|
Contents >
ZDelete Wizard > Step 2
Step 2: Auto-Cleaner - System Folders
Step 2 of Wizard allows you to define System Folders to be cleaned up
when the ZDelete Auto-Cleaner command is engaged.
System Folders for your profile are created and managed by the Windows
operating system. For example when you open a Web page with graphics in Internet
Explorer, all images from the page are placed in the folder Temporary
Internet Files. The reason this is done is that the system assumes this
page will be viewed more than once.
It stores the images on the local drive so that when the page is viewed the
next time, it will load up for viewing much more quickly. These images will
stay on your system until you delete them manually or the operating system
deletes them automatically.
Anyone who gains access to your hard drive can review these images and
determine which Web pages you have been viewing.
Below is an image of the Auto-Cleaner - System Folders screen.
Figure 2-2 Auto-Cleaner - System Folders

You can preview the contents of a selected folder content by clicking the View
button to the right side of the folder name.
To erase selected files immediately click RUN NOW!
Attention to Netscape Navigator Users: When
you install Netscape Navigator, you have an option to store Internet Cache,
Cookies, Bookmarks and History in the default locations, or in a custom
location, selected by you. If you choose a custom location for these folders,
they will not be cleaned by ZDelete. However, you can manually specify the
exact path to Netscape's Disk Cache Folder, Netscape's Cookies, History and
Bookmarks files (cookies.txt, netscape.hst, bookmark.htm) in the Step 3
screen of ZDelete Wizard.
Note: If your operating system uses a
version of Windows Shell (Shell32.dll) prior to version 4.71, some of
check boxes in Step 2 could be grayed and inaccessible. This happens
because the operating system is older and does not support programmable
interface to these Virtual Folders.
If this is the case, you cannot specify them for cleaning in Step 2. If you
would like to clean them, one way is to add the virtual path to these folders
manually in Step 3 of ZDelete Wizard. This solves only part of the
issue, however. It will not solve the issue completely because some information
is left in cache files that are constantly used by the operating system
and will result in a use-conflict situation. Another solution is to
upgrade Windows Shell by installing a newer version of Microsoft Internet
Explorer (v.4.0 or higher); it does not always solve the issue.
See also - Note on following page.
By enabling the convenient checkboxes, ZDelete searches for folder locations
as defined by the operating system.
A brief description of System Folders follows:
Table 2-4 Description of System Folders
|
Name
|
Description
|
|
My Temporary Files
|
Folder where most applications store temporary files. ZDelete
looks first where TMP environment variable for your profile points, then
for TEMP if TMP does not exist.
|
|
My Temporary Internet Files
|
Folder where Internet Browser stores images and HTML pages for
your profile to access them faster in the future.
|
|
My Internet Cookies
|
Folder where Internet Browser stores cookies for your profile.
Cookies are small text files - they are like the browser's variables for
interaction with a Web Server.
|
|
My History
|
Folder where Internet Browser and operating system store a list
of recently used links.
|
|
My Recently Used Documents List
|
Folder where the operating system stores a list of shortcuts for
recently used documents.
|
|
My Favorites
|
Folder where the operating system stores Favorite Links for your
profile.
|
|
My Pictures
|
Folder with the same name where the operating system suggests
that you keep your images. This feature is new in Windows 2000 and Windows ME.
If it does not exist, this item will be grayed and inaccessible.
|
|
My Media Player Recent List
|
Place where the operating system stores a list of recently played
media files and URLs.
|
|
My Auto-Complete History (Forms and Passwords)
|
Place where the operating system stores your history of recently
typed names, links, passwords, history in search engines, etc.... If this
feature is turned on in Internet Explorer, sometimes you can notice that when
you start typing in the standard edit field in browser, a drop-down list
appears and you can select the value from it.
|
|
My Recycle Bin
|
The standard Windows Recycle Bin - a virtual folder where deleted
files and folders are stored until your clear or restore them.
Remember: The standard Windows Empty Recycle Bin command does not
actually destroy the data. It is still recoverable.
Instead of using Empty Recycle Bin command, we advise you to check this
option and run Auto-Cleaner to make sure that items in Recycle Bin are
permanently destroyed.
|
|
My Find File History
|
Place in registry where operating system stores your recent requests for search
for files or folders.
|
|
My Find Computer History
|
Place in registry where operating system stores your recent requests for search
for computers
|
|
My Run History
|
Place in registry where operating system stores your recent executed commands
(menu Start-> Run...).
|
|
My Network Places History
|
Folder where operating system stores your network connections to other
computers and network shares.
|
Note: If
ZDelete tries to delete files that are in use by the operating system, it will
encounter a use-conflict and leave the file alone. If this situation happens,
an error message will be displayed on the screen. An exception to this rule -
for use-conflict files in system folders, ZDelete skips the files
without displaying the error message. These error messages can be found in the
ZDelete log file.
Warning: Be careful if you decide
to erase the My Pictures folder. All other folders on this screen keep
no real documents. Rather, they store temporary files and links to files. This
folder, however can be the main storage folder for important data files. After
ZDelete Auto-Cleaner has erased the contents of this folder, there is no
way to restore files.
Previo < Contents >
Next
|