temp folder... safe to completely clear out?

[pbXassassinX1524]

hey guys, a couple might know I'm fixing a computer that had way over 200 instances of spyware (most of it not tracking cookies) and I've found a few trojans on top of some other virii. I feel I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. But I have some virii infected files in a temp folder then are embadded in .cab files. Now AVG (7.0 professional) won't touch these files, so is it safe just to nuke everything in the temp folder or are there some mission critical things in there that will need to be there and can't be replaced?

Oh right, forgot to add, this is on XP home edition.

[arkamw]

The only things that should be in the temp folder are temporary files. As such, there should be nothing mission critical in that folder. I routinely delete these files without any problem at all. Any files that are in use at the time won't be able to be deleted (such as the FAH file).

As to the viruses in the .cab files, are those files in the same temp directory? If so, you should also be able to take those out as well. If those .cabs are the system restore points, go ahead and delete them as well by disabling system restore which is always recommended when doing a virus scan (apologies if you already knew that).

Cheers.

[pbXassassinX1524]

Alright, thanks. Thats what I always thought, that they were just temporary files, just needed someone to verify.

[OldMX]

Just to be "safe" you can boot the computer in safe mode and empty the temp folders while in safe mode :D

OldMX

[pbXassassinX1524]

Alright, I'll keep that in mind when I do it to someones machine next time. Thanks.