Rogue file "~"

I have a mysteriously appearing file on my desktop. This is awindow
icon (page with folded corner) and the filename ~ ( yep! just
"~" sinle character) File sometimes appears in the windows program
folder as well. It can be deleted (apparently) and does not appear
to do anything. It is just gibberish when opened in Notepad. I fear
it may be the result of a virus or trojan etc. None of the usual
protections work - Norton Internet Security, Ad-Aware, No-Adware,
Spybot.

Any Ideas?

ME is getting pretty clunky especially since I upgrded from Norton
2001 to Norton IS 2005!!!



--
Posted using the http://www.windowsforumz.com interface, at author's request
Articles individually checked for conformance to usenet standards
Topic URL: http://www.windowsforumz.com/New-Use...ict268648.html
Visit Topic URL to contact author (reg. req'd). Report abuse: http://www.windowsforumz.com/eform.php?p=844151

ME is getting pretty clunky especially since I upgraded from Norton
2001 to Norton IS 2005!!!

No surprise since no Symantec/Norton product has ever worked correctly
when installed on Win Me. Any clunky problems you might be seeing are
almost certainly due to your having installed NIS 2005, something which it
appears you already appreciate.

I have a mysteriously appearing file on my desktop. This is a window
icon (page with folded corner) and the filename ~

The ~ (tilde) file on your desktop is a backup copy of your address book.
The file should be have the same name as you address book but with a wa~
extension but due to a bug in a patch for Outlook Express issued in early
2004 the address book.wa~ is now simply called ~ and often ends up on the
desktop rather than in the same location as the address book.wab. You can
rename it to *.wab and then double-click it if you want to confirm that it
is a copy of your address book.

This particular bug was fixed for those running XP with the release of XP
SP2 however no patch has been released for those running OE on Win 9x
systems such as Win Me.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Carseview wrote:

I have a mysteriously appearing file on my desktop. This is awindow
icon (page with folded corner) and the filename ~ ( yep! just
"~" sinle character) File sometimes appears in the windows program
folder as well. It can be deleted (apparently) and does not appear
to do anything. It is just gibberish when opened in Notepad. I fear
it may be the result of a virus or trojan etc. None of the usual
protections work - Norton Internet Security, Ad-Aware, No-Adware,
Spybot.

Any Ideas?

ME is getting pretty clunky especially since I upgrded from Norton
2001 to Norton IS 2005!!!

It's caused by Outlook and a certain hotfix. It's a backup copy of your
address book. See:

A file that is named "~" appears on the desktop or in another location
on the hard disk when you edit a contact in the Outlook Express Windows
Address Book
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;830921

What is the Tilde (~) file that appears on Desktop
http://www.pchell.com/support/tildefile.shtml

John

Carseview wrote:

I have a mysteriously appearing file on my desktop. This is awindow
icon (page with folded corner) and the filename ~ ( yep! just
"~" sinle character) File sometimes appears in the windows program
folder as well. It can be deleted (apparently) and does not appear
to do anything. It is just gibberish when opened in Notepad. I fear
it may be the result of a virus or trojan etc. None of the usual
protections work - Norton Internet Security, Ad-Aware, No-Adware,
Spybot.

Any Ideas?

ME is getting pretty clunky especially since I upgrded from Norton
2001 to Norton IS 2005!!!

"John John" wrote:
It's caused by Outlook and a certain hotfix. It's a backup
copy of your
address book. See:

A file that is named "~" appears on the desktop or in another
location
on the hard disk when you edit a contact in the Outlook
Express Windows
Address Book
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;830921

What is the Tilde (~) file that appears on Desktop
http://www.pchell.com/support/tildefile.shtml

John

Carseview wrote:

I have a mysteriously appearing file on my desktop. This
is awindow
icon (page with folded corner) and the filename ~ ( yep!
just
"~" sinle character) File sometimes appears in the windows
program
folder as well. It can be deleted (apparently) and does
not appear
to do anything. It is just gibberish when opened in
Notepad. I fear
it may be the result of a virus or trojan etc. None of the
usual
protections work - Norton Internet Security, Ad-Aware,
No-Adware,
Spybot.

Any Ideas?

ME is getting pretty clunky especially since I upgrded from
Norton
2001 to Norton IS 2005!!!




Thanks. that certainly looks to be it. Microsoft update KB823353
offers fix but appernly it is not considered critical and so is not
supported for Windows ME so I will just have to use the work around
on occasion. At leat I now know it is not fatal!!

thanks

carseview

--
Posted using the http://www.windowsforumz.com interface, at author's request
Articles individually checked for conformance to usenet standards
Topic URL: http://www.windowsforumz.com/New-Use...ict268648.html
Visit Topic URL to contact author (reg. req'd). Report abuse: http://www.windowsforumz.com/eform.php?p=845941

"Mike M1" wrote:
ME is getting pretty clunky especially since I upgraded from
Norton
2001 to Norton IS 2005!!!

