Temp file issue

blank · 17 Feb 2023

Everyday I am seeing more and more temp files in my pc. Win 10 Pro, using start to '' run '' '' temp '' I find every 15 - 22 minutes a file is created. By the end of the day, well you can imagine how many I have. I don't recall ever seeing one created every 15- 22 minutes and never seen so many.

My question is, how can I find out what the association to a file... what is causing x file to be created.. What is 'calling home' reporting what or what is happening. How do I find out.

I have an ASUS laptop with AMD gpu cpu and I am wondering if it is AMD or ASUS or windows.. or worse, something else.

I just don't know here to start besides deleting the files.

Just waited 5 minutes and more .tmp appeared

Thanks in advance.

NTN · 17 Feb 2023

Good article with explaination and suggestions.

How to Delete Temporary Files on your Windows PC | AVG

flavallee · 17 Feb 2023

It's normal for temp files to be created as you use your PC, and there's no need for you to search for and delete them every day.

But if it bothers you that much and you want to delete them every day, do the following immediately after you start up your PC and before you start using it.

Type in %temp% in the search box, then press the Enter key.
When the window appears, select and delete EVERYTHING inside it, then close the window.

Type in c:\windows\temp in the search box, then press the Enter key.
(Note: if Windows 10 is installed in a different drive letter, replace c with the appropriate drive letter)
When the window appears, select and delete EVERYTHING inside it, then close the window.

pepanee · 17 Feb 2023

If you want, I can try to look into what may be creating those temp files.

(by the way, they're very small in size. They shouldn't be really affecting that much about taking up space, and Windows deletes them frequently. I wouldn't worry about them at all really)

BUT if you want, open one in Notepad and take a screenshot of Notepad, and post it here.
I can look into what could be creating those files.

dalchina · 17 Feb 2023

Only worry if the space taken up grows excessively over time. Most people don't even look at them.

There is, however, an odd thing that can occur in a few cases: boot time increases and deleting temp files solves it. You can find the threads on that if you care to do so just for interest.

Normally just let Windows manage them unless there's a particular problem because of them.

As a random example I presently have 150 .tmp files, from 0 to 3.075MB.

blank · 17 Feb 2023

pepanee said:

If you want, I can try to look into what may be creating those temp files.

(by the way, they're very small in size. They shouldn't be really affecting that much about taking up space, and Windows deletes them frequently. I wouldn't worry about them at all really)

BUT if you want, open one in Notepad and take a screenshot of Notepad, and post it here.
I can look into what could be creating those files.

Thank you very much for your reply, and everyone here replying! Appreciate it!!
I can CTRL +A , Del.. F4 to clear the temp folders %temp% or the run-temp. That is not my problem deleting. My issue is what keeps causing them because they are growing more then I have noticed in the past. Here is the Notepad on a few of them, they seem to be all the same.

Again, greatly appreciate all input helping me !!
Full respect!

NTN, cool article by the way

pepanee · 17 Feb 2023

You're welcome. =)

Check out this site:
Can I delete the TEM .tmp files in Windows SystemTemp folder?
(look at halfway down that site)

Tells you how you can disable the creation of those specific temp files.
I wouldn't worry that much about them, because over time, that service will stop creating them.

But there's a tutorial at that site which tells you what you can disable in order to stop them from being created.
+)

This is important to be aware of though.
Quote from that site regarding those specific temp files:

"But I do not know how it will affect your OS during the next Feature Upgrade when Windows checks for licensing and activation"

So... it's up to you my friend.

Spoiler alert: If I were you, I'd leave them alone, and let Windows eventually stop making them =)

blank · 17 Feb 2023

pepanee said:

You're welcome. =)

Check out this site:
Can I delete the TEM .tmp files in Windows SystemTemp folder?
(look at halfway down that site)

Tells you how you can disable the creation of those specific temp files.
I wouldn't worry that much about them, because over time, that service will stop creating them.

But there's a tutorial at that site which tells you what you can disable in order to stop them from being created.
+)

I read :

But does that mean Windows is calling home and checking if I am authentic every @ 10 mins? because I am not installing an update every 10 mins.
Is it a bug you think?

Is it possible that I have turned off something to stop them from answering their requests every 10 mins? Thus: these temp files

pepanee · 17 Feb 2023

blank said:

Is it a bug you think?

Oh definitely some weird, non-harmful, bug. Microsoft will, eventually, clean up this bug. It's just a little of an annoyance of something that isn't programmed too well. So don't worry about it =)

Set yourself a reminder in exactly one week from now to check that folder again for those files. Hopefully they would have stopped by then.

(Bright idea that just popped in my head, and I caught it right in time before it got lost and forgotten! haha:
You can Disable the clip service thing they mention there, then restart your computer, then re-enable it, and restart the computer again. It's possible that this 'could' fix this little bug, but I'm not 100% on that.)

pepanee · 17 Feb 2023

blank said:

Is it possible that I have turned off something to stop them from answering their requests every 10 mins? Thus: these temp files

Since there's an article about this, this implies that other people experience the same thing. So it's very likely that this little bug just happens to randomly appear out of no where. So I don't think you did anything to "trigger" this bug

It's completely harmless of a bug. So just ignore it for now, and look at this temp folder like a week later, and see if they stopped.

It's too bad things at Microsoft are poorly written.
Check it out: "Successfully converted 1 licenses..."
"1" is not supposed to be plural, yet the word "licenses" is plural.

They could've programmed that log file to say:
"Successfully converted 1 license(s)", or
"Successfully converted 1 license" and "Successfully converted 2 licenses", etc.

Poor design in the mainframe.