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We all know what happened when Goldilocks flounced into the Three Bears' cottage and helped herself to their porridge. Baby Bear was justifiably upset when he went to get his breakfast and found that she had eaten it all up. Well, the Bears were decent people, as bears usually are, but Goldilocks was frightened of them because they looked different, so she ran away.
Until today it has never been revealed where she ran to. Everybody thought she'd gone home but, spoiled brat that she was, she kept running until she found a place where she could eat as much as she wanted with no bears to frighten her.
Yep, you guessed it. She's hiding in your computer.
You won't find her if you go looking for a "Goldilocks" file because after all the bad publicity she changed her name. Now she calls herself Temp File. Funny name for a little girl with ginger hair, isn't it!
The fact is that your computer fills up with temporary files, usually with a .temp or .tmp file extension and, just like Goldilocks, they eat up your resources and slow everything down. If left unattended you're going to start wondering if your computer has developed arthritis.
Here's a bit of information about temp files and an easy method of getting rid of them. It's like massaging your PC with Dencorub—but it's not nearly as smelly.
Temporary files are files left after installing a program. They are no longer useful and can be removed from your system without risk.
Here's how:
Go to Start, then Search.
Choose "All files and folders". In the box labeled "All or part of the file name:" type "*.t*mp". (Don't type the quotation marks, of course.) The asterisk is a wildcard character and substitutes for anything else that might be there—so the first asterisk (before the dot) represents the actual file name, and the second one tells your PC that you want to find both ".temp" and ".tmp" files.
Now click on Search.
In the left hand pane you will see a list of all the temp files. When the list is complete hold down the Control key while you press "A". Now everything should be highlighted, so hit the Delete key on your keyboard. It's as easy as that. Just make sure to empty your Recycle Bin.
What about your temporary Internet files? Getting rid of those is just as easy.
Click "Start" and from the window that appears, select Control Panel, then Internet Options.
This should open at the General tab. If it doesn't you should click General.
Under "Browsing History" click Delete... You're perfectly safe: nothing will be deleted yet.
Now you will see six buttons inviting you to delete Temporary Internet Files, Cookies, Your Browsing History, Form Data, and Saved Passwords. You also have the option of clicking "Delete All" which will delete everything mentioned.
I always delete the Temporary Internet Files but am less fastidious about the others. The cookies serve a good purpose at the sites you visit regularly so I clear them only once in a while.
Make a point of doing it once a week—perhaps more often if you're a heavy browser.
If you don't want to do all of that, there's another method. You can use the Disk Cleanup utility. To do that, click on the following buttons in order: Start / All Programs / Accessories / System Tools / Disk Cleanup. When you get there just click OK and watch the good fairy in your software do the rest.