"duplicate" file appears on desktop when file saved to desktop

[cg]

I am having a problem with Win2000 desktop on my machine.
If I save a file to the desktop, *two* icons for that file
appear on the desktop. However, one of them is
not "real", e.g. if I delete it, the *other* file (the
real file) disappears from the desktop, but the icon for
the "phantom" file remains on the desktop. There is no
way to remove this icon from the desktop; if I try to
delete it (after the first delete which makes the "real"
file disappear) I get an error message that says file does
not exist or could not be found.

This is really odd behavior. Anyone have any suggestions
as to how I can a) delete the phantom file icon on my
desktop and b) stop this from happening in the future,
short of reinstalling W2000?

 

[Gemini2000]

You mean this??

7) Mystery Tilde?
Several readers have asked about a strange new file showing up on their
systems; one whose name is simply a tilde. I can't show you a tilde here
because it won't reproduce properly in the plain text versions of this
newsletter. But I'm sure you know it: It's the wavy line normally used
to indicate a nasalization sound in Spanish, like the "ny" sound in the
anglicized "canyon;" it's also used over some nasal vowels in Portuguese.

Tildes also are sometimes used a special character in computer file
operations; for instance as a "flag" to tell an operating system to
expand a file name. In fact, you may have seen tildes show up in long
file names that have been truncated by DOS.

But what's the tilde doing by itself as a file name?

Hi Fred, long time reader, first time writer. I have had a file named
[tilde] show up in folders and on my desktop. After finding out what it
is, I realize it is of no great importance. But I had a difficult time
finding out the answer which is very simple. Maybe some of your other
readers would find this information useful. Below is what I have copied
+ pasted from newsgroups. One of the answers is from an MS MVP. Thanks,
Douglas

---Mystery solved! It is the result of a windows update 330994 patch.
You get the temp file after a change is made to your address book in
Outlook express. You can see if you have the patch by going to
IE....Help...About and seeing if the patch is listed there. I made a
change to my address book this morning and "Bingo" the file appeared!


---That (tilde) file is most probably appearing as the result of
installing the "April 2003, Cumulative Patch for Outlook Express
(330994)". Microsoft is aware of the problem and is supposedly working
on a fix. Many people are experiencing this problem and from what I've
read about this problem that icon will also reappear when you reply to
an e-mail and you have your Outlook Express set up to enter the persons
e-mail address to your address book whenever you reply to an e-mail. You
can either just put up with it or follow the uninstall directions for
the patch at the link below.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/critical/330994/default.asp