How to clean out all "hidden" files on one's computer.

[Matt Mets]

I think he means "popup" as in a web browser window, not from a running
program.

It has been my experiance that programs only 'remember' things that are
going to be useful to you, and that data is certainly not going to be
available to the world unless they hack into your computer.  Normally,
programs will keep all of their settings in hidden directories (anything
with a period in front of the name; e.g.: .mozilla) under your home
(/home/{your_username}) directory, and temporary files in the /tmp
directory.

If there is a specific program that you are concerned about (a web browser
would probably be the best example), then you could check its documentation
to see where it keeps its settings.  However, the program should honor your
request to clear the history, cache, etc. from within the program, so it is
probably best not to go around messing with your user profile files
directly.

For example, Firefox should keep its stuff in ~/.mozilla/firefox/ (
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder#Firefox)

In general though, I wouldn't worry about these files too much.  The only
time I find it necessary to mess with them is if a certain program is
behaving badly because of a poor setting; deleting (after backing up!) the
settings for the program ususally clears things right up!

Regards,
Matt


On 11/7/06, Dazed_75 <lthielster at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> They will happily sell you an ocean front lot in Tempe as well.
>
> On 11/7/06, Josef Lowder <joe at actionline.com> wrote:
> >
> > .
> > While I don't have any files or links on my computer that need to
> > be hid from anyone's view, when I recently got the "popup" message
> > shown below (one that Firefox failed to block), it made me wonder
> > where all there might be files and/or "cookies" and/or other such
> > stuff hidden on a Linux computer that might be good to clear out
> > periodically.
> >
> > Here's the pop-up message I received:
> >
> > From: http://www.drivecleaner.com
> >
> > > Your computer tracked all of your actions and stored the evidence
> > > on your hard drive.  Anyone could see where you had been on the
> > > Internet, the images you had looked at, the sites you opened, the
> > > movie you had viewed, etc.  We recommend to download DriveCleaner
> > > to erase all evidence you have on your PC.
> >
> > Other than clearing cache and trash, etc. where else are duplicate,
> > redundant, and/or copies of other needless, space-wasting files stored
> > on a Linux system that a "drivecleaner" program like this might remove?
> >
> >
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