10-gig swap file???

[Tom Hall]

C:\Documents and Settings\Tom\Local Settings\Temp\2208_69730384.tmp is
about 10 gig and seems to disappear when I boot into safe mode with command
prompt, but during the next normal session returns with a different name
(all numbers).

I can change its attributes but I can't delete it (query: do I want to?)
because it's being used by another process.

I keep an eye on my temp folder (old habit from DOS days: browsing
directories) and delete as much of it as possible each time I start the
system, and I'm sure I would have noticed such a large file if it had been
there before.

My hard drive is a 200 gig SATA that's got about 120 gig free.

OS is XP Pro SP2.

I recently added a gig of ram to the 1 gig that was already there.

Is this file benign?


Tom

 

[GS]

sounds unusual. usually I only have a few files of a few megs. nothing like
1 gb, never mind 10GB.


are you opening some huge zip files?
or are you working with some large dvd, media files?

Otherwise, you may want to scan your PC for malware

 

[Tom Hall]

sounds unusual. usually I only have a few files of a few megs. nothing like
1 gb, never mind 10GB.


are you opening some huge zip files?
or are you working with some large dvd, media files?

Otherwise, you may want to scan your PC for malware

I do work with bittorrent files from time to time.

After posting this, I logged in as administrator and checked that same
folder and the 10 gig file was not there. There was also no file of that
size in the administrator temp folder.

I routinely use both Ad-Aware and Spybot to check for malware, and I keep
my antivirus up-to-date.


Tom

 

[Fuzzy Logic]

C:\Documents and Settings\Tom\Local Settings\Temp\2208_69730384.tmp is
about 10 gig and seems to disappear when I boot into safe mode with
command prompt, but during the next normal session returns with a
different name (all numbers).

I can change its attributes but I can't delete it (query: do I want to?)
because it's being used by another process.

I keep an eye on my temp folder (old habit from DOS days: browsing
directories) and delete as much of it as possible each time I start the
system, and I'm sure I would have noticed such a large file if it had
been there before.

My hard drive is a 200 gig SATA that's got about 120 gig free.

OS is XP Pro SP2.

I recently added a gig of ram to the 1 gig that was already there.

Is this file benign?


Tom

It's not the Windows swap file. Get a program like Process Explorer and
find out what is using the file. You can get Process Explorer here:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/ProcessExplorer.mspx

Once it's running click on the binocular icon and type in the filename to
find the process using it.

 

[Tom Hall]

It's not the Windows swap file. Get a program like Process Explorer and
find out what is using the file. You can get Process Explorer here:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/ProcessExplorer.mspx

Once it's running click on the binocular icon and type in the filename to
find the process using it.

Thank you muchly for this information. Unfortunately, this monster seems to
have disappeared. I'll keep an eye out for it and apply your suggestion the
next time it appears.

During the time it was around, it appeared only during my Windows sessions.
When I logged in as administrator it wasn't there, but did appear in my own
session, even when running in Safe Mode.

Thanks again for the tip.


Tom