Data and cache

Wander writes nothing into the system: it keeps everything of its own in one folder, %LOCALAPPDATA%\Wander, or, in portable mode, in the data folder next to Wander.exe (see “Command line”). The folder a running Wander uses is shown on the Data root line at the start of the session log.

To start from scratch, click “Reset all settings…” in “Settings” → “Debug and reset”, or delete this folder while Wander is closed.

Thumbnail cache

Thumbnails, once made, are stored on disk, so a folder you've seen before opens quickly. If a file changes or is replaced by another one with the same name, its thumbnail is rebuilt; updating Wander clears the whole cache. In “Settings” → “Cache and memory”, you can turn the cache off (“Keep thumbnails between launches”), limit it (256 MB out of the box) and clear it with the “Clear cache” button, which shows the current size next to it.

Memory for images is a shared ceiling for thumbnails and Preview pane frames. 0 means a sixteenth of the computer's memory (1 GB with 16 GB). Limits take effect right away, without a restart.

“What's on screen first” loads icons and thumbnails of the visible part before the rest. You notice it in Details and in a large tree, and hardly at all in Tiles.

Temporary copies

A file from an archive that a program opens or the Preview pane shows is extracted to a temporary copy; copies older than a day are deleted at the next startup. “Keep in the system Temp folder” (in “Settings” → “Cache and memory”) puts them where Windows itself cleans them up. In portable mode, this is on from the start, so that nothing extra is written to the USB stick. After a restart, the built-in browser's data folder moves there too.