Disc Cleanup shows 25mb Temporary Internet files but /temp/ folder is empty

Question

I am running Win11, v25H2, build 26200.7840, and ever since an update about 2-3 months ago, when I run Disk Cleanup it always shows 23-25mb of Temporary Internet files when I open it. I highlight that item and hit 'OK' and it cycles through, BUT those files don't get cleaned. I can open Disk Cleanup again and that same value will still be shown in the Temp Internet file category. I also tried 'run', '%temp%', and it opened the /appdata/local/temp folder but the total of all the files and folders there isn't more than maybe 1-2mb. It's also odd that when I run disk cleanup, I highlight the temporary internet file category, then hit 'view files', the folder /appdata/local/microsoft/windows/ienetcache/ie opens and says "this folder is empty". Ok, third time is a charm so I went to 'settings', 'system', 'storage', waited a bit for it to cycle, then clicked on 'temporary files', and there's the category 'temporary internet files' showing as taking up 25.7mb of storage. I then click on 'remove files' just above that and the size of the temp internet files goes down to 23.9mb. I repeat clicking on the temp internet files and remove files, and it cycles and now temporary internet files shows ...... 23.9mb, i.e., there's some temporary internet files stored out there someplace on my pc, or, MS has found some files and classifies them as temporary internet files, but in either case, it refuses to clean them out.

So where is this 23 or 25 megabytes worth of files hiding? Why doesn't Disk Cleanup or any other method clear them out?

BTW - I use Firefox as my internet browser and avoid MS Edge at all costs. I've set Firefox to delete browsing history and cookies every time I close it so there shouldn't be much, if any, coming from there into storage.

Answer 1

Hi Finbo,
Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum. I'm happy to help.

To clean up the rest of Temporary Internet files, you may follow this article from Microsoft: How to delete the contents of the Temporary Internet Files folder - Microsoft Support.

On Windows 11, you may open Internet Options by pressing Windows key and type Internet Options on the search box. Then the next steps are the same as instructions above.

My advice is that you do not need — and should not — perform cleanup tasks frequently unless your free space is low. Modern systems use SSDs for "C" drive, which have a TBW (Total Bytes Written) limit. Unnecessary frequent cleanups increase the total data written and can cause your SSD to wear out faster.

I hope that above information is helpful to you.

If you have further questions, please feel free to let me know.

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Answer 2

Hi ,

I'm Dyari. Thanks for reaching out. I will be happy to assist you in this regard.

Those files aren’t real browser cache. They’re usually small system web components, such as Edge, WebView, update leftovers, thumbnails, etc. that Windows still labels with the old name. That’s why the folders look empty and disk cleanup does not fully remove them.

So, nothing is wrong with your computer, and Firefox isn’t causing it. If it’s only 20–30 MB, you can ignore it, there’s no real hidden folder you’re missing and no harm being done.