Problem with Temporary Files

[Guest]

Hi:

I recently had a virus removed from my computer and now I have tons of
temporary Word .doc files that have been created in my "My Documents" folder.
These all begin with ~$ and are followed by partial or full file names of
Word documents that I had previously created.

How can I best and most safely remove these files? Is there any problem with
leaving them on my hard drive as is?

Thanks.

Jim

 

[Jezebel]

Word creates one of those each time you open a file; it should delete it
when you close the file, but they can get left behind for various reasons,
usually if Word terminates abnormally. The fact that you now see them just
means that the Windows Explorer setting for displaying 'hidden and system'
files has been switched on (likely to have been changed by the person who
removed the virus).

These files do no harm apart from taking up a little space; but they also
serve no purpose except in respect of documents that are currently open.
Close Word, then delete them all.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

As Jezebel says, these are normal and okay to delete when they're not
locked. See http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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all may benefit.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Suzanne. I reset the option to not show hidden files and folders in
Explorer and all is back to notmal again when I look at the Word files in the
My Documents folder on my hard drive..

Jim

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

So you've hidden them. Did you also delete them before hiding them?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Guest]

Suzanne:

I didn't delete them before hiding them. When I changed to the option to
hide them and they disappeared I began thinking that maybe that's the way
they're supposed to be...without deleting them...because I couldn't see them
before anyway.

The guy with Norton who removed the virus may have changed this option
setting when he was working on my computer.

Is it the standard setting to have it set to hide these kinds of files in
Explorer?

Thanks.

Jim

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

That probably is the standard setting, but if temp files are left over after
a crash, you *need* to delete them. Go back and read Graham's article again.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.