thefrog's howto remove user cache manually.

[argedion]

I see a lot of threads where users install these third party programs promising to clean out the cache and make their devices run better and smother. Problem is most of these types of apps are Placebo's and only give you the illusion they are doing something. Well maybe not much illusion they are doing things just not what you want them to do. Some install apps you don't want some send personal information to the mother ship and some just blow you up with advertisements. Regardless these apps do very little to really increase the “snappiness” of your device.


First you need to understand the types of Cache that the system has. There is System Cache and Users App Cache. Most users apps store their cache deposits on your SDCARD.(Internal and External) User App Cache is the one if your going to worry about cache is the only I concern myself with. I mean why give apps a few hundred megs of space that I could use for music/pictures or whatever else I choose. However I don't need a third party app to clean these out I can do them with a simple script file.


Ok but there are a few requirements for at least this method. First you will need access to a computer that you can install android tools on. (adb-fastboot) You only need the adb program for this script however most packages have adb-fastboot together. Windows Users also have adb.dll files they have to have if memory serves me correct. We here at android forums have what you need here in our mini SDK.


Using my Es Explorer File manager I set it to view hidden files and I searched the card(s) for cache deposits. I wrote down the exact paths to each cache deposit I found and put them into my script file. I have the file run automatically when I backup my SDCARD from my devices. Now I'm a Linux user so Windows user will need to adjust accordingly. Having adb installed from my OS repository Its already in my path environment variable and don't have to adjust that. So I can just straight up use the adb command like such:

adb pull sdcard backup_directory

Well adb allows shell commands as well so to remove cache I would simply do something like this:

adb shell rm -f {sdcard}/Android/data/com.program.com/files/cache/*

This will remove all the cache from the Program cache depository.

So a simple stack of adb commands and I have all my cache depository's cleaned and have a backup that is cache free (something a user never needs to worry about re-installing anyways)


Here are a few common app cache deposits I have found.

Es File Explorer: {sdpath}/Android/data/com.estrongs.android.pop/cache/.thumbnails

Zedge:{sdpath}/Android/data/net.zedge.android/cache/lrucache

Photobucket:{sdpath}/Android/data/com.photobucket.android/cache/image_disk_cache

QuickPic:{sdpath}/Android/data/com.alensw.PicFolder/cache/.preview

Camera:{sdpath}/DCIM/.thumbnails

tumbler:{sdpath}/Android/data/com.tumbler/cache

youtube:{sdpath}/Android/data/com.google.android.youtube/cache


this is not all but more common for most users. I am putting together a kinda database of know depository's so if you know of more feel free to share them with me


But again this isn't going to make your device any snappier its just going to free up a little bit of space. I do this only because removing cache does make my backups go much faster and I have more space on my backup for my files and not useless program files that are not needed anyways.


Now you may ask yourself why would I do it this way instead of using a third party app to do this for me. I answer why give my personal information to someone to do something I can do myself? And besides it only takes a few minutes to make the script not like it took months.

 

[Mikestony]

Interesting argedion! thanks!
I just did a search in ES file explorer for cache and about 218 results found.

This may be a dumb question, but why can't I just select all items and delete them via ES?

 

[argedion]

Interesting argedion! thanks!
I just did a search in ES file explorer for cache and about 218 results found.

This may be a dumb question, but why can't I just select all items and delete them via ES?

you can but would you want to do that everytime you backup your SDCARD or everytime you want to clean cache that would be a lot more work.

 

[Mikestony]

you can but would you want to do that everytime you backup your SDCARD or everytime you want to clean cache that would be a lot more work.

Maybe if I was backing up the sd card, but perhaps I'm misunderstanding the simplicity of your script?

It just seems to me like setting up adb, being sure your device connects, writing down the file paths etc seems like more work than the "select all" in ES and deleting.

Like I said, perhaps I am still confused about your method there froggy

 

[argedion]

Maybe if I was backing up the sd card, but perhaps I'm misunderstanding the simplicity of your script?

It just seems to me like setting up adb, being sure your device connects, writing down the file paths etc seems like more work than the "select all" in ES and deleting.

Like I said, perhaps I am still confused about your method there froggy

ok mike let me try to make it easier for you. I use this script to delete the cache files before I do my backup. This way I don't backup cache files that are not needed anyways. Yes I can open Es on every device go to every cache folder and select all and delete but that is going to take me some time and a bit of effort especially if I forget to go to a folder. Now if you are the sole admin for the devices in your house hold and you have 10 devices do you really want to clear cache manually on each device as you would with ES? or would you rather have a script do it in a matter of seconds? But even if you don't backup and just want to clear space on the sd the script is still much easier and simpler. I just offered a way to do something easier up to you what you do with the information