For some time now I have been concerned about a
mystery file called Thumbs.db that started appearing
in many folders on my computer. The name seemed ominous. Was
this the sign of some sort of hacker getting into the
system and leaving his finger prints around?
The truth - as is so often the case - turned out to
be much more mundane and innocuous. The thumbs.db file
is generated by the Windows operating system. It is a
database file containing the small images displayed
when you view a folder in "thumbnail" view (as opposed
to tile, icon, list, or detail view). No harm is done
by deleting thumbs.db files. There is no need to
include them in your system backups. Whether you see
these files or not is a function of your File Options
settings.
To turn off this feature and save a bit of disk
space,
- Click the Start button
- Select Control Panel
- Select Folder Options
- Click the View tab
- Check "Do not cache thumbnails"
- Click the OK button
Now you can search your computer for thumbs.db
files and remove them. To do so:
- Click the Start button
- Click Search
- Click "All files and folders"
- In the "All or part of the file name" box
type Thumbs.db
- Set the "Look in:" pull-down menu to "Local
Hard Drives (C:)"
- Click Search. A list of the files found
appears in the right window.
- Click in the right window where the files are
listed and press the control button and the A button
to highlight all the files (Ctrl+A).
- Press the Delete key. It may take a few
seconds to delete the files.
Hope this helps! Please let me know at my
"Contact Us" link and tell
me you were here!
