Huge 1.2 GB iconcache file

[Redcrown]

On my Windows 11 desktop the "iconcache" has recently jumped to 1.2 gigabytes. I check for large files regularly before doing system backups, so I know this is a recent event. I have deleted all iconcache files and rebooted (twice), but the large file remains. I don't see anything unusual on my system. About 50 desktop icons, and another 50 in desktop subfolders. Many are custom icons I've downloaded, but all look normal. I have no registry entry for maxiconcache.

Any clues on why this happened, where to look, what to do about it?

In C:\Users\myname\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer

iconcache_256.db 1,266,688 KB Modified today
iconcache_48.db 18,432 KB Modified 3 days ago
iconcache_32.db 32,768 KB Modified 3 days ago
iconcache_16.db 16,384 KB Modified 2 days ago

There is no plain iconcache.db in that folder

But in C:\Users\myname\AppData\Local

iconcache.db 134 KB Modified 1 day ago

 

[The Shadow 2023]

Velly Intelestink!

In a test batch file, I put in this line:
Del /F /S /Q "C:\Users\%UserName%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\*.db"
and then I ran the little batch file. It deleted 30 .db files.

I looked at that location before I ran the batch file and most of the .db files were recent, but not today. I hope I didn't just shoot myself in the foot. Some of those .db files were over 1 meg in size,but not all.

Thanks for the heads up, on one more junk file location, that I can add to my Cleanup.bat program.

TM

 

[Xploit Machine]

it's common, and safe to delete ..

 

[Redcrown]

On my Windows 11 desktop the "iconcache" has recently jumped to 1.2 gigabytes. I check for large files regularly before doing system backups, so I know this is a recent event. I have deleted all iconcache files and rebooted (twice), but the large file remains. I don't see anything unusual on my system. About 50 desktop icons, and another 50 in desktop subfolders. Many are custom icons I've downloaded, but all look normal. I have no registry entry for maxiconcache.

Any clues on why this happened, where to look, what to do about it?

In C:\Users\myname\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer

iconcache_256.db 1,266,688 KB Modified today
iconcache_48.db 18,432 KB Modified 3 days ago
iconcache_32.db 32,768 KB Modified 3 days ago
iconcache_16.db 16,384 KB Modified 2 days ago

There is no plain iconcache.db in that folder

But in C:\Users\myname\AppData\Local

iconcache.db 134 KB Modified 1 day ago

An update for nobody watching:

Several times I tried this method published by many, "Use Command Prompt, kill Explorer, delete iconcache files, restart", and had no success. Still a huge iconcache_256.db file.

So I simply deleted the huge file using Explorer live. No command prompt. No problems. System kept functioning OK. Did a Restart, and the iconcache_256.db file came back at only 2048 KB. Looked like all was good. But then, 3 days later, the file had grown back to 33,792 KB.

Still a mystery.

 

[Xploit Machine]

really funny .. this is what my folder looks like even after a week .. I would just delete the entire Explorer folder manually

 

[clubtail]

Velly Intelestink!

In a test batch file, I put in this line:
Del /F /S /Q "C:\Users\%UserName%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\*.db"
and then I ran the little batch file. It deleted 30 .db files.

I looked at that location before I ran the batch file and most of the .db files were recent, but not today. I hope I didn't just shoot myself in the foot. Some of those .db files were over 1 meg in size,but not all.

Thanks for the heads up, on one more junk file location, that I can add to my Cleanup.bat program.

TM

I see that someone remembers Rowan & Martin Laugh-in!

 

[The Shadow 2023]

Well, if you're old enough, who could forget?

 

[The Shadow 2023]

After adding the line...
Del /F /S /Q "C:\Users\%UserName%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\*.db"
to my Cleanup Batch file and then running the file, I got this result from the above command line:

I got the file list, but not the megabyte total. But, at least that's 30 more files GONE!



All in a days work!

Shadow