If you check your folders containing images or videos with WinRAR for example or any other compressor, you will surely see in them a hidden file thumbs.db Do you know what it is? Why is it hidden? ... Well, first of all let me tell you that you don't have to worry, it is not a virus or anything malicious for your computer, it is a file thumbnail or thumbnail which is generated automatically and is always present in your folders and other directories ... but What is Thumbs.db? We will explain it in detail below.
A file thumbnail (also known as miniature), it is a file that is automatically created as a database (hence the extension .db database), when you open an image, a video and some types of documents in «Thumbnail view". Its function is save information or order, that the next time you open that folder, it will be automatically displayed in Thumbnail view and so load your content display faster.
Why is the Thumbs.db file hidden?
Windows hides the thumbnail file to avoid being accidentally deleted and not having to be generated again in case you prefer this view mode. Now, the bad side (for some users) of this thumbs.db file is that its size can be quite large if the multimedia content of our folders is extensive, this means that the more images / videos / documents have the folder, the heavier the thumbnail file (thumbs.db) will be. For those of us who have little disk space or like to save, this space will of course be very valuable to us.
How to remove Thumbs.db files
The simple solution for delete tumbnails files (thumbs.db, ehthumbs.db, thumbcache _ *. db), it is with free and specific tools such as Thumbnail Database Cleaner. You just choose the drive or directory to explore, start the search and in a few minutes you will have all the thumbs.db files within reach, finally with a click on the Clean button you will have already eliminated them.
Thumbnail Database Cleaner I tell you that it is a free program, portable in English, does not require installation and has a slight size of 77 KB in a Zip file.
How to view Thumbs.db files
If before deleting them you prefer to take a look at the thumbnails files and thus see its properties in more detail, you can do it with Thumbnail Database Viewer, another simple and portable program from the same author
How to disable Thumbs.db
Complementing the article and taking into account the above, if you want disable thumbnails files (thumbs.db), then the following information will interest you.
By default, Windows has enabled the option to "Cache thumbnails", which is the one that keeps the thumbnails files. To deactivate it, follow these steps:
1. Press the key combination Win + R to execute the command «gpedit.msc" (without quotation marks)
2. Within the «Local Group Policy Editor«, Go up User Configuration> Administrative Templates> Windows Components> Windows Explorer.
3. Double click on the «Disable thumbnail caching» and check the «Enabled» box, as seen in the following image. Apply and accept to finish, that's all
In Windows XP the procedure can be simplified by simply checking the box «Don't cache thumbnails » from the panel Folder options.
With these steps you will save a few megabytes of hard disk space and some speed to improve the performance of your computer.
Windows 8 onwards
Starting with Windows 8, the policy path is as follows:
User Configuration> Administrative Templates> Windows Components> File Explorer
Also for home editions where we do not have policies, keys can be used in the registry:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Policies \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Explorer]
"DisableThumbnailsOnNetworkFolders" = dword: 00000001
“DisableThumbsDBOnNetworkFolders” = dword: 00000001