So it’s good practice to give your PC a spring clean once in a while and get rid of them. However, they will take up space and over time can grow quite large and take up quite a bit of space. The fact that they’re still there usually means that a Windows session has ended abruptly or that something has gone wrong. Temporary files and the clue is in the name are not intended to live permanently on your hard drive and, under normal circumstances, will be deleted when they’re no longer needed. The location of that directory varies depending on which version of Windows you’re using. For example, Internet Explorer stores its temporary files in a folder called Temporary Internet Files folder. And web browsers store their temporary files in their own cache folders. Those created by the system are stored in C:\Windows\Temp However, applications also create temporary files, and those are stored in your user folder in the application’s App Data directory.
Temporary files are stored in several different places, depending on what has created them. If not removed, they can pile up and take up a substantial amount of disk space. In all cases, temporary files are created and deleted once the operating system no longer needs them. When you print a document, Windows first spools the print job to a temporary file before it’s sent to the printer.Ĥ. Temporary files are also created by web browsers to cache web pages and store your browsing history.
When applications need more memory than is available in physical RAM, Windows uses virtual RAM and creates temporary files to hold the data.ģ. When you use an application like Word or Excel that allows you to undo edits you’ve made, Windows creates a temporary file to hold data on the changes you make.Ģ. Microsoft lists several circumstances in which temporary files are created:ġ. Temporary files are exactly what they sound like - files created by the Windows system that are deleted when no longer necessary. But what are temporary files? Where are they stored? And if they’re temporary, why are they still on your hard drive taking up space? Get answers to all of these questions, and find out how to get rid of temporary files quickly and easily. If you spend any time researching how to free up space on a Windows PC, you'll see one piece of advice, again and again, is to delete temporary files.