What software do you use for temp file cleanup?

[Haole Boy]

Aloha again. When I started my business 10+ years ago, I stumbled across CCleaner to do temp file cleanup and have been using it ever since. Install it on every customer machine. But over the years it has become increasingly more annoying with pop-ups and somewhat deceiving ads to entice you to purchase the commercial version. Unfortunately my customer set is quite gullible and many have purchased it when there is no need to.

Anyhow, I'm about done with CCleaner. What are you using for your customer's machines? Also, please remember that these are all residential customers so there is no real time monitoring on anything like that.

Mahalo,

Harry Z

 

[timeshifter]

Command prompt

 

[Haole Boy]

Command prompt

Care to elaborate?

 

[Kitten Kong]

Bleach bit here

 

[fincoder]

No third-party utility required:
Settings > System > Storage > Temporary files > Remove Files.
(basically the same as the old Disk Cleanup but the new way can be quicker in recent Win10 versions)

 

[Sky-Knight]

Windows does this crap for you... I haven't manually cleared a temp file in years. The tool in Windows works, but what's the point? It runs AUTOMATICALLY.

 

[fincoder]

The tool in Windows works, but what's the point? It runs AUTOMATICALLY.

Yes. I only do it occasionally, e.g. after reinstall of Windows then updates on a system with 120GB SSD. In this case there's no point leaving old update files lying around for a while taking up precious space.
I don't bother on my own office and home computers.

Windows 10 is so much better than Windows 7 at cleaning up temp files automatically.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@fincoder Yet feature update files will clear themselves in 30 days, and the user needs to keep that space clear for the next feature update or have issues.

Though I too use that utility to dump previous windows installs... it just feels wrong to hand a drive back to a client with that there.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Depending on your RMM, a script, or registry change, to enable Windows 10 Storage Sense.

 

[GTP]

I use an old pre "brown smelly stuff hitting the air recirculation device" copy of CCleaner. It allows me to quickly remove unneeded built in apps, old Windoze versions and sheduled tasks from Windblows.
I also use System Ninja to remove "autostart" programs.
Bleachbit works great to remove crud from browsers and general detritus from Windows.

The built in Disk utility in Windows leaves a lot behind imho.

 

[timeshifter]

Care to elaborate?

Sorry for being so terse. Was sitting in my car on phone when I posted. I used to remember the command, used it a lot in recent years when Windows 7 PCs used to fill 500GB drives with c:\windows\temp files.

I think this was it:
del /q/f/s %TEMP%\*

Details here

Delete Temporary Files and Folders: Guide for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10

This guide shows you how to delete temporary files and folders for the following Windows versions: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and Windows 10. Delete temporary files and folders in Windows XP Befo…

neosmart.net

 

[NETWizz]

I don’t delete temporary files. I mean sure like about once per presidency I run disk cleanup, and I have cleaned them by not including them on an image, but I just leave them be.

I don’t run defrag either except years ago when I had a HelpDesk job and a user complained of slowness, and I needed a placebo to give the verisimilitude I was actually doing something productive ... what better than defrag to get the lady off the phone for a long, long time?

 

[frase]

..another one for Bleachbit, though if doing a system service I use WRT and Full System Repairs.
@NETWizz defrag lol, damn haven't used that since XP. Clients say I defragged the system and everything still slow..internal laugh..oh ok I will check it out - 80% of the time HDD is failing.

 

[Stever]

Sorry for being so terse. Was sitting in my car on phone when I posted. I used to remember the command, used it a lot in recent years when Windows 7 PCs used to fill 500GB drives with c:\windows\temp files.

I think this was it:
del /q/f/s %TEMP%\*

Details here

Delete Temporary Files and Folders: Guide for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10

This guide shows you how to delete temporary files and folders for the following Windows versions: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and Windows 10. Delete temporary files and folders in Windows XP Befo…

neosmart.net

You are probably trying to remember
del "%tmp%" /s /q
del "%temp%" /s /q
del C:\*.tmp /s /q

 

[sapphirescales]

LOL I haven't deleted temporary files and had it actually make a difference since the Windows 98 days. 300MB of temp files is a major deal when you've got a 2GB hard drive but when you've got hundreds of gigabytes? Gaining 1/3 of a single gigabyte doesn't do anything.

Now don't get me wrong, I've had some computers come in where some garbage program would write tons of data to temp files and never delete them but that was also a really long time ago (XP days, I think). I also haven't run a defrag since Windows XP. Those things used to make a big difference but frankly I don't know why they're even included with Windows anymore. You might as well sprinkle magic fairy dust on the keyboard. It would do just as much as a defrag or clean up of temp files.

 

[GTP]

Hmmm it seems my experience is very different to what the posters are saying here.
I always run one or more of the tools I use to cleanup temp files.
On PC's with ~250 gb SSD's I regularly remove anywhere from 4~ 10 gb's of detritus.
It can help with low disk space messages.
I have had PC's with 40~50 gb of rubbish; one in particular I remember removing over 200Gb of temp files from a platter drive.
As for defragging, I regularly defrag client systems. The stalwart spinning disk clients that wont upgrade to an SSD.
It actually does make a difference. I very marked difference in some cases.

 

[Diggs]

I'm glad the days of Win7 and its temp folder being dozens of GBs is gone. I still see a few machines come in with their Windows.old folders crammed from the Win7 update to Win10.

 

[britechguy]

BleachBit or SystemNinja.

As for defragging, I haven't done it manually in years, except on external HDDs. Windows has had automatic scheduled defragging for fixed HDDs since at least Windows 7. And SSDs under Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 are automatically TRIMmed.

 

[alexsmith2709]

Bleachbit here. Seems to do a good job and there is a portable version that i can run from a USB drive.

 

[GTP]

BleachBit or SystemNinja.

I use both, sometimes in sucsession. They both clean temp files but System Ninja allows me to stop "autostart" programs.
And they both find different detritus.

Edit add: All my tools are "portable". I wont use anything that requires installation on client machines.
Thats just adding to the problem.
It also avoids the "you installed it and it broke my computer" argument.