PPRuNe Forums

Go Back   PPRuNe Forums > Supplementary Forums > Computer/Internet Issues & Troubleshooting
Forgotten your Username/Password?
Register FAQ Calendar Advertise Mark Forums Read

Computer/Internet Issues & Troubleshooting Anyone with questions about the terribly complex world of computers or the internet should try here. We will also try and help with troubleshooting any technical problems you may have with the forums.


Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 22nd September 2005, 12:25   #1 (permalink)
 
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: asia
Posts: 535
Dodgy left-over files from surfing!

Checking out a system that had been in "public" use for a while I made an interesting discovery.

I am used to IE leaving lots of files lying around in its Temporary Internet Files folder, and those can be cleared easily with Tools/Internet Options in IE, BUT have found a new folder called Documents and Settings/[username]/Application Data/Sun/java/deployment/cache/javapi/v1.0/file which contains over 5000 jpg and idx files. Judging by the look of some of the jpg files, somebody has been doing some very dodgy surfing or chatting in the xxx area, and of course the files are all timestamped so it is easy in this case to work out who it was.

Has anybody else spotted this? Is it documented anywhere? Besides the obvious security issues it is a pain having so may Mb taken up that aren't cleared out by what used to be the "standard actions" It is also a "hidden" folder, so you won't see it unless you change folder options

Last edited by stickyb : 22nd September 2005 at 12:42.
stickyb is offline  
Old 23rd September 2005, 14:29   #2 (permalink)
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: UK
Posts: 425
stickyb.....

Interesting.

Like you, I consider myself fairly "with it" on this front, regularly clearing out the obvious (and not quite so obvious) temporary files, but this one is new on me. ...Likewise mine is full of 'junk' (although not quite so dubious!) as is one of the adjacent files in "..........javapi/v1.0/" (sorry, can't remember which; cleared it out last night).

Suggestions from anyone on here of similarly unexpected files awaiting clean out would be useful.
BLUE SKY THINKER is offline  
Old 23rd September 2005, 15:57   #3 (permalink)
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: London
Age: 21
Posts: 183
It seems as if it only keeps things associated with java applications and not usual web browsing. However as you mentioned it’s likely to keep things to do with chat rooms. Interesting findings indeed.
R T Jones is offline  
Old 24th September 2005, 14:49   #4 (permalink)
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Surrey
Posts: 93
I have the same folder with about 2.5MB of what seems to be mainly icons, although I haven't managed to open the ones that have a Firefox icon. One I remember had the icons from a Tetris type game.
My folder however wasn't hidden.
The question is, can I delete the contents of this folder and not suffer any drastic consequences. Not being that au fait about computers I sometimes feel I'm only one click away from complete disaster!
four_two is offline  
Old 25th September 2005, 22:05   #5 (permalink)
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Lv426
Posts: 81
Other than the fact that it takes up space it isn't a problem at all. Java is completely secure in that it runs in a sandbox and cannot access the system without explicit overrides from th developers. Sometimes this needs to be done, for instance so that you can save data from a java app to 3.5 or whatever.

The folder is simply cache to speed up the system. Deleting it will simply mean that it has to be downloaded again next time you run the Java app.

Bear in mind though that the smallest amount of space which an icon just 200 bytes long will take up on your Hd is 32K....
Spinflight is offline  
Old 26th September 2005, 17:53   #6 (permalink)
 
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: in de volle zon
Posts: 90
I regularly run a bit of freeware called Crap Cleaner which gets rid of these files and a ton of others besides.

http://www.ccleaner.com/
TAF Oscar is offline  
Old 26th September 2005, 21:01   #7 (permalink)
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: UK
Posts: 425
TAF Oscar.....

That's a handy little program (and a bit of an eye opener). Solves the initially mentioned Java issue and many other files.

