Searchware Solutions has updated their hard drive space saving utility, Eradicator, to version 1.6. Eradicator helps save hard drive space by eliminating undeed, hidden, "temporary" files generated by OS 8/9 programs. The new version fixes a bug related to the removal of Photoshop files. According to Searchware Solutions:
Version 1.6 adds support for the invisible "Cleanup at Startup" folder, allowing users to delete unused files from this normally inaccessible folder. This has become an issue with the recent release of Adobe Photoshop 6, which places temporary scratch files in this folder. Unfortunately, these scratch files are not always deleted properly and can linger, even long after they are no longer needed, wasting valuable hard-drive space. Eradicator 1.6 will delete these and any other files that might be left over in this folder.
Version 1.6 also fixes a few other bugs as listed below:
- Fixed a bug which could cause a file pointed to by an alias to be deleted if an alias was in the "Temporary Items" folder. Now, just the alias is deleted, leaving the original file untouched.
- Fixed a bug which, in very rare circumstance, could cause an incorrect file to be deleted when the user intended to delete a different file.
ABOUT THE "TEMPORARY ITEMS" FOLDER BUG
Many applications will put temporary files that they use while in operation into an invisible folder on your hard drive named, appropriately enough, "Temporary Items Folder". Applications are supposed to delete these temporary files when they are done with them, but many do not. Older verions of the MacOS would take any files it found left over when the computer is restarted in the "Temporary Items Folder" and put it into the trash in a folder named "Rescued Items from Macintosh HD". You were then free to delete these files, unless you wanted to save them (which you usually donit).MacOS 9 doesnit seem to do this as reliably, and so these temporary files tend to build up on your hard drive, eating away at disk space, without your even knowing it (aside from your noticing that you have less and less room available on your hard drive).
Eradicator allows you to peek inside this invisible "Temporary Items Folder", see what files are in there, and delete those files, if you wish. Even though I wrote this utility because of the MacOS 9 problem, it will work with MacOS 8.x and higher. Some users have reported saving up to 2 GB of hard drive space!
Eradicator is available for free. You can find more information at the Searchware Solutions web site.