How to delete temporary internet files windows 10

Q: Is it safe to delete temporary internet files Windows 10?

Its a good idea to remove cookies and other temporary internet files occasionally. You can delete the files either through your browser or your computers Control Panel.

Q: Where does Windows 10 keep temporary internet files?

IE Temporary Internet Files Location C:Users[username]AppDataLocalMicrosoftWindowsINetCache: This temp files location is relevant in Windows 10 and Windows 8.

Table of Contents Show

Free up drive space by deleting cached files
What to Know
Delete Temporary Internet Files in Internet Explorer
Delete Cookies
What to Know
How to Delete Temporary Files in Windows
Using a Command Line Command
Other Types of Temporary Files in Windows
Check Your Browser Cache
Handy Tools for Easy Removal
Is it safe to delete temporary internet files Windows 10?
How do I delete my temporary internet files?
Where does Windows 10 keep temporary internet files?
How do I remove temporary files from Windows 10?

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Free up drive space by deleting cached files

What to Know

Quickest method: Ctrl+Shift+Delete > select Temporary Internet files and website files > clear other boxes > Delete.
Or, select Tools (gear icon) > Safety > Delete browsing history > Temporary Internet files and website files >clear boxes > Delete.
Delete cookies: In Delete Browsing History box, select Cookies and website data > clear other check boxes > Delete.

Microsoft Internet Explorer uses the temporary internet files feature to store copies of web content on your computer. This feature can fill your drive with unwanted data but it's easy to delete these files to free up space again.

Delete Temporary Internet Files in Internet Explorer

When you access the same web page again, the browser uses the stored file and only downloads the new content. This feature improves network performance but fills the drive with potentially unwanted data. Control temporary internet files by deleting these files as needed to free up space on the drive.

Deleting these files is a quick fix for a drive that is nearing capacity.

Open Internet Explorer.
Select Tools (the gear icon).
Select Safety > Delete browsing history. If the Menu bar is enabled, select Tools > Delete browsing history instead.
In the Delete Browsing History dialog box, clear all the check boxes except for the Temporary internet files and website files check box.
Select Delete to remove the temporary internet files from your computer.

To access the Delete Browsing History dialog box using a keyboard shortcut, press Ctrl+Shift+Delete.

If the Temporary Internet Files folder hasn't been emptied in a while, it may contain a large amount of web page content. It may take several minutes to delete it all.

Delete Cookies

Temporary internet files are different from cookies and are stored separately. Internet Explorer provides a separate feature to delete cookies. It is also located in the Delete Browsing History dialog box. Select the Cookies and website data check box, clear the other check boxes, and select Delete.

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What to Know

Enter %temp% from Search/Run, and delete what's in there. Also empty the Recycle Bin.
Alternatively, use a command line command. Save rd %temp% /s /q in a text file with the .BAT extension.

One way to free up disk space in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP is to delete temporary files. Temp files are files that your operating system only needed to exist temporarily while in use, but are now just wasting space.

Most temporary files are stored in the Windows Temp folder, the location of which differs from computer to computer. Manually cleaning this out in Windows usually takes less than a minute, but it could take longer depending on how large the collection of temporary files is.

How to Remove Junk Files From Windows 11

How to Delete Temporary Files in Windows

Follow these simple steps to delete your temporary Windows files:

Windows 10: Select the Cortana search box just to the right of the Start button on the taskbar.
Windows 8.1: Right-click or tap-and-hold the Start button and then choose Run.
Windows 8.0: The easiest way to access Run is from the Apps screen.
In earlier versions of Windows, choose Start to bring up the search box or find Run.

Another way to open the Run dialog box is to enter the WIN+R keyboard shortcut.
In the Run window or search box, enter the following command exactly:
```
%temp%
```
This command, which is technically one of many environment variables in Windows, will open the folder that Windows has designated as your Temp folder, probably C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Temp.
Select all the files and folders within the Temp folder that you want to delete. Unless you have a reason to otherwise, select them all.
If you're using a keyboard or mouse, click one item and then use Ctrl+A to select every item within the folder. If you're on a touch-only interface, choose Select all from the Home menu at the top of the folder.
You don't need to know what each temp file you're going to delete is for, or what or how many files are included in any subfolders you select. Windows won't let you delete any files or folders that are still in use. More on that in a bit.
Delete all the temporary files and folders you've selected, either using the Delete key on your keyboard or the Delete button from the Home menu.
Depending on your version of Windows, and how your computer is configured, you might be asked to confirm that you wish to Delete Multiple Items. You may even have to select Yes on a special Confirm Multiple File Delete window that appears. Handle any messages about hidden files in this folder the same way—it's fine to delete those, too.
Choose Skip if you're presented with a File In Use or a Folder In Use warning during the temporary file deletion process.
This is Windows telling you that the file or folder you're trying to delete is locked and still in use by a program, or maybe even Windows itself. Skipping these allows the deleting to continue with the remaining data.
If you're getting a lot of these messages, check the Do this for all current items checkbox and then select Skip again. You'll have to do it once for the file messages and again for the folder ones, but warnings should stop after that.
Rarely will you see a message like Error Deleting File or Folder that will stop the temp file deleting process completely. If this happens, restart your computer and try again. If even that doesn't work, try starting Windows in Safe Mode and repeating the steps above.
Wait while all the temp files are deleted, which could take anywhere from a few seconds if you only have a few files in this folder, and up to several minutes if you have many and they're large.
You won't be prompted when the process is complete. Instead, the progress indicator will just disappear, and you'll see your empty, or almost empty, temp folder up on the screen. Feel free to close this window.
If you happen to be deleting so much data that not all of it can be sent to Recycle Bin, you'll be told that they'll be permanently removed.
Finally, locate Recycle Bin on your Desktop, right-click or tap-and-hold the icon, and then choose Empty Recycle Bin.
Select Yes on the prompt to confirm that you want to delete the items, which will permanently remove those temporary files from your computer. You now, in the short term, have an empty temporary files section.

