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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.
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