Stop WinXP from Caching Thumbnails…

It seems that I am forever deleting those THUMBS.DB files that Windows XP creates automatically, whether I want the file created or not. I delete the file, look in the directory some time later, and — POW! — there it is again! If you’re like me, you’re probably shouting to yourself, “I never want to see another THUMBS.DB file again!”

Well, the solution is surprisingly simple, but not completely intuitive. In your My Document folder or Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer), click the Tools menu, then choose Folder Options. Click the View tab and, under the Advanced Settings, put a checkmark in the box that reads “Do not cache thumbnails”. Click the OK button.

It’s really that simple!

If you liked this, you might also be interested in:

This rambling was posted on March 25, 2003
and filed under Instruction Manual, Microsoft Products

Responses

3 Responses to “Stop WinXP from Caching Thumbnails…”

  1. Response #1
    Scott (IP) on January 13th, 2004 at 9:50 pm

    wanted to say thanks for the help nobody knew what i was talkin about. Thank god for the ramblin man (about thumbs.db)

  2. Response #2
    Kon (IP) on July 25th, 2006 at 10:30 pm

    hey man… i don’t have the “THUMBS.DB” file .. but that dámnëd win xp’s explorer still “reads” my video files… i just hate that!!!

    any ideas how may i stop it…?

  3. Response #3
    richard on February 10th, 2008 at 5:11 pm

    Try going to View -> Choose Details and deselect Dimensions. Windows should stop trying to read the AVI file to read its dimensions.

Contribute to the Conversation: