Clearing temp files on windows 2003

Question

How do I clear all temp / unnecessary files safely on a windows server 2003 R2?

Also - is it possible / does it make sense to defrag this server?

It's hosting something critical, its running slow and becoming a risk.

Answer 1

Excessive temporary files, while certainly having the capability to slow some operations, aren't typically the cause of poor performance on Windows. Having said that, you are typically safe to clear out %SystemRoot%\TEMP, and the Application Data\Local Settings\Temp subfolders of each user profile in the %SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings folder.

Filesystem fragmentation, as a cause of slow performance, has been highly overrated in my experience. Having said that, as long as you don't have any ridiculous software that relies on files staying in an absolute position on the disk (evidence the "License Manager" for a particular piece of PLC trending software I recently had the displeasure of working with) you should be fine to use the built-in defragmenter.

I think you'd have more luck making your hosted application run better if you analyzed the performance of the application (using tools like the SysInternals tools, etc).