A copy of all of your photos, documents, and videos thumbnails is stored in the system as Cache database. This is done so that the system can load and display the files quickly when a folder is opened. Sometimes these thumbnails cache become corrupt, and then the thumbnail preview will not work. This thumbnail preview issue can be fixed, just clear the thumbnail database. Here are two different methods to delete thumbnails cache in your Microsoft Windows 8 and 8.1.
Method 1: Clearing thumbnails cache from the drive manually
To clear thumbnails cache of your Windows 8 or 8.1 system, follow the steps.
1. Go to ‘Windows Explorer.’
2. Open ‘View’ tab.
3. Click ‘Hidden items.’
4. Click ‘Show selected items.’
5. Now, open the drive in which your Windows 8 or 8.1 is installed.
6. Navigate to the following folders: Main drive > Users > User (Your username) > AppData > Local > Microsoft > Windows > Explorer.
You can also copy and paste the path in the address bar, but replace > with .
7. Here you’ll see different types of cache files.
8. Select all the files, begin with “thumbcache.”
9. Right-click on the selected files.
10. And, select ‘Delete.’
11. Now, go to ‘Recycle Bin’ and empty it.
That’s it! All the thumbnails cache has been removed entirely from your system.
Method 2: Clearing thumbnails cache using Disk Cleanup
If you’re unable to clear thumbnails cache from the drive, you can use Disk Cleanup to delete them. To remove thumbnails cache from your Windows 8 or 8.1 system using Disk Cleanup, follow the below steps.
1. Open ‘Start.’
2. Type ‘disk cleanup’ in the search.
3. Press ‘Enter’.
4. Disk Cleanup will appear on the screen.
5. Under files to delete, select ‘Thumbnails.’
6. You can also select other types of data to delete.
7. Then click ‘OK.’
That’s it! Disk clean up will delete the type of data you have selected including thumbnails will delete from your system.
To enable or disable the caching of thumbnails in Windows 8 or 8.1:
There are three methods for doing it in your Windows 8 or 8.1 computer.
Method 1:
1. Login with the Administrator account.
2. Open ‘Run command.’
3. Enter ‘gpedit.msc’ in the open field.
4. Click ‘OK.’
5. You’ll see local group policy editor windows on your screen.
6. From the left side, go to User Configuration.
7. Open ‘Administrative Templates.’
8. Open ‘Windows Components’.
9. Open ‘File Explorer.’
10. Under settings, click twice on ‘Turn off caching of thumbnails in hidden thumbs.db files’.
11. Click ‘Enabled’ to turn the cache off. From here you can disable it also to leave the caching of thumbnails.
12. Click ‘OK.’
Method 2:
1. Open the ‘Folder Options.’
2. Switch to ‘View’ tab.
3. Under Advanced settings, check or uncheck the box of ‘Always show icons, never thumbnails.’
4. Click ‘OK.’
Method 3:
You can also use Registry to enable and disable it, here is how to disable the thumbnails cache from the registry of Windows 8 or 8.1 computer.
1. Open ‘Registry’.
2. Go to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerAdvanced
3. Open ‘DisableTumbnailCache’.
4. Set the value ‘1’ to disable the thumbnails.
5. Set the value ‘0’ to enable.
That’s it! Close the Registry.
Source: Windows 8
http://www.norton.com/setup
http://www.office.com/setup
http://www.mcafee.com/activate
