deleting a .tmp file

[tenthman]

Hello ... I am wondering if anyone knows if it's safe to delete a file found at C:\WINDOWS\Installer\MSI51.tmp

This guy takes up about 68 megs of disk space that I'd like to get back ... but I don't want to mess up my computer in the process. Thanks in advance for any help.

PS

I Googled MSI51.tmp and didn't come up with any information that I could use.

[dadyassa]

Welcome to the forum :)

Myself and a lot of other people use this little freebie to get rid of any un-needed fluff in windows,

Ccleaner

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

It is *normally* safe to delete any .tmp files. One the other hand I would be hesitant to delete *anything* from the Windows folder.

I don't see any .tmp files in my Windows\Installer folder, so it seems a bit strange to me. Note the date of the file, and try to remember if you had some aborted installation around that time.

What I would do in your situation is to burn the file on a CD, then delete it.

And yes, dadyassa's recommendation is very useful to potentially get a lot of wasted disk space back.

[tenthman]

It is *normally* safe to delete any .tmp files. One the other hand I would be hesitant to delete *anything* from the Windows folder.

I don't see any .tmp files in my Windows\Installer folder, so it seems a bit strange to me. Note the date of the file, and try to remember if you had some aborted installation around that time.

The date it was "modified" is 7-26-06. When I go into "Properties" and check it with my anti-virus program it says that "the file does not exist or you don't have sufficient privileges to access it". I have Administrator privileges, so I should have sufficient privileges to access it.

There are two other .tmp folders in there, both "modified" on the same day, but all three have different times associated with their modifications; MSI51.tmp was modified at 9:31 AM, while the other two were modified at 9:32 and 9:43 AM respectively ... one's called MSI59.tmp using 463 KB, and the third one is MSIE2.tmp also using 463 KB. When I go into their Properties and check them, I am given a version number and a file description ... these two are both related to the .NET Framework update I did the other day on Windows Update. I have no clue what the .NET Framework is, much less how to use it.

What I would do in your situation is to burn the file on a CD, then delete it.

I don't have a CD burner ... would moving it to another folder and renaming it work? That way if it messes things up I can boot into Safe mode and put it back ... or wouldn't that work? The problem with CCleaner is that I heard it erases the uninstall files for some programs (like IE 7 beta 2 or 3).

Thanks for the help so far, and for any advice to follow.

jerry

Boy, I messed that post up. :-)

[tenthman]

Well, I guess it is ok to delete that file. I went ahead and renamed it .old and moved it to another directory. Everything worked fine with it out of the WINDOWS\Installer directory so I went ahead and deleted it. Everything's working fine.

The CCleaner works great! I paid for a program ("Max Secure Registry Cleaner") and it doesn't work nearly as well as the CCleaner registry cleaning tool. The Max Secure Reg Cleaner is on an annual subscription renewal type of thing...I'll be dipped if they think I'm going to send them another $30 next year. I'd rather put my money towards a program that works!

Thanks for the feedback,

jerry

[dadyassa]

Glad you`re sorted. :)