unusual files

[Guest]

Could someone tell me whether the files described below can be safely deleted
and what program may be creating them -
they all (and there are many) have names like s2kk, s2m8 , etc - simply
described in properties as an s2kk or s2m8 file, etc. All are sized at 1kb
and read <mc status=1>.
I know they don't take up much room individually, but there are a load of
them in the root of the c: drive and I am intrigued as to what is creating
them.It isn't new, as upon discovery I found they date back some considerable
time.Any help welcome,

 

[Elmo]

Could someone tell me whether the files described below can be safely deleted
and what program may be creating them -
they all (and there are many) have names like s2kk, s2m8 , etc - simply
described in properties as an s2kk or s2m8 file, etc. All are sized at 1kb
and read <mc status=1>.
I know they don't take up much room individually, but there are a load of
them in the root of the c: drive and I am intrigued as to what is creating
them.It isn't new, as upon discovery I found they date back some considerable
time.Any help welcome,

Right-click one, click Properties, and see what extension is mentioned.
See if there's any other information on the files in Properties.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply. I have already done this - it tells me only that it is
a file and the description is s2kk or whatever. It tells me nothing else
other than the size.I used notepad to open them.

 

[mikeyhsd]

how old are they.
if in doubt, ZIP them up into a ZIP file and see if the system complains, if no complaint after a few days or week, delete the zip file.



(e-mail address removed)



Thanks for your reply. I have already done this - it tells me only that it is
a file and the description is s2kk or whatever. It tells me nothing else
other than the size.I used notepad to open them.

 

[Poprivet]

Thanks for your reply. I have already done this - it tells me only
that it is a file and the description is s2kk or whatever. It tells
me nothing else other than the size.I used notepad to open them.

In PROPERTIES (not Notepad) it doesn't give any further information?
Offhand, it sounds like malware but it might not be depending on what
unfamiliar software you may have installed.
Try this: Create a folder called JUNK and move all the files
into that. Continue using your machine, without restarting, and see if
anything breaks. Exercise all the softwrae you have loaded, if you can. If
nothing goes wrong:
Try doing a Restart, and repeat the tests to see if anything is broken.
Restart should work OK because none of those are files that would knowingly
keep XP from starting.
Worst case, if things go astray, you can always boot into Safe Mode by
pressing F8 during startup, and unzip the files back to where they were and
Restart again.

If you are experienced with computer software, there ARE ways to tell what
calls and created those files, but I don't have those at hand right now.
Here's one thing to try:
To get an idea of what's loaded without getting any 3rd party programs, open
System Information...
Start | Run | Type: msinfo32 | Click OK |
Click on the [+] next to Software Environment |
Click on Loaded Modules



Let us know, OK?

 

[Guest]

thanks for replying.I shall give it a go zipping all those files and report
back.

 

[Guest]

I did as suggested - once I put the files in a folder, I switched to the
details view and it became obvious that whatever was creating these files had
gone some time back - the last entry was for a few months ago. I was able to
get a good look at the pattern of usage of the program responsible and it was
fairly random. I made a few changes within a week or so of the last file so I
cannot be absolutely certain of the 'culprit', but I suspect a virtual
makeover program that I had installed for the kids. Anyway, all is working
ok, so I'll leave them be meantime and delete them once I'm 100% sure.I was a
bit concerned as to their origin, what with them being at the root of the
drive. Thanks for all your help.