The fff temp files are not created by Word nor do they have anything to do
with the useless FindFast or Acrobat.

It appears that you may have Microsoft's Machine Debug Manager (mdm.exe)
loading at startup. MDM is installed by default when you install MS
Office and perhaps also by VisualStudio. If you don't need MDM to debug
script problems then I would recommend a) killing mdm.exe in the Task
Manager, b) removing mdm.exe from Startup in MSConfig, c) in Internet
Explorer, go Tools | Internet Options | Advanced and make certain that
"Disable script debugging" is checked in the "Browsing" section, and d)
renaming mdm.exe to something like mdm.old. This can be a pretty
persistent little program and unless one renames the file you will find it
added to startup again behind your back - for example when adding a
service pack to O2K.

Once you have killed mdm you can delete all the fff??????{?????}.tmp files
it will have created in your ..\windows folder.

See also MS KB Q221438 - "OFF2000: Files Whose Name Begins with "fff"
Appear in Windows Folder"
(http://support.microsoft.com/support...Q221/4/38.ASP).

Look again for mdm.exe making sure first that you have enabled the viewing
of all hidden files (Folder Options | View, two places).
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



caroloyl wrote:

Hi Good Folk! So glad you're still here ))

I see this has been addressed very recently but I've a new twist:

Yesterday--while removing a puzzle file I'd erroneously saved in the
Windows folder (I'd made it from a desktop wallpaper '-)--I found
three hundred and forty eight empty "fff {...}.tmp" files in there.
I was shocked!

I vaguely remembered reading something about them before so did some
Googling and visited MS for the poop about Word 2000 being their
creator and details for putting an end to the glitch. But, but, but
. . . and here's the twist . . . I don't have Word 2000
installed--in fact, I've never had it! I have Word 97 which I
installed last January 17 on the heels of a new hard drive--and a
computer-wide search for the culprit Mdm.exe file comes up empty!
There's no entry for it in msconfig and no entry in the registry
under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr ent
Version\RunServices to delete. I've disabled 97's Find Fast (through
the Control Panel); disabled script debugging in IE; disabled
PCHealth by way of msconfig (and also disabled its scheduled task);
and I deleted all the hundreds of fff tmps--but each boot still gets
me two fresh ones :-(

I did notice, however, that the first instance of an fff tmp was dated
April 19th--the day after I installed an updated version (6.0.1.1091)
of the Acrobat Reader (I keep records '-). Is it possible that
AcroRd32 is creating the fff files???

Insights, ideas much appreciated :-)