How do you

Delete temp file and were are they?

Thanks Donothing

Temp files for what? Every application stores temporary content in different ways and in different places.

For my imac

We need application names. Temp files are not universal - they are all created by specific applications. Are you trying to fix a problem? If so, we need to know what applications you're trying to delete the temp files for.

Never mind I'll figure it out.

Donothing said:

Never mind I'll figure it out.

Click to expand...

That's fine, but you posted the question and we were just trying to understand the basis of it.

I'm new to Mac on windows you can go to a dir and delete temp files I guess it isn't that easy on a Mac

Yeah, that directory on a Mac is "/tmp". So, actually, it IS just as easy on a Mac.

Being new to a Mac means that you are learning, which means you have to help us teach you what you want to learn and what you want to know.

Unlike Windows, Mac is based on Unix which deals with tmp files/folders in a different way. You don't build up cruft over time and need to manually deal with it.

If you are interested in clearing your Browsers cache, you do so from within the Browser itself. If there is another applications temporary history you wish to delete, it'd be good to know what that application is.

Otherwise, there is absolutely no reason for you to manually delete files in the temp folder.

And, oh, punctuations please!

Yep, first thing to do is to forget all that ridiculous maintenance, cleaning, deleting, etc. you did in Windows - for the most part - not required to keep OS X running fast.

Hang out and read a lot of posts or ask specific questions and we can lead you in the correct direction - most of us were (probably a lot of us still are) very much tied to Windows - a lot of differences between there and OS X.

Thank You.
I guess I will learn about my iMac and punctuation at the same time.

I will say that your thread title and screen name made me chuckle. When I read it together on the Forum list it said "How do you" "Donothing." I do nothing by putting my feet up and closing my eyes.

I'll also chime in on what bobtomay said. OSX is a lot more maintenance free than Windows. I run Onyx about once a year, maybe twice, to clean out caches, etc, otherwise it runs 24/7 unless I have to move the MBP for some reason. No registry to clean, no disk fragmentation to worry about (mostly), no viruses and little malware. When I came from Windows I couldn't believe how little maintenance OSX took. I got to use my machine to DO stuff instead of doing stuff TO IT! What a concept!

Welcome to Mac, OSX and this forum. Come back and ask questions and don't be surprised if those of us who hang out come back to ask more information from you. We do that so we can get to the "real" goal of your questions, particularly if it sounds 'Windows-ish'.

Thanks Jake

MacInWin said:

.... I got to use my machine to DO stuff instead of doing stuff TO IT! What a concept!

Click to expand...

Amen.

That is exactly the reason I switched from Windows to OS X and I enjoy every second of it.
To learn OS X, forget all about the windows mindset and you will have a great time.
If you stick to the windows mindset, you will make it a lot harder on yourself

Cheers ... McBie

McBie said:

Amen.

That is exactly the reason I switched from Windows to OS X and I enjoy every second of it.
To learn OS X, forget all about the windows mindset and you will have a great time.
If you stick to the windows mindset, you will make it a lot harder on yourself

Cheers ... McBie

Click to expand...

On top of using BlackViper's service configuration tweaks since the Win98 days - I had this habit on my windows gaming machines of a 2-4 hr maintenance routine I did "every" Saturday morning just to keep my machine and my games from slowing down.

Think it took me over a year to totally get use to not having to fix it before it broke.

The primary answer to the question the OP asked is "you don't."

They are TEMP files. That's short for TEMPORARY. As in, they delete themselves when they are no longer needed.

Unless some application is misbehaving, that's what normally happens. So the user doesn't need to do anything at all.

Now if you have reason to think that some app is misbehaving and not deleting its temp files, let us know.

As everyone already said, there's no need to do Windows-type maintenance on OSX (or most Unix-based machines, for that matter).

However, if you absolutely have to, for a time being, until you get used to a different mindset, do something, have a look at Disk Doctor app by FIPLAB in Apple AppStore.