The next time you delete temporary files in Windows, feel free to hold down Shift as you delete the files. It's a trick that will skip over storing them in Recycle Bin, essentially "permanently" deleting them and saving you this last step.

Using a Command Line Command

The steps shown above are considered the normal way to delete temporary files, but you have to do it manually. If you'd rather, you can build your own mini-program that can delete these temp files automatically with a simple double-click/tap of a BAT file.

You can do this using the rd (remove directory) Command Prompt command to delete the entire folder and all the subfolders.

Type the following command into Notepad or some other text editor, and save it with the .BAT file extension:

rd %temp% /s /q

The q parameter suppresses confirmation prompts to delete the files and folders, and s is for deleting all the subfolders and files in the temp folder.

If the %temp% environment variable is for some reason not working, feel free to substitute in the actual folder location mentioned in Step 2 above, but make sure you type the correct folder path, and to be safe, surround the path in quotes like this (change the username, of course):

rd "C:\Users\jonfi\AppData\Local\Temp" /s /q

Other Types of Temporary Files in Windows

The Windows Temp folder isn't the only place temporary files, and other no-longer-needed groups of files, are stored on Windows computers.

The folder you found in Step 2 above is where you'll find some of the operating-system-created temporary files in Windows, but the C:\Windows\Temp\ folder contains a number of additional files that you no longer need to keep. Feel free to open that Temp folder and delete anything you find in there.

The Settings app in Windows 10 has an entire section dedicated to deleting temporary files. Get there through Settings > System > Storage > Temporary files. Included there are things like delivery optimization files, Windows upgrade log files, temporary files left over by apps, and more. Choose what to remove, and then select Remove files.

Those same, harder-to-find locations for temporary files are accessible in older versions of Windows, too, like Windows 7, via Disk Cleanup. This utility is included in all versions of Windows and can help remove the contents of some of those other temp folders for you automatically. You can open that in a Run dialog box (WIN+R) via the cleanmgr command.

Check Your Browser Cache

Your browser also keeps temporary files, usually in an attempt to speed up your browsing by loading cached versions of web pages when you revisit them. Review our guide on how to clear your browser's cache for help deleting these types of temporary files. Ctrl+Shift+Del (Windows) or Command+Shift+Delete (Mac) is usually the shortcut to that option.

Handy Tools for Easy Removal

Dedicated "system cleaners" like the free CCleaner program can make this, and similar jobs, really easy. Many free computer cleaner programs exist to choose from, too, including Wise Disk Cleaner.

FAQ

How do you delete temp internet files?
To delete temporary internet files and cookies in Internet Explorer, go to Tools (gear icon) > Internet Options and select Delete under Browsing history. In Firefox, open the menu and go to Options > Preferences > Privacy & Security > Clear History. In Chrome, go to More > More tools > Clear browsing data.
How do you clear temp files on Android?
Older versions of Android used to let you clear a device's cache all at once. Now, you need to clear the cache of individual apps. To do that, go to Settings > Apps, select an app, and choose Storage & cache > Clear cache, or Storage > Clear Cache.
Where does Excel store temp files?
The default location for temporary Excel files in Windows 11 and 10 is C:\Users\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles. If you're trying to find a deleted or lost Excel workbook, this is the first place you should look. Copy and paste the file into a new location, such as Documents or your Desktop, then open it in Excel.
Where does Firefox store temp files?
Firefox calls temp files the "cache". You can get information about it by typing about:cache in the location bar. Typically, Firefox places temporary cache files in the C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Temp location.

Thanks for letting us know!

Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day

Is it safe to delete temporary internet files Windows 10?

It's a good idea to remove cookies and other temporary internet files occasionally. You can delete the files either through your browser or your computer's Control Panel.

How do I delete my temporary internet files?

If you have a keyboard: Press Ctrl + Shift + Del to open the "Clear browsing data" window. Select All time from the drop-down. Click Clear now to clear your temporary internet files.

Where does Windows 10 keep temporary internet files?

IE Temporary Internet Files Location C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache: This temp files location is relevant in Windows 10 and Windows 8.