Genealogy Chat

Directions below:

EMPTYING TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES This routine maintenance job should be done once a week or so – more if you surf the internet a lot. 1. Click on START at the bottom of your computer screen 2. Click on SEARCH. 3. A box appears titled SEARCH RESULTS at the top of the box. On the left of this screen area there is a list of options. Click on ALL FILES AND FOLDERS. 4. Now another box appears with same heading at the top SEARCH RESULTS. To the left you’ll see three fields under the sub-heading SEARCH ANY OR ALL OF THE CRITERIA BELOW. 5. In the first empty field, above it says ALL OR PART OF THE FILE NAME. Here you want to type in the word “temporary internet files” (The “ “doesn’t need to be typed in, just the words “temporary internet files.”) 6. The 2nd field where it says “A WORD OR PHRASE IN THE FILE” can be left blank; with nothing in it. 7. The third field that says “LOOK IN” should show: “LOCAL HARD DRIVE: C.” If it doesn’t look at the blank field and you’ll see a small arrow shaped like a “v.” Click on the arrow and a drop down box appears showing a list of areas in your computer. Click on LOCAL HARD DRIVE C and it will now appear in the field. (You may have to scroll to find it.) 8. Now click on SEARCH located under the three fields you just filled in. 9. Now a list of folders and files will be listed on your screen. What we are looking for in the list are any YELLOW folders labeled TEMPORARY INTERNET FILE. There may be just one or there may be several YELLOW folders listed labeled “temporary internet file.” The following steps you’ll do to EACH of the YELLOW folders labeled temporary internet file that you see. 10. Double click on the yellow “temporary internet file” to open it. You’ll now note that there is a list of things in this yellow folder. These are all the websites your computer has visited. Every website you go to is saved in this folder. (This is a good way to check to see where your younger kids have been on the internet!) What you want to do now is empty this folder….we’re emptying the contents of the folder….not deleting the Yellow Folder. Your computer needs the yellow folder to collect temporary internet files. There is absolutely nothing in this folder that will harm your computer by deleting them. There is nothing in this folder that you need. Not deleting temporary internet files once in while will actually slow down your computer 11. To delete the temporary internet file go to the top, left of your screen and click on EDIT. 12. A drop down box now appears…..click on SELECT ALL. You’ll now note that everything in the yellow temporary internet file folder is highlighted. 13. Now go back to the top of your screen and click on FILE. 14. A drop down box appears. Click on DELETE. 15. A box will then appear asking if you want to delete these files…..click on OK. 16. You’ll now note that everything in this file has disappeared….yeah, you did it correctly! 17. If there are other YELLOW “temporary internet files” that were listed, go back to each one and follow the same steps for each. If there are several yellow “temporary internet files” some of them may be empty (that’s fine.) There is nothing for you to do to these Yellow “temporary internet files files. 18. Temporary Internet Files have been deleted into your trash can so be sure to empty it to clear up space on your computer.

i always enjoy your PC tips.... not being a whizz at them. 2 questions though. 1 Does right clicking on c drive and properties, bringing up disc cleanup not do the same job or is this not as thorough? 2 I have just acquired a new PC with windows XP and I keep getting these 'silly pop ups' advertising all sorts. I think it's messnger? How do I get rid of this? Any help appreciated. You can mail me direct if you wish so as not to clog up the board. Cheers, John

Hi John, Disk Clean Up does empty cookies and temporary internet files (and a few other things) but Disk Clean Up doesn't remove it all.... above thoroughly cleans out Temporary Internet files. As for the pop ups you are getting, it's because you have spyware on your computer that needs to be removed. If you're on the internet, you have spyware. Leaving spyware to accumulate on your PC will cause all kinds of problems.... Adaware is one of the better, free programs. Many of the free spyware removal programs actually adds spyware to your computer so you have to be careful of which one you choose. I'll post Adaware site and instructions on another thread for you if you're interested in using it. Judy

