Can anyone Identify This?

I noticed this morning a small file had appeared on my main drive. I have took a snip and attached it this message. I know its small and when I go to delete it, it requires an administrator to do this. The file isn't hidden anywhere. All I did was click on computer - C Drive and it was sitting beneath the folders. Now I could easily click yes on the permissions box to delete but I don't want to just yet incase it's of some importance.

Any help would be appreciated.

This happens rather often. Look at the attached snip of my "My Documents". Every single entry in the list was automatically created by some program or other. Most of them put their own names to the folders, some put the alphanumeric string similar to what you've got.

This string is the identifier code used in the registry. Basically you can go to the registry, find that string and this way figure out which program put that files there. To do this, open the registry (run regedit) and go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT -> CLSID and find that string. If it's not there, you can search for it by pressing Ctrl-F and typing first few characters.

In any case, these files are rarely important. To test that you can simply create a restore point, rename the file (add old to the end of the filename or something), and restart. If everything is functioning normally for a while, then you're safe to delete it. Just try to use several programs before you do so, just to make sure that nothing got broken.

Thanks for the response. I tried what you suggested and the folder wasn't there. So I tried to "Find It" using Ctrl-F and typed in the first sevral characters and nothing came back.

I may try what you have suggested in your next step about seeing if the system runs ok without it. I was interested to see what program created it though. Thanks for the help.

Such folders are usually temp folders left behind by app installs like .NET, service packs and office.

Bill2 said:

Such folders are usually temp folders left behind by app installs like .NET, service packs and office.

Thanks, I have made a copy of the file on a different drive. I have deleted the file and will use the computer for a few days. If everything goes ok then I will get rid of it altogether.