Thousands of temp files found???

[hornplayer]

Why is it that Spybot finds 65000 temporary files when it starts up? I don't think I even HAVE that many files on my computer! Each time I let it 'process' these files and it says that 22 are in use and can't be 'processed'. Whatever 'processed' means. This is a new message from Spybot and I don't understand what's going on. Can anyone enlighten me?

[Greyfox]

Why is it that Spybot finds 65000 temporary files when it starts up? I don't think I even HAVE that many files on my computer! Each time I let it 'process' these files and it says that 22 are in use and can't be 'processed'. Whatever 'processed' means. This is a new message from Spybot and I don't understand what's going on. Can anyone enlighten me?

Each time the Spybot program is started, it checks the number of temporary files at a couple of locations, and if the number is greater than I believe the default is 100, it shows the dialogue you mention and gives the choice of deleting them or leaving them. This feature was introduced in version 1.6 because large numbers of temporary files significantly reduce the performance of a computer, slow down both Spybot and AV scans and also provide a possibly hiding place for infections. Many users don't realise they are there, and don't remove them manually as a function of good housekeeping. The locations I refer to are slighly different depending on what operating system you are using. On XP, they are C:\Windows\Temp, and C:\Documents and Settings\username\local settings\Temp. It may also be including cookies or temporary internet cache storages depending on where those file are being placed in the system.

If you regularly clean out your browser caches, and also run Windows Disk Cleanup (Start->All programs->Accessories->System Tools->Disk Cleanup) you may never see the temporary files dialogue, and that is how it should be.

There could be a number of reasons that some files are being shown as in use. I would recommend cleaning out as much as you can and then looking at exactly what "temporary" files are in use. Some software uses the areas for temporary files (firewalls, AV systems and the like) and sometimes perhaps due to bad shutdowns, crashes etc, some of these get orphaned. When this happens, that software simply creates new files the next time it runs, and leaves the orphaned ones to clutter up the system.

In addition to cleaning out the browser cache and cookie stores, if you run a windows disk cleanup from a boot up into safe mode, it should be able to remove most of the rubbish, perhaps all.

There are registry hacks posted elsewhere to disable the check for tempory files, however it is not something I would recommend if you want the best performance from your PC.