Empty folders in AppData/Local

[emuSilk]

Hello everyone, sorry if this is the wrong place to post this query.

I am seeing a lot of folders with seemingly random names, all of which are empty, appearing in AppData/Local. I check back every few days and there are more and more... Why are these folders appearing and what is their purpose?

Attached is a screenshot of what I'm talking about... if you notice where the scrollbar is, the whole area above is just more empty folders; 87 of them right now.

Thanks

 

[Orbital Shark]

Hi, welcome to the forums

I have seen similar folders appear on machines infected with malware. Are there any strange files in the same folder? (scroll to the bottom).

You may want to download MalwareBytes and perform a full system scan just to be on the safe side. You will find that those folders can be deleted with no issues to your system.


OS

 

[JDobbsy1987]

People have mentioned 'Windows Live Essentials'... Do you have this installed?
It advises re-installing to see if that helps?

There is a thread on it here:
http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/139873-appdata-local-folders-random-characters-2.html

Hope this helps.

Regards,
JDobbsy1987

 

[Phone Man]

I get one of those written each day when I open Windows Live Mail. Others have seen it with other Windows Live Essentials programs. The consensus is these folders should be in AppData/Local/Temp but a bug in Windows Live Essentials causes them to be put in the wrong location. I just delete them every week or two. Hopefully MS will correct it with the next update to Windows Live Essentials.

Jim

 

[emuSilk]

Thanks!

My first thought was malware as well, but I can't seem to find anything. I'm running a full system scan now but I scanned AppData first and found nothing.

I've attached another screenshot, this time with the files at the bottom; I'm not really familiar with system files so I'm not entirely sure what's strange and what's not but some that seem odd to me are:

• 'Chromium' (contains only a folder User Data with an empty notepad doc named 'awesomium')
• 'Downloaded Installations' (contains a folder with the same name format as the empty ones above)
• The four files at the bottom (I've seen files related to malware with a similar random looking name to Wmerazozahu.dat)

Could it be that they are left over from software updates or something like that?
Thanks for your reply

 

[emuSilk]

Thanks JDobbsy1987 and Phone Man! This information clears things up a bit. It's been going on for a while now, hope they fix it soon

 

[Oldandweary]

I have the same problem.
There is a similar thread running on another forum which has an answer from Microsoft that they are folders created by Windows Live Setup when updating. They should be located in AppData/Local/Temp., and should be deleted automatically when updates are completed. However they are being created in the wrong place and can be deleted safely when they are empty.
Hope this helps.

 

[Nitrius]

Have there been found any solution to this? Beside not using Windows Live Essentials?

 

[Slartybart]

What I know, I posted here - only confirming WL Mail as the suspected culprit. No WL Msgr on my system.

Also note- running newest: Version 2011 (Build 15.4.3555.0308) - as of this post anyway.

 

[newpgm]

Hey - is there a way to give Kudos? I couldn't easily find an answer for this on either Microsoft Answers or Social Technet. Should have joined sevenforums years ago.
thanks

 

[Kuffum]

I download stuff or my admin makes it read only

I can't retrieve the files, they say they are 0Mg. 0Mg in the files but when I make them not read only, stuff comes back for a second. Can't get my stuff back for long. DOn't have admin rights to keep the stuff for long. Any way to get the stuff back for good?