I have just upgraded to XP Home Edition and have encountered a weird problem. EVERYTIME I have been on the net (using 56K crappy link), when I come off I have a file that keeps returning to my desktop. The file is 176Kb approx, and is named '~' and is displayed as an unattributed file. The properties always show the date I have just been on the net. I have cleaned out my history etc as I thought it may be residing in there but no joy - does anyone know where this file could be coming from? I am assuming it is internet related but maybe wrong - has anyone come across this before and possible cause/remedy? I just keep deleting it for now but I think it maybe residing on my PC somewhere - BTW it does not seem to affect any operation of my PC, could it be virus related? Thanks in advance....
When you right click on it, does it have a link to it? That could help if it is coming from any where. I haven't heard of this one before, but could be some form of a virus. I am not too sure.
No there is no link to it, just an unattributed file. If I try and open it, windows asks me what proggy to open it up with.......of course it doesn't recognise the file so I am lost as to it's place of origin....funny thing is it being 176Kb so I think something has attached to my internet close down sequence, but I'm buggered if I can think how I can trash it. The name of'~' is REALLY puzzling to me - I have scanned it with Norton and Macaffee and no problem reported or virus detected etc..... Very confusing really, as I said it does not appear to be causing any problems however it just appears, I think I have a pixie inside somewhere, but if I get to the bottom of it I shall post it here..... Gonna try a reinstall of my Internet explorer, see if that'll overwrite the problem area... Cheers for the response......
Just had a thought and put a search out on google..... Man, loads of responses.... Cannot get my head around it, but it seems to be linked with outlook express and the address book.... Something to do with wab files which apparently are backup files of contacts within the address book..... Funny I don't have ANY contacts there, however every so often my contacts appear there from MSN -------Hmmmmm very strange. I' gonna just add a contact to it, see what it does.. Apparently there is an old patch which can remove it but causes more vulernability for attacks..... I'm gonna have more of a scout to see what else I can find...
Hmmmm, just did some trial things and I can actually cause this file to appear.... If I add someone to my contacts, anyone really and close outlook express then WALLAH the ~ appears sure as day.... Also if I send someone an email, that is not in my contacts, then outlook retains THAT contact information within but not as a Maain contact and gives me the ~ aswell...... I opened the file up in notepad and it just displayed a load of jibberish, except it did display the words ' Main Identities Contacts' I think there must be a setting somewhere to disable this.....but I am sniffing at it now.... Thanks for the help....LOL (just being sarcastic, as this thread is quite dull, but I haven't posted a thread for yonks so thought I would do it)......Laters......
Yeah, i got that for a while. After i reformatted the computer and reloaded WinXP it never returned. Strange....
Micrososft have not got a latest patch, one that removes the backup form appearing and the vulernability issue anyway..... It doesn't cause me any harm so I shall live with it I think..... I'll just keep my eye out for it whenever I am using oulook express.....
Have you tried running a trojan cleaner or virus checker to get an identification of it? I hate reformatting my hard disk I must have done it about 5 times this year already, any of you know how to ghost a hard disk image onto CD so that next time I reinstall I don't have to reinstall all the packages and drivers?
Norton Ghost can do it, also most burning proggies have this feature....however never tried it so could not tell anymore than that..... My problem is not virus related, but a bug in XP - the backup of the address book is the file that appears - known by Microsoft, but as of yet - I have found no real fix.....except a an April version patch, but leaves your PC a little more vuleranable... Not tried it, cos it is not casuing real problems - just niggling..... Cheers......
SabreLord You can try Rapid Restore. Here`s the link : http://www.xpoint-tech.com/en/IBMRRPC/XPRRPC.asp Ideally you format your drive , set it up the way you want. Firewall , Antivirus , etc, etc, etc. Just the way you want it , with ALL updates. Then insatll RR. It has a one time setting , or it can be set to back up weekly or monthly. It takes a chunk of your hard drive about 20%, so bigger is better. But if you ever want to restore your drive , it takes about an hour to restore 6 gb`s. Instead of 5-10 hrs from scratch. A second drive for your documents, data files is nice . Since the restore turns back the clock and wipes everything out.
Can RR backup onto a CD as ideally I want to ghost my freshly installed harddisk with all internet and drive settings onto a 700MB CD. This feature is available on Nero but it requires around 9 CDs. A ghost image on a CD can restore in about 5 mins but I do not have two hard disks to do this. I heard Norton Ghost 2003 can do this but am not sure. I will check out the RR links thanks for that morgan.
Is it just one of Windows's stupid ass temp files and you happen to have "show hidden files" or whatever on?
Nah, got no hidden files displying.... Yes it is a windows dumb ass thing. Just an example/trial that I did to see what was producing the file: Opened outlook express Inserted new contact Minimised window - to display desktop Closed Outlook express Wallah the file '~'appears on the desktop Everytime this happens without fail - apparently it is connected with the backup file of Outlook Express in Main Identities, and for some reason it is directed to the dektop and not the correct path. Trouble is I don't know which path it is supposed to goto, then I maybe able to frigg it there.... But in essence yes a windows pixie having a laugh....
