Last week I explained how to schedule the Disk Cleanup utility to perform basic maintenance tasks. But the Disk Cleanup utility can be overkill, and in some cases you might not want it to run through all its options. How can you tell it you just want it to just clean out the Windows Temp folder? The answer is found in some amazingly useful command-line switches that most Windows users know nothing about. (They’re documented in Windows XP Inside Out and in Knowledge Base article 315246, How to Automate the Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows XP.)

To control how the cleanup process works, you need to first know the executable command for the Disk Cleanup utility, cleanmgr.exe. Then you need to learn to use the following switches to modify its behavior:

• /D driveletter  Runs Disk Cleanup using the drive letter you specify in place of driveletter (for example, type cleanmgr /d c:, to apply the utility to drive C). (This option is ignored if you use the /Sagerun switch.)
• /Sageset:n  Opens a dialog box that lets you select Disk Cleanup options, creates a registry key that corresponds to the number you entered (where n is an arbitrary number from 0 through 65535), and then saves your settings in that key.
• /Sagerun:n  Retrieves the saved settings for the number you enter in place of n and then runs Disk Cleanup without requiring any interaction on your part.

To put all the pieces together, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, Run (or open a Command Prompt window) and type the command cleanmgr /sageset:200. (This number is completely arbitrary; you can choose any number from 0 through 65535.)
2. In the Disk Cleanup Settings dialog box, choose the options you want to apply whenever you use these settings. In this example, I’ve cleared all the check boxes except the one in front of Temporary files.

   

3. Click OK to save your changes in the registry.
4. Create a shortcut that uses the command cleanmgr /sagerun:200. Save the shortcut in the Windows folder using a descriptive name – Clean Temp Files, for instance.
5. Open Control Panel’s Scheduled Tasks folder and start the Add Scheduled Task Wizard. When prompted to select the program you want Windows to run, click Browse and select the shortcut you just created. Follow the wizard’s remaining prompts to schedule the command to run at regular intervals.
6. Repeat steps 1–5 for other Disk Cleanup options you want to automate.

That’s it. As long as the Task Scheduler service is running, your cleanup chores will be handled automatically on the schedule you specified.

Last week, I showed how to clean out your Windows Temp folder properly.

Today’s tip is a follow-up to that item, showing how you can schedule some routine maintenance chores to be performed automatically.

The secret is buried in the Scheduled Tasks folder, which you can find in Control Panel. (It’s in the Performance and Maintenance group, if you use the Category view of Control Panel.)

Open the Scheduled Tasks folder and double-click Add Scheduled Task. This launches the Scheduled Task Wizard, which walks you through the process of creating a new task. After you get past the opening screen, you’ll see a list of available programs on your PC. Select the Disk Cleanup entry and click Next.

Enter a name for the task (the default should work just fine in this case) and specify how often you want the task to run – daily, weekly, etc. The next secreen in the wizard varies, depending on the option you choose. This screen, for instance, shows a task that has been scheduled to run once a week – at 2:30 AM every Monday.

In the next screen, enter the user name and password of the account whose credentials you want the task to use. This data (which is saved in encrypted format) allows a scheduled task to run even if you’re not logged on. It also allows a task that requires administrative privileges to run when a user with a limited account is logged on.

Finish the wizard to save the scheduled task.

Follow-up: I’ve put together instructions to help you customize the Disk Cleanup task so it performs only the options you want it to run.

In the comments to a post entitled Everything you always wanted to know about Windows Product Activation, Tim asks:

How do you tell if a product has an OEM vs Retail install? … I have some integrated computers I am responsible for and when I call tech support, they sometimes ask which version of XP/2000 I am running, OEM or Retail.  I got thrown into this and the last guy didn’t keep up with things very well…any help is appreciated!

It’s easy to tell once you know where to look. Right-click the My Computer icon and choose Properties. (You can reach the same destination by starting in Control Panel and double-clicking System.) On the General tab of the System Properties dialog box, under the “Registered to” heading, you’ll see a product ID, which is divided into four groups of characters separated by hyphens. On an OEM installation, the second group of characters is always OEM; on a retail installation, you’ll see three numbers in this group.

That might be your only OEM fingerprint on a computer built in-house or by a “white box” system maker. But for systems from larger PC makers, including the so-called royalty OEMs, you should also see a product logo and the words “Manufactured and supported by” followed by the name of the company that built the PC. Here’s an example:

One other piece of advice: If you’ve inherited a group of computers and don’t have a handy index to identify the product ID required to reactivate each one, use the wonderful Keyfinder utility to dig out Windows and Office keys, which you can copy to a database or print out and save for future reference. I first wrote about Keyfinder back in December 2002, and it’s still one of my most popular pages.

Excel whiz John Walkenbach inspired today’s tip with this post:

I haven’t looked at my Windows \temp directory in a long time. I used to be pretty good about keeping it cleaned out, but I’ve ignored it lately. I just looked at it and found that it contains

• 4,272 files
• 95 folders
• 721Mb

Yikes! Shouldn’t this stuff should be deleted by the apps that placed them there?

Well, yes and no. I just checked this system and discovered 95MB of disk space in use by 496 files and 103 folders, most of them empty. The entire collection dates back about 60 days, which must be the last time I cleaned out temp files.

