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© St. Petersburg Times, published August 19, 2002
Is it okay to delete these files?
Q . Is it safe to delete the files found in these directories (I am running Windows 98 SE and Internet Explorer 6): Windows/Local Settings/Temporary Internet Files/Content.IE5/ or Windows/Temporary Internet Files/Content.IE5? There are at least eight folders under the Content.IE5 such as 09yz4pmr and 57o2k301. All of these folders have huge amounts of gif, jpeg, js, css, htm, html, etc. These can only be removed manually. Are they safe to delete? Most of these also date a few years ago. They seem to be temporary Internet files that I should be able to delete through IE Properties, but for some reason they never do get removed.
A. Yes, delete them. However, you may want to try the Disk Cleanup wizard: In Windows 98, click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, then click Disk Cleanup. Click to select the Temporary Internet Files, Recycle Bin and Temporary Files check boxes. Also consider that you may be deleting some cookie files. While this is okay to do, you may lose some convenience settings at various Web sites that you'll have to establish again.
Q. I keep having a file, PPThumbs.ptn, turn up. I have no idea where it comes from and am unable to open it. It is in my documents folder. Each folder I have in the documents folder gets this file. I delete them, and they show up again. How can I stop this? Is there a purpose for them? Should I just keep deleting them?
A. PPThumbs.ptn files are created by Scansoft's program called Paperport to hold thumbnail images. According to Scansoft technical support, you may delete these files, but they will be re-created when you run Paperport again.
Q. Sometimes when typing an e-mail, it becomes impossible to make any corrections in the usual way. It is as if I am within an overtype procedure, although I did not turn this on. After a while, on new e-mails, this will suddenly go away and I am back in the regular pattern for making corrections. How and why does this happen?
Also, when I print something that has more than one page from the Internet, I get only the first of the two page numbers in the upper right hand corner. For example, instead of "Page 1 of 3," I get only "Page 1 of" and not the second number. How can I get back the second number, which gives the total of all the pages?
A. Maybe you inadvertently hit the Insert key (very easy to do) while typing? Next time this happens, press the Insert key (it should be above the Delete key and left of the Home key) to turn it off.
As far as your Internet printing problem, make sure you have the latest version along with the latest updates for your browser. If a Print Preview shows the correct numbering but the actual print does not, check to make sure your Printer drivers are up to date (check the vendor's technical support Web site).
Q. How do I print a list of my Favorites, including the Web address?
A. I had a reader write in recently with a good way to do this: On the Internet Explorer menu bar, click File, then Import/Export. This will bring up the Import/Export Wizard dialog window. Click Next and select Export Favorites. You'll be asked which folder you want to export from. Leave the selection at the top (Favorites) to get them all. Click Next, then note in the Export to a File or Address text box where the wizard is going to put the file containing a list of your favorites.
If you want, click Browse and specify another place. I usually choose the Desktop so I don't have to go looking for it.
You'll now have an HTML file called Bookmarks.htm. If you double-click this file, it will display in your browser and you can print from there. If you want to see the Web addresses these favorites point to, open the Bookmarks.htm file in Notepad or WordPad. The Web addresses will be there, along with all the HTML code around it.
Thanks to the reader who sent this in. I had given this same answer years ago, but I am now at the point where the amount I've forgotten is more than the amount I know.