Computer Help

[Villano]

I'm having some trouble with my laptop and I was wondering if anyone could help. I have Norton Security and the quick scan just runs a couple of minutes and is fine. However, my full scan is taking forever. After 6 hours, I gave up and shut it off.

The weird thing is that it was scanning over 500,000 items at this point. I did a quick check on my PC. It ran a full scan in only a few minutes and it only listed 17,000 or 170,000 item (I can't remember which, but it's still a hell of a lot less than 500,000). And my PC has more things on it than my laptop.

So, I downloaded Malwarebytes (the free version) to check how many items it scans. Over 3 hours and 300,000 items later, it's still scanning.

Then I noticed that the items listed being scanned are all "temporary internet files". I delete those regularly (where you delete browsing and cookies).

Have these files just not been deleting? Is it something else? How do I fix this?

 

[jonesy]

Which browser are you using? I think there should be options on pretty much all of them now for automatically deleting the temporary files when you close the browser and/or for setting the maximum size of the folder itself. Or are those not working as intended?

 

[JiffyPopTart]

Internet Explorer rarely (if ever) deletes temporary internet files correctly. Whenever working on a clients computer I always browse to the folder containing the files and delete it manually.

Where the folder is located depends on which version of windows you have. A simple google search will give you the path for your PC.

DS

 

[Villano]

Which browser are you using? I think there should be options on pretty much all of them now for automatically deleting the temporary files when you close the browser and/or for setting the maximum size of thefolder itself. Or are those not working as intended?

I have Internet Explorer 8. Under the "Browsing History", in "Disc Space to Use", it's set to 50 mb. I didn't have it set to automatically delete, but I do delete through the Delete Browsing History before I run a scan.

If I go under Tools, then Internet Options, then Browsing History Settings and View Files, the only things that actually have anything in it are my Pictures and Favorites (I don't have videos or music on my laptop). Under the Favorites, I have the Favicons for my Favorites. However, I do seem to have some Opensearch_desc and Getcontent for random websites I've visited. These are things I visited once, months ago (like a Rollercoaster Wiki of all things). I assume these are things that should have been deleted.

Even so, I'm getting many more temporary internet files when I scan than these few things, so I'm not sure where those are (or how to get rid of them).

 

[jonesy]

I haven't used IE for years, but my dad did have problems similar to yours. I don't know if telling the solution that worked helps you any, since the solution was to switch browsers.

I do remember that sometimes there were multiple folders, some hidden.

Try checking the locations listed here:
Temporary Internet Files - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[GreyLord]

I have Internet Explorer 8. Under the "Browsing History", in "Disc Space to Use", it's set to 50 mb. I didn't have it set to automatically delete, but I do delete through the Delete Browsing History before I run a scan.

If I go under Tools, then Internet Options, then Browsing History Settings and View Files, the only things that actually have anything in it are my Pictures and Favorites (I don't have videos or music on my laptop). Under the Favorites, I have the Favicons for my Favorites. However, I do seem to have some Opensearch_desc and Getcontent for random websites I've visited. These are things I visited once, months ago (like a Rollercoaster Wiki of all things). I assume these are things that should have been deleted.

Even so, I'm getting many more temporary internet files when I scan than these few things, so I'm not sure where those are (or how to get rid of them).

Another area to look is your Temp folder. It is not associated with IE itself per se...but with Windows.

Also check your history folder...and if you watch a lot of flash...maybe the Adobe cookies.

 

[Nagol]

Perhaps you had an older version of IE that you upgraded to 8 and the temp files belong to that version?



Another place to clear temp files is under disk cleanup in My Computer.

My Computer -- > Choose the C: drive --> context menu (right click) --> Properties --> General --> Disk Cleanup

 

[ssampier]

Another option is ccleaner:

CCleaner - Optimization and Cleaning - Free Download

It's easy and free.

 

[Villano]

Another area to look is your Temp folder. It is not associated with IE itself per se...but with Windows.

I didn't know about this. I found the folder and it was filled with hundreds of empty folders. I deleted them and then...

Another place to clear temp files is under disk cleanup in My Computer.

My Computer -- > Choose the C: drive --> context menu (right click) --> Properties --> General --> Disk Cleanup

...I did this. So, at this point it said that I had no temporary files or folders. I ran the full scan and...it still was showing temporary files.

Another option is ccleaner:

So I tried this. I ran the scan for temporary files and folders. It took a few hours, but it found and deleted over 3,000 files. This seems to have done the trick. I ran the Norton and it finished in about 15 minutes with no problems.

I have no idea where those files were hiding. I did upgrade my IE a while ago, so it's possible that may have been the issue.

Anyway, thanks for all the help!