Should Dispose() or Finalize() be used to delete temporary files?

Question

I have a class that makes use of temporary files (Path.GetTempFileName()) while it is active. I want to make sure these files do not remain on the user\'s hard driv

Answer 1

Better yet would be to create the file with FileOptions.DeleteOnClose. This will ensure that the operating system forcibly deletes the file when your process exits (even in the case of a rude abort). Of course, you will still want to close/delete the file yourself when you are done with it, but this provides a nice backstop to ensure that you don't allow the files to be sit around forever

Example:

using (FileStream fs = File.Create(Path.GetTempFileName(), Int16.MaxValue, 
       FileOptions.DeleteOnClose)) 
{ 

    // Use temp file 

} // The file will be deleted here