Ta.
BLUE SKY THINKER is offline  
Old 26th September 2005, 22:58   #8 (permalink)
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Surrey
Posts: 93
I've downloaded and installed ccleaner and it does look a handy program.
I haven't tried it yet but I wondered if there were any "issues" with it that users have found (it's my cautious nature again).
four_two is offline  
Old 26th September 2005, 23:03   #9 (permalink)
CH3CH2OH
 
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: The Pub
Posts: 324
Outstanding, managed to remove 438Mb of crap the first time I ran it, shall certainly be making a donation to the Author.
5711N0205W is offline  
Old 26th September 2005, 23:33   #10 (permalink)
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: UK
Posts: 425
four_two.....

Gave it a run; as mentioned, impressive.

The only "issue" I noticed was that if you have your 'Favorites' or 'All Programs' in a certain order, they revert to alphabetical.

(asuming Me/XP) create a System Restore point first, although there is also a backup element in the program. ...If worried, tick one subject at a time and Analyze. ...Nothing will be changed until you Run Cleaner and so at that stage it will give you some idea of the potential before committing.
BLUE SKY THINKER is offline  
Old 27th September 2005, 02:41   #11 (permalink)
Cunning Artificer
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: The spiritual home of DeHavilland
Age: 62
Posts: 2,468
Thumbs up

Been running CCleaner after every session for many months now and have experienced no ill effects - other than the initially annoying reorganization of the favourites folder already noted.
Its a very useful tool to have.
Blacksheep is offline  
Old 27th September 2005, 10:20   #12 (permalink)
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: UK
Posts: 425
Further investigation this morning shows that the irritant of Favorites/Programs reorganisation can be avoided simply by not selecting Cleaner > Windows (tab) > Advanced > Menu Order Cache.

Also caution, as indicated by the program, you will lose saved usernames/passwords if Cleaner > Windows (tab) > Internet Explorer > Autocomplete Form History is selected.

See here

As previous though, very nice program.

Some reviews here
BLUE SKY THINKER is offline  
Old 29th September 2005, 12:46   #13 (permalink)
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Surrey
Posts: 93
In view of all the positive replies on ccleaner I decided to go for it.
It messed something up which prevented Firefox from displaying the BBC site properly but after a bit of tentative playing around (Restoring, re- installing Firefox) I accidentally discovered that by clearing everything in Firefox-cache, history, and cookies- it was ok.
I do have a question though, after running ccleaner yesterday I used the analyze feature again today just for interest, and there is another 12 MB or so of new "crap". Is this a normal consequence of just browsing around the internet?
four_two is offline  
Old 29th September 2005, 13:43   #14 (permalink)
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: 8 dme 06L EGCC
Posts: 166
Yep fraid so,
I run Ad Aware and crap cleaner every night.....
Its good to be clean
Devlin Carnet is offline  
Old 1st October 2005, 11:19   #15 (permalink)
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: EGPX
Posts: 28
Just wondering does CCleaner work on a Mac or is it PC specific?
If not, do you know of any similar programs for the Mac?
Continental Drifter is offline  
Old 3rd October 2005, 17:38   #16 (permalink)
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: UK
Posts: 425
Continental Drifter.....

PC specific.

PS: Latest version out TODAY/03.10.05 .....v1.24.180
BLUE SKY THINKER is offline  
Old 8th October 2005, 00:05   #17 (permalink)
The Cooler King
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Now in the Desert
Posts: 1,324
Wow! That CrapCleaner has just taken 810Mb of useless stuff off my machine!
Farrell is offline  
Old 8th October 2005, 15:12   #18 (permalink)
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Leeds
Posts: 6
WOW!

CCleaner did this:

1,122.9MB removed!
G-BODD is offline  
Closed Thread
 


Thread Tools
Display Modes


Posting Rules
vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are Off


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 23:39.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2010, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
SEO by vBSEO 3.2.0 RC7
© 1996-2010 The Professional Pilots Rumour Network

As these are anonymous forums the origins of the contributions may be opposite to what may be apparent. In fact the press may use it, or the unscrupulous, or sciolists*, to elicit certain reactions.

*"sciolist"... Noun, archaic. "a person who pretends to be knowledgeable and well informed".