No surprise since no Symantec/Norton product has ever worked
correctly
when installed on Win Me. Any clunky problems you might be
seeing are
almost certainly due to your having installed NIS 2005,
something which it
appears you already appreciate.

I have a mysteriously appearing file on my desktop. This
is a window
icon (page with folded corner) and the filename ~

The ~ (tilde) file on your desktop is a backup copy of your
address book.
The file should be have the same name as you address book but
with a wa~
extension but due to a bug in a patch for Outlook Express
issued in early
2004 the address book.wa~ is now simply called ~ and often
ends up on the
desktop rather than in the same location as the address
book.wab. You can
rename it to *.wab and then double-click it if you want to
confirm that it
is a copy of your address book.

This particular bug was fixed for those running XP with the
release of XP
SP2 however no patch has been released for those running OE on
Win 9x
systems such as Win Me.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Carseview wrote:

I have a mysteriously appearing file on my desktop. This
is awindow
icon (page with folded corner) and the filename ~ ( yep!
just
"~" sinle character) File sometimes appears in the windows
program
folder as well. It can be deleted (apparently) and does
not appear
to do anything. It is just gibberish when opened in
Notepad. I fear
it may be the result of a virus or trojan etc. None of the
usual
protections work - Norton Internet Security, Ad-Aware,
No-Adware,
Spybot.

Any Ideas?

ME is getting pretty clunky especially since I upgrded from
Norton
2001 to Norton IS 2005!!!

Yea Thanks. I found update 823353 but as you say it is not considerd
critical so Microsoft wont support it for ME. I guess I am stuck with
it for now.

--
Posted using the http://www.windowsforumz.com interface, at author's request
Articles individually checked for conformance to usenet standards
Topic URL: http://www.windowsforumz.com/New-Use...ict268648.html
Visit Topic URL to contact author (reg. req'd). Report abuse: http://www.windowsforumz.com/eform.php?p=845942

"Carseview" wrote ...

Yea Thanks. I found update 823353 but as you say it is not considerd
critical so Microsoft wont support it for ME. I guess I am stuck with
it for now.

I'm not sure whether 823353 fixes the problem or not or whether it has
only been fixed in Service Pack 2 for XP. I don't have an XP SP1 system
to check this out for myself as my XP systems are all now have SP2
installed.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP

The 823353 hotfix is available for those running Win Me for both IE5.5 SP2
and IE6 SP1 and had been since July 2004. You can download it either from
the link in the Security Bulletin
(http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sec.../ms04-018.mspx) or from
the Windows Update site and also the Windows Update catalogue.

Nevertheless as I mentioned earlier I don't believe that this hotfix
resolves the unwanted tilde problem.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



"Carseview" wrote ...

Yea Thanks. I found update 823353 but as you say it is not considerd
critical so Microsoft wont support it for ME. I guess I am stuck with
it for now.

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-018
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sec.../ms04-018.mspx is
about as clear as mud as to whether or not the fix works on W9x/ME or
NT4. Most confusing to say the least. One could always try it... and
break something else :-) I wouldn't be surprised that it works.

John

Mike M wrote:

"Carseview" wrote ...

Yea Thanks. I found update 823353 but as you say it is not considerd
critical so Microsoft wont support it for ME. I guess I am stuck with
it for now.


I'm not sure whether 823353 fixes the problem or not or whether it has
only been fixed in Service Pack 2 for XP. I don't have an XP SP1 system
to check this out for myself as my XP systems are all now have SP2
installed.

John,

I've just amended the address book on a PC running Win Me with IE 5.5 SP2
and with the 823353 hotfix installed and it hasn't created a ~ file a
backup as far as I can see but instead the more normal addressbook.wa~
backup file instead. I admit to being just a little surprised at this but
then again I was never aware of a ~ file being created on that particular
box.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



"John John" wrote in message...

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-018
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sec.../ms04-018.mspx is
about as clear as mud as to whether or not the fix works on W9x/ME or
NT4. Most confusing to say the least. One could always try it... and
break something else :-) I wouldn't be surprised that it works.

Hey Mike,
Don't know exactly when it stopped, but, my machine no longer creates
the tilde file after altering the address book. I did install the 823353 for
Outlook Express and that may have been what made the difference.
Heirloom, old and don't know why


"Mike M" wrote in message
...
The 823353 hotfix is available for those running Win Me for both IE5.5 SP2
and IE6 SP1 and had been since July 2004. You can download it either from
the link in the Security Bulletin
(http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sec.../ms04-018.mspx) or from
the Windows Update site and also the Windows Update catalogue.

Nevertheless as I mentioned earlier I don't believe that this hotfix
resolves the unwanted tilde problem.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



"Carseview" wrote ...

Yea Thanks. I found update 823353 but as you say it is not considerd
critical so Microsoft wont support it for ME. I guess I am stuck with
it for now.