Simviation Forums

What is the Thumbs.dll file for ??

I see it with many of the downloads I get and I honestly don't know what its purpose in life is.

Think it

Thumbs.db (not Thumbs.dll) is created when you zip up a file with images in it. I have no idea what it's for & as Sam already mentioned you can safely delete any you find.

PS. I've never had ACDSee installed on my current machine.

I have not seen it until I started using WinXP.  I found this tiny article about what it is.  And how to turn the feature off if you want.

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,

Click the Start button
Select Control Panel
Select Folder Options
Click the View tab
Check "Do not cache thumbnails"
Click the OK button
Now you can search your computer for thumbs.db files and remove them. To do so:

Click the Start button
Click Search
Click "All files and folders"
In the "All or part of the file name" box type Thumbs.db
Set the "Look in:" pull-down menu to "Local Hard Drives (C:)"
Click Search. A list of the files found appears in the right window.
Click in the right window where the files are listed and press the control button and the A button to highlight all the files (Ctrl+A).
Press the Delete key. It may take a few seconds to delete the files.

Thanks codered for the info.
I also started seeing these files pop up when I switched to windows XP but being a .dll file I did not dare to remove them for the fear it would cause bad things to happen. I know it is usually not a good idea to remove a dll file unless you are sure nothing needs it.
Like when you uninstall some programs you get the message that says example.dll may not be used by any program do you wish to remove or keep it. I always keep them unless I know for sure that the program I am uninstalling put it there. Even then removeing it could cause some nasty things to happen. Which is why I always make a restore point before I add or remove any thing from my system.

Thanks for explaining that little mystery Codered.

Gary. These are not DLL (Dynamic Link Library) but DB (database) files. I also thought they were connected with WinXP but noticed that they showed up in my own zipfiles created after reinstalling WinMe. The different folder option setting explains it.

Wow, thanks everyone for the replies.  Good to know.

Does this have any thing to do with the long delay in switchin of aircraft or loading the game. lately i have a long delay whenever i try to switch load the game or try to switch between any thing.

Hmmmmm it may be a DB file, but whenever they pop up on mine they are shown with a .dll extension

BBW,

I did a search for the file "Thumbs.db" on my machine as codered suggested.

Does this have any thing to do with the long delay in switchin of aircraft or loading the game. lately i have a long delay whenever i try to switch load the game or try to switch between any thing.

To the best of my knowledge Thumbs.db has no effect on FS whatever.

Hmmmmm it may be a DB file, but whenever they pop up on mine they are shown with a .dll extension  

I have no idea why that should be. Thumbs.db is definitely not a DLL.

It may have some system performance significance if you are running a virus scanner and have a directory with a lot of graphics files.

Often when working on textures and such I get the message from Norton that the system is waiting for a scan of thumbs. Not sure if that would cause any problem in the sim but it seems that some AV programs scan database files before letting the system use them.