How To: Delete disconnected offline files within Windows 7

One of my biggest pet peeves about Windows 7 and Microsoft in general is the terrible offline sync. It just doesn't work and sometimes even when you do disable the 'Offline Files' service you might still need to reinitialise the Offline Files (CSC) cache due to an unsynchronised and corrupt database.

If you cannot access the Offline Files tab, use this method to reinitialise the Offline Files (CSC) cache on the system by modifying the registry. Use this method also to reinitialise the offline files database/client-side cache on multiple systems. Add the below registry sub-key to the following folder: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\NetCache

Key Name: FormatDatabase
Key Type: DWORD
Key Value: 1


Note: The actual value of the registry key is ignored. This registry change requires a restart. When the computer is restarting, the shell will reinitialise the CSC cache, and then delete the registry key if the registry entry exists.

Warning: All cache files are deleted and unsynchronised data is lost.

For further information please visit http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942974.

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