Probably the biggest collection of unwanted files on a Windows 95/98/Me PC is the one in the Temporary Internet Files folder. These files are useful, of course: when you go "back" in Explorer, it is quicker to get the page from this cache than to fetch it again from the remote server. It is therefore a good idea to keep about 100 to 150 megabytes of space for internet files. But it is not a bad idea to clear them out once in a while, as part of a spring cleaning routine.
There are two Microsoft-approved ways to empty the cache. The first is to run Disk Cleanup, the utility found in Start|Programs|Accessories|System Tools in Windows 98/Me. (This utility also empties the Recycle Bin and the Temporary Files folder.) The more common way is to run Internet Explorer, select Tools| Options, and click the button marked Delete Files. This also lets you delete other "offline content", such as applets downloaded with web pages.
After doing that, use the mouse to right-click on the Temporary Internet Files folder. You may well find it still contains anything from one to a hundred megabytes of files, or more, even if they are invisible.
The problem is that Windows Explorer does not always tell the truth about the files that are stored on a hard drive, and Temporary Internet Files (and its sub- directories, with their random names) is one of those cases. The solution is to delete them from outside Windows - after making sure you have a working back-up of your drive.
To do this, first go to the C:\Windows directory and make sure you do not have any files or directories that start with the letters TEMPOR, except for Temporary Internet Files. Next, go to Start|Shut Down and click the bottom radio button, labelled Restart in MS-DOS mode. Your screen should now be black with a cursor showing the C: \WINDOWS> prompt.
Type the following (where ~ is the tilde sign, which may be next to the 1 key): deltree tempor~1
and press Return. When asked, press Y (Return) to confirm that you want the directory deleted, and wait for the prompt to reappear. If you did not delete the cache from Windows first, this may take a very long time.
At this point you can also delete any "cookies" and a hidden file called index.dat. However, this will also delete information stored by websites on your PC, such as records of visits and preferences. Some of it may be important. If you still want to delete it, type cd cookies to change to the Cookies folder. The screen should now show C:\WINDOWS\COOKIES> and if it doesn't, quit. If it does, type del *.* and press Return. Again, when asked, hit Y (yes, you do want to delete all the files).
Finally, turn your PC off then on again to restart Windows.
Windows knows it should have a Temporary Internet Files folder, and an index.dat file in the Cookies folder, so it will recreate them automatically. However, the new index.dat file will probably be only 16K, and the new Temporary Internet Files folder should be about 32K.
Please be very careful deleting files. DOS can be dangerous. Almost every DOS user has at some point typed del *.* in the wrong directory, and deleted dozens of vital files or even wiped out Windows. Don't come crying to me if you get it wrong, especially if you do not have all your program discs, and did not make and check your back-up first.
There are, of course, a number of utilities that will help you clean up Windows, or (perhaps rashly) offer to do the job. Norton's CleanSweep is the best of the ones I have tried. McAfee's QuickClean is one of many I have not. All such programs are potentially dangerous.
There is also a free program, CleanUp 2.0, which can be downloaded from http://ourworld.compuserve. com/homepages/zeus/cleanup.html
Unfortunately, it is out of date. It was written when Internet Explorer 4.x and Netscape Navigator 4.x were the standard browsers, and has not been updated for the latest versions.
Having removed lots of unwanted files, following the routines described in the past two columns, it only remains to complete the job. This is done by scanning and defragmenting the hard drive.
Run Scandisk first, by selecting it from Start| Programs|Accessories| System Tools|Scandisk. Finally run the Disk Defragmenter program from the same directory. This takes all the different parts of each program file, which may be scattered across the hard drive, and collects them together, producing a slight increase in disk performance.
