5 Temporary Files Temporary files are used by programs during normal operation. Whatever their purpose, they are temporary, and so can be deleted when no longer needed. If some are in use, however, you simply can't delete them until you close the program using them - which often deletes the temporary file anyway. If the author hasn't taken the time to ensure his program cleans up after itself, temporary files used by the program get left behind and simply build up over time until your drive space starts to feel the strain. Yep, they can be found just about anywhere your prepared to look.
Some programs keep their temp files in their own sub-folders.
Others demand two or more temp locations, preferrably on different drives. Since we cannot stop the creation of temporary files, we can at least limit the number of locations they use. We can limit the number of temporary folders in a few ways. You may also notice a TEMP environment variable. This is primarily used for DOS compatibility, but some programs still use it under Windows.