Windows Communications Apps by Windows

What is Windows Communications Apps?

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Overview

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How do I clean Windows Communications Apps?

Windows Communications Apps may store excess, temporary data on your computer that can take up valuable space. It may also store private data such as passwords or browsing history in the registry or on the file system. The easiest way to erase this data is by downloading AppCleaner, it is 100% free and about 1MB in size. A portable version is also available.

Clean Windows Communications Apps
with AppCleaner

If you want to clean Windows Communications Apps manually, you can follow the steps outlined below. There are twelve locations in the file system where Windows Communications Apps stores data that can be cleaned.Additionally,Windows Communications Apps stores private data in one registry key.

Registry

To clean the registry from data stored by Windows Communications Apps, you can use the Microsoft Registry Editor (regedit.exe) which is installed by default on all Windows operating systems. First of all, open regedit.exe by carrying out these steps:

• Hit the Windows key , usually located in the lower left of your keyboard between the Ctrl and Alt keys.
• Windows XP/Vista/7: Click Run...
• Type regedit.exe
• Hit Enter

Now use regedit.exe to delete the registry key:

1. • Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER from the root of the tree in the left pane.
   • Expand Software.
   • Expand Classes.
   • Expand Local Settings.
   • Expand Software.
   • Expand Microsoft.
   • Expand Windows.
   • Expand CurrentVersion.
   • Expand AppModel.
   • Expand SystemAppData.
   • Expand microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_8wekyb3d8bbwe.
   • Right-click SearchHistory.
   • Choose Delete from the context menu.
   • Click Yes.

Files

To clean your file system from files stored by Windows Communications Apps and to gain free disk space, examine the following file system locations. First of all, open a command prompt window:

• Hit the Windows key , usually located in the lower left of your keyboard between the Ctrl and Alt keys.
• Windows XP/Vista/7: Click Run...
• Type cmd
• Hit Enter

Now list all the files stored by Windows Communications Apps that can be cleaned:

1. Type dir %LOCALAPPDATA%/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
   • Windows XP: Type dir %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
2. For all the folders that were listed in the previous step:
   Type dir /s {folder}\AC/AppCache/* where {folder} is one of the folders listed in the previous step.
3. Type dir %LOCALAPPDATA%/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
   • Windows XP: Type dir %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
4. For all the folders that were listed in the previous step:
   Type dir /s {folder}\AC/INetCache/* where {folder} is one of the folders listed in the previous step.
5. Type dir %LOCALAPPDATA%/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
   • Windows XP: Type dir %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
6. For all the folders that were listed in the previous step:
   Type dir /s {folder}\AC/INetCookies/* where {folder} is one of the folders listed in the previous step.
7. Type dir %LOCALAPPDATA%/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
   • Windows XP: Type dir %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
8. For all the folders that were listed in the previous step:
   Type dir /s {folder}\AC/INetHistory/* where {folder} is one of the folders listed in the previous step.
9. Type dir %LOCALAPPDATA%/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
   • Windows XP: Type dir %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
10. For all the folders that were listed in the previous step:
    Type dir /s {folder}\AC/Microsoft/CLR_v4.0/UsageLogs/* where {folder} is one of the folders listed in the previous step.
11. Type dir %LOCALAPPDATA%/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
    • Windows XP: Type dir %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
12. For all the folders that were listed in the previous step:
    Type dir {folder}\AC/Microsoft/CryptnetUrlCache/Content/* where {folder} is one of the folders listed in the previous step.
13. Type dir %LOCALAPPDATA%/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
    • Windows XP: Type dir %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
14. For all the folders that were listed in the previous step:
    Type dir {folder}\AC/Microsoft/CryptnetUrlCache/MetaData/* where {folder} is one of the folders listed in the previous step.
15. Type dir %LOCALAPPDATA%/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
    • Windows XP: Type dir %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
16. For all the folders that were listed in the previous step:
    Type dir /s {folder}\AC/Microsoft/Internet Explorer/DOMStore/* where {folder} is one of the folders listed in the previous step.
17. Type dir %LOCALAPPDATA%/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
    • Windows XP: Type dir %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
18. For all the folders that were listed in the previous step:
    Type dir {folder}\AC/PRICache/* where {folder} is one of the folders listed in the previous step.
19. Type dir %LOCALAPPDATA%/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
    • Windows XP: Type dir %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
20. For all the folders that were listed in the previous step:
    Type dir {folder}\AC/Temp/* where {folder} is one of the folders listed in the previous step.
21. Type dir %LOCALAPPDATA%/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
    • Windows XP: Type dir %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
22. For all the folders that were listed in the previous step:
    Type dir /s {folder}\TempState/* where {folder} is one of the folders listed in the previous step.
23. Type dir %LOCALAPPDATA%/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
    • Windows XP: Type dir %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data/Packages/microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_*
24. For all the folders that were listed in the previous step:
    Type dir {folder}\LocalState/LiveComm/* where {folder} is one of the folders listed in the previous step.
25. For all the folders that were listed in the previous step:
    Type dir {folder}\* where {folder} is one of the folders listed in the previous step.
26. For all the folders that were listed in the previous step:
    Type dir {folder}\DBStore/LogFiles/edbtmp.log where {folder} is one of the folders listed in the previous step.

Once you have identified the files stored by Windows Communications Apps that you want to clean, delete them using the del command or Windows Explorer.