What is thumbs.db & How to Delete thumbs.db

What is thumbs.db
and How to Delete
thumbs.db
We all are always worried about viruses. Usually a virus can damage files,
folders. So, we always try to clean our computer, by
manually deleting some
selected files or folders,
which we understand that
those are viruses or may
be harmful and or using
anti virus. I was always
considered and treated
thumbs.db as a virus
because it use to create
thumbs.db file
automatically as soon as
delete the file. However
there are still many
people who are new to
computer world and may
treat it as virus or as a
strange act.
What is thumbs.db file?
Thumbs.db is
always created on an
image file or image folder.
Thumbs.db is a thumbnail
cache file which is used to
store thumbnail images
for Windows Explorer’s
thumbnail view. Actually
thumbs.db speeds up the
image display as the
smaller images do not
need to be recalculated
every time the user views
the folder.
Basically, when you view
images folder in
thumbnail, you would see
images showing in small
preview (Thumbnail).This
thumbnail information is
saved in thumbs.db file in
the same folder. So, next
time when you visit the
same image folder in
thumbnail, you would see
thumbnail images
displaying very fast.
Thumbnail cache file
speed up the showing of
thumbnails when you are
viewing a folder in
thumbnail view.
Note: The Thumbnail
cache file is a hidden file.
Go to My computer >>
Tools >> Folder options
>> Go to View Tab and
put a tick on “Show
hidden files and folder”.
Disadvantages of
thumbs.db:
Though it seems to be
very useful and helpful
but may not be good for
computer with low disk
space. thumbs.db file
takes up disk space,
although the file size or
space taken by thumbnail
cache will be small.
Suppose for 5-6 images in
a folder may create
thumbs.db of 7-8 kb.
Folder with 500-700
images may create
thumbs.db with file size of
800-900kb(Approx 1mb).If
your pc have lots of such
thumbs.db file on hard
disk which have low disk
space, you can save some
valuable space on your
hard disk by removing the
thumbnail cache file
(thumbs.db).
You might have seen
when we remove or
delete this thumbs.db file,
it automatically created
again. So, we need to turn
off this thumbnail cache
feature.
How to Remove
thumbs.db
Open My Computer or
any folder
Click on Tools (on the top
and on menu bar)
Click on Folder Options.
If you don’t find Folder
Options, it may be deleted
by virus. You can Restore
Folder Options in Tools
Menu, Disabled by Virus
Go to view tab
Put a tick on “Do Not
Cache thumbnails”, click
Apply and Ok.
From this thumbs.db will
never be created. But
there are some thumbs.db
files are on your
computer those are
already created. To delete
all thumbs.db file from
hard disk, we would
search the files and then
delete those files from
hard disk.
Go to start, Search
Click on “All files and
Folder”
On the “All or part of
the file name” box write
thumbs.db and on the
Look in box select all
“Local Hard Drives” and
click on search.
You would see lots of
thumbs.db files. Select all
files and delete all.
By Turning off the
thumbnail cache feature
will not affect viewing in
thumbnail.