enter image description here

  • select temp files in Disk Cleanup:

Enter image description here

  • Temp file after cleaning up; as you can see there are some files left over because they are in use (I'm not actually sure what's up with that debug file from November, but I can't delete it manually so I'll have to look at later):

enter image description here

If you are still having issues, there might be some other problem with how the program placed the temp file there just like I have with that debug file.

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  • 1
    Disk cleanup does not clean the folder's temp content. It does not! The temp folder I mean can be accessed typing: %temp% in start->run. CCleaner does that, however that's too complicated for non experienced users as i mentioned.
    – Rihards
    Commented Mar 9, 2011 at 20:37
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    -1? I guess disk clean up doesn't clear temp files, my bad... xD
    – Supercereal
    Commented Mar 9, 2011 at 20:38
  • Disk clean up 100% clears temp files let me get some screenshots for you... don't get angry because you don't know how to use it...
    – Supercereal
    Commented Mar 9, 2011 at 20:41
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    It doesn't clean up everything, only things older than last login.
    – Mark Sowul
    Commented Mar 9, 2011 at 20:46
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    @richard CCleaner still solves your problem....
    – Supercereal
    Commented Mar 9, 2011 at 20:53
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You could use a tool like Belvedere. Drop it on a drive, put a shortcut in the Startup folder, and set a few rules. I use it for maintaining my drives.

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You can use CCleaner.

  1. In CCleaner click the “Options” icon at left.
  2. Click the ”Include” button.
  3. Add a new include statement by clicking ”Add”.

You can also use Empty Temp Folders. You can add una tantum folders that contain temporary files left over by other applications, then you can empy them when you want simply with one click.

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    Commented Jan 3, 2021 at 10:41

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