All about Windows Temp Folders

On your Microsoft Windows-based computer there are several Temp folders.  If you've ever come across any of them you may have noticed that the file names do not make much sense, there are quite a few files in there and in some cases they use up a lot of your hard drive's space.
So what is the purpose of these Temp folders?

1. to temporarily store different bits of data that is being worked on (especially useful for Microsoft Office programs as it facilitates the recovery of your work for sessions that were not ended properly...auto recovery)
2. to store files that are being downloaded, but not yet completed
3. they are necessary for the proper functioning of the certain programs  

Now each time a program that you were using is properly closed, the temporary files that this program would have placed in the Temp folder should be deleted automatically, unfortunately this does not always happen resulting in you losing precious hard drive space.

Is it safe to delete the files in these folders? Yes, although you shouldn't have to as the operating system is designed to take out the trash ever so often, but if you do decide to take matters into your own hands then here's what you can do:

1. Manually select the files and folders in the TEMP folder and delete what you're allowed to delete (some files will be locked to programs that are being used, these you WILL NOT be able to delete)
2. Run the Disk Cleanup utility
3. You can schedule the operating system to clear the temp folder at a time you decide (more on this in a  subsequent post)

Remember you computer WILL RUN FASTER and you hard drive WILL LAST LONGER by you simply getting rid of unnecessary files and folders....see here.