Hello, I've searched and can't find my exact problem. I have a 2002 Dell Dimension pentium IV 2.5 GHz desktop with XP Home, SP2. For years I've been deleting unneeded files in "documents and settings\user\local settings\temp" folder but for past 2-3 months when trying to open the folder, Explorer freezes and becomes unresponsive. I've tried My Computer, booting in safe mode, using EastTec Eraser, Acronis TrueImage, Cleanse Uninstaller, and trying to access through Command Prompt: %temp% then rd/ . with the same response, they all freeze. I don't remember installing a specific new program before this happened. I scan weekly with Norton Antivirus 2008 with no viruses identified. I'm down to 1.5 GB free space on my c:\ drive and can't burn dvds anymore. Can anyone help? Thanks!
I would suggest you download and run ATFCleaner.exe by Atribune which will clear your temp folder. Select all when you are about to run it.
Then I would suggest to free up your HD, go to Add and Remove and uninstall all the programs that you rarely use or never use. Reboot after you do this please. Then run ATFCleaner again. Having so little space on your HD will take its toll and prevent you from defragmentation and evenually slow you to a halt. What is the size of your HD? and would it be possible for you to acquire an external HD to transfer some of your data, photos, etc over to it.
After the above suggestion you may now be able to access your temp folder.
Post back and let us know how you go and ask more questions if need be.
Mike20, you definitely need more HD space. It is possible that because it is so low, your computer is not able to delete. Make sure to go to tallins link and use Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs to remove as many of your unused programs as possible, the more space the more likely it may work.
I have one small idea for you. Instead of opening the folder and thus causing a freeze, right click the folder and just delete. Then right click a blank space and create a new folder and name it the same thing. It may freeze when you try to delete the folder but it's worth a shot.
Thanks to you both for trying to help me. I do have a 250GB external HDD, also another internal 250 (mostly full with music and movies but with ~40 GB free), my C: drive however is only 40 GB. I have removed all the programs I can easily do without, leaving 3.6 GB free. Although this is a small amount, it has worked before, and I think there are somewhere between 2 and 5 GB in my Temp folder that I can't access. I have also tried right-clicking the temp folder and deleting, still freezes.
I will follow the suggestions to run ERUNT and HijackThis on the recommended new members post, thanks!
Mike20, one thing you can try is to open a Command Prompt (Start / Run, type cmd and press Enter), then "cd \documents and settings\youruserid\local settings\temp" folder (aka directory). Then enter del *.*. Reply y when you get the Are you sure (Y/N)? prompt. Just make absolutely sure you are in the "documents and settings\youruserid\local settings\temp" folder so you don't delete a bunch of files from the wrong location!
The problem you are having is most likely caused by a corrupted .avi file which explorer trys to create a thumbnail for and goes into a 100% cpu usage loop. You could try entering
del *.avi instead of del *.*
from the command prompt, then see if Explorer now works or not.
Thanks Ztruker, I tried your suggestion and it let me enter, then nothing happened. Windows Task Manager listed Command Prompt as "running" but no prompt reappeared, I left it open for over an hour with no change. Same effect with *.* and *.avi. Strangely, task manager cpu usage remained at 4 - 25%.
I have also run HijackThis, don't know if it is useful here. Should I post it here, in the HijackThis forum, or try to solve this problem first? Thanks!
…and I think there are somewhere between 2 and 5 GB in my Temp folder that I can't access.
although an hour would be plenty of time, it would take 10-15mins or so for Explore to collect the info necessary to BEGIN to delete that much from the /temp folder.
Note: If your Recycle Bin size is the Default 10% of drive space, then anything above 3.7GB or so would exceed the Recycle Bin alloted space, and you would normally see a window letting you know that and would you like to delete them anyway….but you are not. It sounds like your file system has broken chains in it. To get the actuall size of it, Right-click on the Temp folder and choose -properties-. If the PC freezes during the enumeration of the folder size, then the File system has errors and CHKDSK /F needs to be run on that volume.
Note: Do NOT do attempt to delete the temp files of the current logged-on user. Many programs place temp files that will be "in use" and will not delete. It is best to boot into Safe Mode, (if you're going to do it manually,) and use the Administrator account to clean-up all the user accounts temp and Tempory Internet Files [these files are typically repeated in the %windows%\temp dir.]
Download EBCD (Emergency Boot CD). Use it's file browser to navigate tot eh temp folder you are having problems with, see if it can open it. If yes, delete everything there or at least all jpg,mpeg, avi, mov files. See if that helps.
I think we're getting close! I tried EBCD but couldn't get the disc to copy and run in a way that I could access my hard drive - could only access drive "Z" - but went back to command prompt and tried listing directory, which it would let me do. I must have let the small, 0 kb files add up because it listed what appeared to be thousands of them, I exported the list to a .txt file on my other hard drive. Explorer just must not have been able to handle listing them all. I've been running "del *.tmp" for 12 hours now and it's still deleting files. I stop it every so often to check and it's moved down the list. I don't know for sure but it appears once all these tiny files are deleted, I'll be able to get to the really big ones. Thank you all for your help, I couldn't have done this without it! And I will definitely delete all those small files promptly in the future.
I think we're getting close! I tried EBCD but couldn't get the disc to copy and run in a way that I could access my hard drive - could only access drive "Z" - but went back to command prompt and tried listing directory, which it would let me do. I must have let the small, 0 kb files add up because it listed what appeared to be thousands of them, I exported the list to a .txt file on my other hard drive. Explorer just must not have been able to handle listing them all. I've been running "del *.tmp" for 12 hours now and it's still deleting files. I stop it every so often to check and it's moved down the list. I don't know for sure but it appears once all these tiny files are deleted, I'll be able to get to the really big ones. Thank you all for your help, I couldn't have done this without it! And I will definitely delete all those small files promptly in the future.
Yes you definitely want to clear your cache more often. Use ATF Cleaner about once a week.
