Extra Files

[curious]

I have been having problems with my computer and was
wondering if I have a virus or something else. After
reformatting the hard drive and reloading windows XP I
have extra files of "desktop.ini" and "thumbs.db" in many
of my folders...My Documents, My Pictures, My Sample
Picures, Local Settings...and so on. Once I delete a few
of them and restart my computer they reappear along with
the My Pictures folder.

Any help is appreciated thanks

 

[Ross Durie]

Normal behavior. Choose Tools/Folder Options/View Tab/"Hide protected
operating system files".

 

[Thane of Lochaber]

Those are supposed to be there, you shouldn't delete them. The desktop.ini
file's purpose is to save a folders custom view settings so Windows Explorer
will know how to display it. The thumbs.db file is created when a folder
contains pictures and they are set to display as thumbnails. This is a cache
of those thumbnails so they will load faster next time. Actually you can
delete the thumbs.db if you wish, and to prevent it from being created in
the future go to Folder Options, click the View tab, and check "Do not cache
thumbnails".

 

[curious]

Thanks Ross and Thane