Thanks for repeating your tip Judy, as new members won't have seen them before. Can I suggest that everyone either copies these to a file, or prints them out for future use? If you don't you'll wish you had, because you won't be able to find the thread again when you need it! Janet

If I may add a word or two.......doing this MAY take out your passwords you use for various operations.....make sure you know what they are..........and you will probably have to LOG in from scratch........I had to, to get back to GC. but an excellent bit of info, Judy, Thanks.....Bob

Thanks for that Judy. I seem to spend half my time tring to eliminate stuff. lol If you could send the adaware address it would be much appreciated. John

Hi Judy Please can you expalin what the folder "Internet Log" is, and can it be emptied? It seems to be mostly Zonealarm but there are other things on there aswell. Thanks for your help Kim

John. Judy is right about the spyware and pop-ups but I note that you mention “messenger”. If these are headed “messenger service” they are completely different to normal popups and not connected to spyware. Windows XP comes with something called messenger (it’s nothing to do with windows messenger). By default this service is turned on but it is of little uses to home users. It is being attacked by spammers. You can set firewalls to block the ports it uses but the simplest solution is turn it off. Go to control panel, then administrative tools, then services. In the list of programs (about middle) you will see messenger. Click on this and in the dialog box that appears there are three options click on “disabled” then apply and exit. Hope this helps. Bob

Hi Judy Thanks for all the instuctions, have done Site errors one, but when i click the start button to empty cookies and temporary internet files i can't find a search button i have tried all that my limited knowledge will allow but no good help please and make an old man happy David

David, If you are on Windows 98, you go to "start", then "find" and that will give a drop down, on there is "files and folders" click on that, then in the top box type either "temporary internet files" or "cookies", whichever one you want to look at, make sure the 3rd box is saying "C:/" and click ok. Wait a while and it will bring up all your files. Hope this helps Kim

Dave, Sorry about that oversite (on my part.) XP's feature is SEARCH and the other Windows operating systems feature is FIND. Judy

Thanks for that Robert, I have tried and hopefully that has done the trick. The panels were not quite as you said bu I found. There were 2 disables have I done that right? Cheers, John

John if you have gone to control panel/adminitritivetools/services/ messenger and clicked it the box (headed messenger service local computer) should have three options auto/manual/disable. You have two disables? ( the main one is next to "start up type") If you have any problems you can reverse it but I have not heard of any. If you have not stopped it (in status below) it will be disabled on reboot. If you dont have a firewall, get one. At least turn on the XP one. Let me know how you go. Bob

The other disable was on log on, but I have since enabled that. I couldn't find admin tools buta search found it. So far so good. Cheers John PS I have Norton, does that give a firewall? Also I can't access Free BMD even with Norton off. I have tried to follow the instuctions they provide and none of the tabs they mention are there. Can you provide info?

Hi guys! Messenger is a program that you can uninstall opposed to disabling. If it's not a program that you use no sense in wasting space on your hard drive. 1. START 2. CONTROL PANEL 3. ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS 4. Scroll the list, click once on the program name to highlight and click on the REMOVE button. Judy

John: If you have Norton, it does not necessarily mean you have a firewall. Norton is actually two programs in one. One is a firewall, the other an anti virus. They work independently of each other. (The two programs, depending on what version of Norton you purchased, come on the same disk or can be purchased seperately....which would explain if you have one or the other or both programs.) Norton anti virus doesn't interfere with accessing sites, Norton Firewall does. As for not being able to access Free BMD, have you tried changing settings in your control panel (I have instructions on how and what to change on another thread.) Changing the settings should fix the problem of not being able to access site. If you have Norton Firewall installed on your computer you'll have to set up, in the Norton options, an exception or just temporarily turn off the firewall to bypass it if after changing the settings in Control Panel, you still can't view the site. Judy

Hi Judy and Kim Thank you very much for your help, I'm now one happy silver surfer David

well worth a nudge

I'm really thick, Printed off instructions and got 4 pages of all messages, But thank you Judy will do this often.