Adrian,

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.

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

See also MS KB 221438 - "OFF2000: Files Whose Name Begins with "fff"
Appear in Windows Folder" (http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=221438).
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Adrian wrote:

Hello. I've just upgraded to Windows ME, and have carried on my
practice of tidying up all dubious-looking files at the end of each
day, i.e. when I search for "all files created in the last 1 day",
anything that looks to be of a temporary nature gets deleted. I've
noticed a whole load of files are created in C:\WINDOWS every day.
They are all ".tmp" files and all have long names beginning with
"fff", eg:-

fffbc343_{581A50.....
fffe0c27_{CA29F3.....
fffe28a5_{8A05C0.....

Can anyone tell me what application might be creating them, and why?
There are dozens already, and even though they are of neglible size,
I'm scared the volume of them will create directory problems soon.

Thanks in advance for any pointers.