Will deleteing temporary files delete my downloads?

Disk Cleanup is a program in Windows 10 that lets you quickly delete files that are no longer necessary, including temp files. The Disk Cleanup for Windows C: window will open. A pop-up message will appear asking you to confirm that you want to delete the selected files. You can also delete temp files from the Settings app. First, open Settings by clicking the Windows icon in the bottom-left corner of the desktop to open the Start menu, and then clicking the gear icon.

A list of what your system considers temporary files will appear. If you like doing things the old-fashioned way, you can also delete the temp files yourself in File Explorer. But instead of digging around through multiple layers of folders trying to locate the Temp folder, you can use a shortcut. The Temp folder will open in File Explorer. Select the files that you want to delete. Selected files are highlighted in blue. Next, right-click on any of the selected files. Browse All iPhone Articles Browse All Mac Articles Do I need one?

Browse All Android Articles Browse All Smart Home Articles Customize the Taskbar in Windows Browse All Microsoft Office Articles If you're concerned about the downloads you're deleting, run Disk Cleanup in your system tools to take care of any lingering temporary files that are clogging up your hard drive. Melly Parker has been writing since , focusing on health, business, technology and home improvement. She has also worked as a teacher and a bioassay laboratory technician.

Parker now serves as a marketing specialist at one of the largest mobile app developers in the world. She holds a Master of Science in English.

Google Chrome Hangs When Opening. Share on Facebook. We will show you how to delete temporary files in Windows 10 as well as other versions of the OS, to help keep your machine running at peak efficiency. In the Windows operating system, temporary files are created both by the OS itself and many of the applications running on your computer. Most of the temporary files that are created end up in the Windows Temp folder. As their name implies, temporary files are meant to temporarily address an issue.

After their usefulness has ended, under ideal circumstances they are deleted by the process that created them. However, this is not always the case, and temporary files can remain on your hard drive long after they are no longer needed. There are two main reasons to clear out the temp files in Windows 10 or any version of Windows for that matter. They are:. Regaining storage space — Temporary files can end up taking up a lot of storage space.

Removing temporary files which are no longer needed gives you more space for the important data that you need to store. Loading and searching these large files can slow down your computer and the applications that you are using.

For these reasons, you should periodically delete the temporary files that may be impacting your computer. Before you can delete the temporary files on your machine, you need to locate them. An administrator might have customized the settings for your Temporary Internet Files folder to prevent you from changing the settings.

For example, the administrator can remove the General tab from the interface in the Internet Options dialog box. If you cannot access the Internet Options dialog box or the General tab, contact your administrator for more information.

Files that start with the word "Cookie" may remain in your Temporary Internet Files folder after you follow these steps. These files are pointers to the actual cookie files that are located in your Cookies folder.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:. In some cases, files that are downloaded from websites may remain in your Temporary Internet Files folder but will not be visible in Windows Explorer after you follow these steps.

For more information about the Temporary Internet Files folder, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:. Windows 8. Exit Internet Explorer.