Technology Tips & Tutorials

What is Thumbs.db?
December 8, 2007

---

For some time now I have been concerned about a mystery file called Thumbs.db that appears in many folders on my computer, my server account, and the College web server. The name seemed ominous. Was this the sign of some sort of hacker getting into the system and leaving his/her finger prints around?

The truth - as is so often the case - turned out to be much more mundane and innocuous. The thumbs.db file is generated by the Windows operating system. It is a database file containing the small images displayed when you view a folder in "thumbnail" view (as opposed to tile, icon, list, or detail view). No harm is done by deleting thumbs.db files. There is no need to include them in your system backups. Whether you see these files or not is a function of your "File Options" settings.

To turn off this feature and save a bit of disk space,

1. Click the Start button

2. Select Control Panel

3. Pull down the Tools menu and select Folder Options

4. Click the View tab

5. Check "Do not cache thumbnails"

6. Click the OK button

Now you can search your computer for thumbs.db files and remove them.
In the Windows XPOS, do the following:

1. Click the Start button

2. Click Search

3. Click "Everything" in the top menu bar.

4. In the sidebar File Name: box, type Thumbs.db then click the Enter key.

5. Click in the right window where the list of discovered Thumbs.db files are displayed and press the control button and the "A" button to highlight all the files (Ctrl+A).

6. Press the Delete key and confirm that you want the highlighted files deleted. It may take a few seconds to delete the files. You may need to refresh your screen to see that the files have indeed been deleted.