search to find all temp files

[Jack B]

I did a

*.tmp,*.chk,~*.*

search to find all temp files on my pc.



Apparently, the search found files that are not on my pc, because I had

hundreds of files that could not be deleted due to Windows saying: "Cannot

delete file: Cannot read from source file or disk."



What gives?





Jack

 

[Twayne]

In news:uyt68Vp0KHA.4832@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl,

Jack B typed:

> I did a

> *.tmp,*.chk,~*.*

> search to find all temp files on my pc.

>

> Apparently, the search found files that are not on my pc,

> because I had hundreds of files that could not be deleted

> due to Windows saying: "Cannot delete file: Cannot read

> from source file or disk."

>

> What gives?

>

>

> Jack



Probably your sequencing. One of the earlier commands already

deleted them, maybe. Or, they belong to another account and

you don't have rights to delete them. There are quite a few

possibilities, really.



If you want to see what's going on for sure, next time do

searches for all three and check out the duplicate entries -

usually that will expose them. Be sure to have all the system

and hidden files set to display. Also, you can search for

multiple items in Explorer by separating them with a

semi-colon. e.g. *.tmp; ~*.*; \temp*; \temp* and

so forth.

I can only vouch for that working on SP3 Pro versions, but

it should be consistant I'd think.



HTH,



Twayne`

 

[Jose]

On Apr 2, 2:49 pm, "Jack B" wrote:

> I did a

> *.tmp,*.chk,~*.*

> search to find all temp files on my pc.

>

> Apparently, the search found files that are not on my pc, because I had

> hundreds of files that could not be deleted due to Windows saying: "Cannot

> delete file: Cannot read from source file or disk."

>

> What gives?

>

> Jack



A lot depends on your definition of a temp file.



It would be shortsighted to assume that all temporary files involved

with Windows XP end in .tmp, .chk. or have a ~ as the first character

of the file name. Equally shortsighted would be to assume that all

files that end in .tmp, .chk or have a ~ as the first character are

temporary files.



As you can see, just because a file meets your search criteria, it

does not necessarily mean it is not being used at the moment.



If you can better define your mission, you will be able to benefit

from the experience of others.