Some of those files were ones I created or downloaded. (Putting them in the Temp folder is the best way of dealing with files you are positive you won’t want to keep.) When I play a media file directly from a browser or view a Word document or PDF page in the browser window, the downloaded WMV or DOC or PDF file is saved in my Temp folder. Microsoft Office creates a bunch of temp files as it works to keep track of changes and enable its automatic recovery features. I don’t bother deleting these files manually after I’m done, and I don’t expect any program to aggressively clean them up either. The whole idea of the Temp folder is to serve as a junk drawer for files, and any program that puts a file there should assume it’ll get tossed out with the trash sooner rather than later when I empty the Temp folder.

Here are three ways to do just that:

• The hard way: delete files manually using Windows Explorer. As J-Walk discovered, Explorer quits abruptly as soon as you encounter a file that’s in use – and at least on my computer the Temp folder is usually filled with a dozen or more files in use. To avoid hitting one of those files, display the folder’s contents in Details view and then sort by date. That way you can delete files in groups. Select the oldest files and delete them, then select a newer group of files and delete those, until you get to a group that includes some files in use. At that point you can stop. You’ve probably cleaned out all that you can do.
• The easier way: Use the Disk Cleanup Wizard. Click Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Cleanup. Pick a drive, click OK, and wait for the quick analysis. Click OK again, and you’ll empty the Recycle Bin, clear out Internet Explorer’s cache, and empty all files from the Temp folder that are more than a week old.



• The really easy way: Create a Scheduled Task to have your system clean out your Temp folder and perform other cleanup chores automatically. If you poke around in the Scheduled Tasks folder, you’ll see that this option is available with a wizard’s help.

To learn how you can schedule this bit of routine maintenance to run once a week (or on any schedule you prefer), see this tip.

There are all sorts of good reasons not to store files on your desktop. One reason you might not be aware of is that the Windows System Restore feature monitors the desktop. If you download an executable file (such as a driver update or a program you’re planning to install) and store it on the desktop, it will be summarily deleted if you use System Restore to roll back your configuration to a time before you saved that file.

Yesterday, I explained how I use the desktop as a temporary holding area for downloads. Here’s how to use the same basic principle for other types of files that tend to clutter up the desktop.

1. In your My Documents folder, create a subfolder and give it a descriptive name (like Unfiled or Shoebox).
2. Right-click the icon for the folder you just created and choose Copy. Go to the desktop (knowing one of these shortcuts makes this task much easier), right-click any empty space, and choose Paste Shortcut from the shortcut menu.

You’ve now got a handy place to file stuff you no longer need but can’t bring yourself to toss or file properly. Drag web shortcuts, documents, and other files onto this target to move them to the Unfiled folder. To view the contents of that folder, just double-click the shortcut icon on the desktop.

See also Tip of the day: Keep a clean desktop

Last year, I explained my strategy for keeping downloaded programs organized.

It’s terribly convenient to download programs directly to the desktop. The trouble is, it’s also terribly convenient to leave them there, and after a few months the desktop is littered with inscrutable shortcuts. Today, I’ll explain how you can use the desktop as a temporary holding area for downloads without turning it into a cluttered mess.

To start, follow the first step I recommended in Get your downloaded programs organized and create a Downloads folder in your My Documents folder (or, if you want downloads to be available to other computers on your network, create a Downloads folder in your Shared Documents folder).

Next, right-click the icon for the Downloads folder and choose Copy. Go to the desktop (knowing one of these shortcuts makes this task much easier), right-click any empty space, and choose Paste Shortcut from the shortcut menu.

You’ve now got a Downloads shortcut on your desktop. As a shortcut, it works exactly like the original folder. When you drag a file or folder onto that icon, it’s moved or copied to the Downloads folder instantly. Here’s how to use this shortcut to keep clutter under control:

• Every time you download a new program, patch, or utility, go ahead and save it to the desktop.
• Create a shortcut to the Web page for that download, too. From IE6 or IE7, right-click the page and choose Create Shortcut to instantly create a shortcut on the desktop. Firefox users can drag the page icon at the left of the Address bar and drop it on the desktop, or use the deskCut extension.
• If you received a serial number or product key with your download, save that information as a text file on the desktop as well.

All the pieces of your download are now on the desktop. If you’re comfortable with using your Downloads folder as a shoebox, select the files and drag them onto the Downloads shortcut. If you’d rather be more organized, create a folder on the desktop first (right-click any empty space and choose New, Folder) and give it a descriptive name that makes it easy to find your download. Now drag the files from your desktop onto that folder and then drag the folder onto the Downloads icon.

In the comments on a post from early last year, How to troubleshoot the Blue Screen of Death, Al expresses a common frustration:

My PC has crashed a couple of times now to a BSOD with a stop error I can’t read quick enough. I see nothing in event viwer, is there any other log of what happened? What the stop error was and what the 4nvd.dll (possibly!) or whatever it was that flashed past is?

Information about a stop error (aka BSOD) should appear in Event Viewer’s System log. If you can’t find it there, try reconfiguring your system to stop after a stop error (what a concept!) so you can read the error on the screen. Here are the step-by-step instructions:

1. Open the System option in Control Panel.
2. On the Advanced tab, under the Startup and Recovery heading, click the Settings button.
3. In the Startup and Recovery dialog box, under the System Failure heading, clear the Automatically Restart check box.
4. Click OK to close the Startup and Recovery dialog box, and then click OK to close the System Properties dialog box.

After making this change, you’ll find that the details of a (hopefully rare) BSOD will remain on screen for you to study and write down. You’ll need to press a key to clear the screen and restart the computer.