Does Windows automatically delete temp files? Find corresponding methods to delete temporary files and recover files from temp files on this page. Meanwhile, you can get related data loss prevention tips.
Known as a temp file, a temporary file is a file that is created to hold information while another file is being created or modified. Temporary files can save and move data, manage settings, help recover lost files, and manage multiple users.
I see there’re a few different ways to delete temp files. Please go to the familiar path C:\Windows\Temp to find temporary files. You can go to C:\Windows\UserName\AppData\Local\Temp or go to Windows Settings > Storage > Temporary files. Likewise, you can also right-click on the local disk C drive > select Properties > General > Disk Cleanup and click Temporary files.
But does Windows 10 automatically delete temp files? If possible, how to automatically delete temp files in Windows 10? Any suggestions will be appreciated.
- A user from Tenforums
Windows can delete temporary files automatically if you’ve configured specific settings. Moreover, if all programs have been closed and temporary files remain, it’s safe for you to delete these files.
Since you’ve figured out the default path of temporary files, how to automatically delete temp files in Windows 10? Please refer to the following methods.
Does Windows automatically delete temp files? Of course, it does. With build 15014, a new option was added to Windows Settings, enabling Windows 10 to delete temporary files automatically.
Step 1. Press “Win + I” to open Windows Settings. Then click the “System” button.
Step 2. Click “Storage” on the left and turn it on. Then click the “Configure Storage Sense or run it now” button.
Step 3. Turn on the Storage Sense. Tick “Delete temporary files that my apps aren’t using” and select the clean-up period as you need.
Similarly, you can create a batch file to delete temporary files automatically.
Windows Settings is a practical feature for users to adjust, manage, or modify settings. In brief, Windows Settings allows you to remove temporary files via the following steps.
Step 1. Press “Win + I” to open Windows Settings. Then click the “System” button.
Step 2. Click “Storage” on the left. Then click “Temporary files” to open it.
Step 3. On the Temporary files window, tick “Temporary files” and tap the “Remove files” button.
CMD is a powerful utility that can help you delete or recover files. These steps describe how to delete temporary files using CMD. You can use the dir command to show hidden files.
Step 1. Enter “cmd” in the search bar and click “Run as administrator” to open the command prompt window.
Step 2. Enter “del / q/f/ s %TEMP%\*” in the window and hit “Enter” or press “OK” to start the process.
After that, you can go to the default storage path to check whether your temporary files have been deleted or not.
Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe) is a Microsoft Windows computer tool that frees up disk space on computers’ hard drives. Let’s perform how to delete temporary files manually via Disk Cleanup.
Step 1. Type “disk cleanup” in the search bar. Then click “Disk Cleanup” to open it.
Step 2. Select the local disk C drive and click “OK” to open the Disk Cleanup window. Then click “Clean up system files” of your selected C drive.
Step 3. Under Files to delete, tick “Temporary Internet Files” or the temp files you want to delete. Then click the “OK” button.
Sometimes, if you accidentally close a file without saving it, you can try to recover files from temp folder after activating the AutoSave feature.
Nevertheless, some users might have deleted essential temporary files without backups. At the moment, there’s no better way than using professional software like MyRecover to recover files from temp folder.
Download MyRecover on your Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, or Windows Server computers!
Step 1. Run MyRecover on your PC, and hover the mouse over the local disk C drive. Then click Scan.
Step 2. Quickly locate your needed files by Name, Date, Type, Size, or Path. After Quick Scan and Deep Scan, you can also wait to view all the deleted and other missing files.
Step 3. Go to the Deleted Files/Other Missing Files folder, and click “Recover x files” to get your selected temp files back. After recovery, please save them in a new location.
Undeniably, Windows can automatically delete temp files. The same goes for other files. So how to prevent files from being deleted automatically in Windows 10? There’re four ways for your reference.
Let’s take the last method as an example. Please refer to the following steps.
Step 1. Press “Win + I” to open Windows Settings. Then click the “System” button.
Step 2. Click “Storage” on the left. Then click the “Configure Storage Sense or run it now” button.
Step 3. Turn off your Storage Sense to prevent files from being automatically deleted from the desktop.
Does Windows automatically delete temp files? It seems it does. Please get an overview of temp files and learn how to delete temporary files automatically or manually via the above content.
For deleted files from the temp folder, you’re supposed to seek help from efficient data recovery tools like MyRecover. Because many of you might haven’t developed a good habit of creating backups using Windows features or free backup software for Windows.