IF00285
Forcing Windows XP's Disk Cleanup To Delete All
Temporary Files.
If you've ever run the
Windows XP's Disk Cleanup utility,
you probably discovered that your temporary files occupy a significant amount of
space. You might select the Temporary Files check box in order to allow the
Disk
Cleanup utility to delete the files in the Temp folder, but the Disk Cleanup
utility will not remove all of the files. The reason for this oddity is that the
configuration for the Disk Cleanup utility does not allow deletion of files
accessed in the last seven days.
By altering the LastAccess value in the registry, you can
configure the Disk Cleanup utility to delete all the files in the Temp folder
regardless of the last accessed date. Here's how:
1. Launch the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
2. Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Temporary
Files.
3. Locate and double-click the LastAccess value.
4. When you see the Edit DWORD Value dialog box, change the
Value Data setting from 7 to 0 and click OK.
5. To complete the operation, close the Registry Editor and
restart Windows XP.
Changing the value to 0 will force the Disk Cleanup utility
to delete all the files in the Temp folder every time that you select the
Temporary Files check box.
Notes: Since editing the
registry is risky, be sure you have a verified backup before saving any changes.
This tip applies to both
Windows XP Home and
Windows XP Professional.
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