to be safe use a program like ccleaner or ATF which will only clean the stuff safe to remove.

ATF-Cleaner.

Utilities
you can find ccleaner there along with other handy apps.

Here's a tool you can use to do it,

Clean out your temporary internet files and temp files.

Download TFC by OldTimer click Here to your desktop. Click the Save file tab, save it to the desktop. Then double click it to run it.

Double-clickTFC.exe to run it.

Note: If you are running on Vista, right-click on the file and choose Run As Administrator

TFC will close all programs when run, so make sure you have saved all your work before you begin

* Click the Start button to begin the cleaning process.
* Depending on how often you clean temp files, execution time should be anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or two.
* Please let TFC run uninterrupted until it is finished.

Once TFC is finished it should restart your computer. If it does not, please manually restart the computer yourself to ensure a complete cleaning.

TFC,

More info:
TFC (Temp File Cleaner) will clear out all temp folders for all user accounts (temp, IE temp, java, FF, Opera, Chrome, Safari), including Administrator, All Users, LocalService, NetworkService, and any other accounts in the user folder. It also cleans out the %systemroot%\temp folder and checks for .tmp files in the %systemdrive% root folder, %systemroot%, and the system32 folder (both 32bit and 64bit on 64bit OSs). It shows the amount removed for each location found (in bytes) and the total removed (in MB).

Before running, it will stop Explorer and all other running applications. When finished, if a reboot is required the user must reboot to finish clearing any in-use temp files.
-- TFC only cleans temp folders.
-- TFC will not clean URL history, prefetch, or cookies. Depending on how often someone cleans their temp folders, their system hardware, and how many accounts are present, it can take anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or more. TFC will completely clear all temp files where other temp file cleaners may fail.

Thanks. Actually, after posting and then doing a search, I found an older posting with Zep's info.

MUCH APPRECIATED AS ALWAYS!!!!!

I'm not a me too type member, but I have to take a moment to advise that with CCleaner other than the Applications tab only use CC at the default settings. There is no backup. The current version is 3.04.1389.

The included registry tool should be left alone unless you are confident in your ability.

DA

TFC is as it says only a ".Temp file cleaner." I would, if you're cleaning run as recommend CCleaner, and ATF. too. Those will take care of cookies, and other Items that TFC does not address.

Yep, downloaded AFT - couldn't have been any easily - and fast too.

I usually let CCleaner clean up everything including reg. Haven't had any issues that I can see, but I don't use the desktop much either. I'll take note not to allow that next time.

Thanks Raven and Zep for explaining the need for TFC and CC/ATF. When TFC was recommended in a much earlier thread, I DL'd it and thought it was a "better than" CC/ATF. I'll now include all three in my maintenance schedule.