Definition of Windows Temporary Files (44880)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Windows 2.03
- Microsoft Windows 2.1
- Microsoft Windows 2.11
- Microsoft Windows 3.0
- Microsoft Windows 3.1
- Microsoft Windows 3.11
This article was previously published under Q44880
A Windows "temporary" file is created under these circumstances:
- Windows Desktop (Write, etc.) and MDI (multiple document interface)
applications (such as Excel) create temporary files to handle
necessary user editing.
Because a Desktop application cannot have multiple documents open at
once, it must immediately create a temporary file that allows you to
"undo" any editing, etc. MDI applications create temporary files only
when needed (for related editing), rather than for every worksheet
that is open.
- When running an MS-DOS standard application under Windows/286,
Windows/286 creates a temporary file (for example, ~PIFCHFA.TMP) so
it can swap to disk to make room for other applications to use
memory.
- When printing from Windows or any Windows application with the
spooler enabled, Windows creates temporary files on the hard
disk. Windows spools the print job to the temporary file and
then sends it to the appropriate printer as a background operation.
Microsoft recommends that there be approximately 2 MB of free disk
space available for the creation of temporary files.
| Modification Type: | Minor | Last Reviewed: | 7/7/2005 |
|---|
| Keywords: | KB44880 |
|---|
|