PC expert please?

[john_morris_uk]

A file has appeared on my desktop with the title "~". Its about 190k big and I have no idea where its come from. Has anyone any idea what is going on?

We run Windows ME and the latest version of Norton so I am pretty confident that we don't have a Virus. Having said that the system has become more and more unstable and often refuses to shut down without me manually closing background programs that are 'failing to respond'.

Any hints please?

Thanks

John

 

[davel]

Check the file extension (the bit after the. in the file name eg test.xls or another.doc). Also check the date of the file.
If the extension is .tmp and the time/date stamp of the file is sometime in the past you can probably just delete it. It's highly likely that is a hang over from the last time your PC shut down on you.

 

[Vara]

Similar problem,a few months ago went here;

http://www.webuser.co.uk/cgi-bin/forums/postlist.pl?Cat=&Board=hijackthis

It's a sister forum to this one,do what they say and they will give you bags of help.

You have to register to post, same procedure as this forum.

 

[john_morris_uk]

It hasn't got a file extension evidaent at all. I checked file properties and then looked at the details in My Computor\Windows\Desktop and its just called "~"

 

[webcraft]

It could be a result of a previous Outlook Express upgrade - see this article HERE

If it is this then it's a backup of your Windows Address book and you should follow the instructions on the page linked to above.

For more info see HERE or look up 'desktop tilde file' in Google.

- Nick

 

[Talbot]

The only way my PC with ME survives is by periodic use of Norton Utilities. This gets rid of a lot of the problems and allows te system to run more smoothly. - strongly advise that you get a copy and run it. The more programmes you load and unload, the more things will need to be tweaked by this programme. Also when was the last time you de-fragmented, cause that can have a fair impact on the stability of the system.

 

[JimMcMillan]

It is not a virus. It is called a 'Tilde' ~ outlook express puts one one your desktop every time you reply to an email and auto add their address to your address book. Delete it.

 

[jerryat]

Thanks for that straightforward explanation Jim. I have also had a 'tilde' appear, apparently at random, from time to time and have always just deleted it. Glad I was doing the right thing, even if in ignorance. The 'randomness' was obviously when I'd added to my address book.

cheers
Jerry

 

[AndrewB]

Confirm with others it's associated with Outlook Express. This file always appears on my PC desktop if for any reason I bomb out of OE. It's not a problem though.

 

[john_morris_uk]

Many thanks everyone. I've done some housework and defragged etc. Still not certain that everything is ok as the defrag kept restarting claiming that the disk was modified half way through...

 

[TheoSr]

There is probably some program running in the background, could be a virus checker or a power saving setting that comes in after some minutes. This will cause the defrag to restart.
Use the task manager (ctrl-alt-del in Windows XP)to check for and end running programs.
For the virus checker, disconnect form the internet, disable the virus checker during defrag and enable it before connecting to the internet again.
Computers are so fast that you have to spend hours/days to set them right. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
That's progress, keep smiling!
Theo

 

[jerryat]

John, you will find defragging much quicker (and just as efficient as far as I'm aware) if you do it with the computer in 'safe mode'. The defrag can then work without your background start-up progs triggering a re-start from time to time.
No doubt someone will say the contrary, but it's worked for me for many years.

Cheers
Jerry

 

[JimMcMillan]

TheoSr is dead right . you have to turn off all the programmes as he says except explorer or the screen will go blank. Then you can defrag. ME can be a tad unstable, better with XP.