... there's a big difference between trying to explain how something works, and giving advice on what to delete from your computer! <G> Maybe one of the lawyers on the board could write me up a good disclaimer, but suffice it to say, I take no responsibility for the results of you acting on what you thought I said to do.

We need to understand what internet temporary files are. Your browser saves most everything you load off the internet so if you look at the same thing again, you see the local copy instead of having to load it off the internet again. This is also called your browser's cache. Some things go in the cache and some things don't. I don't know all the rules. When your cache is full, your browser deletes stuff it thinks you won't need to make room for the new stuff. Sometimes it's not too smart. Oh well. Anyhow, chances are most of it you'll never use. If you delete your internet temporary files, the worst that will happen is your surfing will be a little slower for a little while. Unless we're not talking about the same thing, in which case I may have just suggested you delete your browser. (Don't do that. <G>)

I leave my computer on all the time, with my monitor set to auto-power down in 1 hour of no activity. I think it makes my life easier. But this issue is full of pros and cons. Cycling power is hard on chips, and helps to work them out of their sockets. Heat is hard on chips. So the longer it's off, the better it was to have turned it off. How long? I don't know. Leaving it on consumes electricity and increases the amount of time you are susceptible to power line gritches (get a UPS). Turning it off means it takes longer to get to Greg's board the next time you need a BBS fix. Flip a chip and do whatever feels good.

(BTW, the picture below is of one of my students listening to my dissertation on cache structure, hoping for an opportunity to ask, "what's a UPS.")