Files with random alphnumeric names

rundwald

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When I click on my user name on the desktop, along with folders like AppData, My Documents and other "routine ones, there are several that have names consisting of random letters and numbers.

What are they; are they essential? They give a feeling of clutter, that I would like to improve.

So ideas and info, please.
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Dell Inspiron 560MT
OS
Home Premium 64 bit
CPU
2.9 gigahertz Intel Core2 Duo 64 kilobyte primary memory cac
Motherboard
Board: Dell Inc. 0K83V0 A00 Serial Number: ..CN750939CP069B
Memory
4096 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory Slot 'DIMM0' has 102
Graphics Card(s)
ATI Radeon HD 4300/4500 Series
Sound Card
High Definition Audio Device NVIDIA High Definition Audio (
Monitor(s) Displays
DELL ST2210 [Monitor] (21.7"vis, s/n P479R01Q0VCU, January 2
Screen Resolution
1920x1080
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628.58 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
554.78 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space
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Std Dell UK
Mouse
KEYBOARD, 105, UNITED KINGDOM, KWE9C0
Internet Speed
~8000 kbps
Antivirus
Avast Free
Browser
Chrome
Other Info
Office 2007: Photo Editing; Serif PhotoPlus X7
When I click on my user name on the desktop, along with folders like AppData, My Documents and other "routine ones, there are several that have names consisting of random letters and numbers.

What are they; are they essential? They give a feeling of clutter, that I would like to improve.

So ideas and info, please.

An example of the filenames would be helpful... can you upload a screen shot?
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Homebrew
OS
XP Pro SP3 X86 / Win7 Pro X86
CPU
Amd 64 x2 4200 (2.4ghz)
Motherboard
Asus M2N-MX SE Plus
Memory
Kingston DDR2 800 2gb
Graphics Card(s)
Nvidia GF-8400
Sound Card
Realtek on Motherboard
Monitor(s) Displays
Acer x-193bw
Screen Resolution
1440 x 900
Hard Drives
Western Digital 500g
PSU
350watt In-Win
Case
In-Win
Cooling
Air
Keyboard
yes
Mouse
yes
Internet Speed
5mpbs
Other Info
Also ASRock ION 330 as HTPC (on XP).
Acer Aspire as GP netbook (on XP).
Are they similar files to these?

Capture.PNG
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Dwarf Dwf/11/2012 r09/2013
OS
Windows 8.1 Pro RTM x64
CPU
Intel Core-i5-3570K 4-core @ 3.4GHz (Ivy Bridge) (OC 4.4GHz)
Motherboard
ASRock Z77 Extreme4-M
Memory
4 x 4GB DDR3-1600 Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B (16GB)
Graphics Card(s)
MSI GeForce GTX770 Gaming OC 2GB
Sound Card
Realtek High Definition on board solution (ALC 898)
Monitor(s) Displays
ViewSonic VA1912w Widescreen (VGA)
Screen Resolution
1440x900
Hard Drives
OCZ Agility 3 SSD 120GB SATA III x2 (RAID 0)
Samsung HD501LJ 500GB SATA II x2
Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 1TB SATA II
Iomega 1.5TB Ext USB 2.0
WD 2.0TB Ext USB 3.0
PSU
XFX Pro Series 850W Semi-Modular
Case
Gigabyte IF233
Cooling
1 x 120mm Front Inlet 1 x 120mm Rear Exhaust
Keyboard
Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 3000 (USB)
Mouse
Microsoft Comfort Mouse 3000 for Business (USB)
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NetGear DG834Gv3 ADSL Modem/Router (Ethernet) ~4.0 Mb/s (O2)
Antivirus
Avast! 8.0.1497
Browser
IE 11
Other Info
Optical Drive: HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH10LS30 SATA Bluray
Lexmark S305 Printer/Scanner/Copier (USB)
WEI Score: 8.1/8.1/8.5/8.5/8.25
Asus Eee PC 1011PX Netbook (Windows 7 x86 Starter)
It is probably the contents of the HKEY_LOCAL_USER branch of the Registry. Don't touch it.
 

My Computer

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HP, Dell, Gateway, Toshiba - 4 laptops and 2 desktops
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Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
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from 1.6GHz Duo to i7
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2x HP w2207
Hard Drives
5x HDD, 7x SSD, 12x Externals
Keyboard
with trackball - no mices
Mouse
Trackball mice
Internet Speed
DSL 6000

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Dell Inspiron 560MT
OS
Home Premium 64 bit
CPU
2.9 gigahertz Intel Core2 Duo 64 kilobyte primary memory cac
Motherboard
Board: Dell Inc. 0K83V0 A00 Serial Number: ..CN750939CP069B
Memory
4096 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory Slot 'DIMM0' has 102
Graphics Card(s)
ATI Radeon HD 4300/4500 Series
Sound Card
High Definition Audio Device NVIDIA High Definition Audio (
Monitor(s) Displays
DELL ST2210 [Monitor] (21.7"vis, s/n P479R01Q0VCU, January 2
Screen Resolution
1920x1080
Hard Drives
628.58 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
554.78 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space
Keyboard
Std Dell UK
Mouse
KEYBOARD, 105, UNITED KINGDOM, KWE9C0
Internet Speed
~8000 kbps
Antivirus
Avast Free
Browser
Chrome
Other Info
Office 2007: Photo Editing; Serif PhotoPlus X7

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Dwarf Dwf/11/2012 r09/2013
OS
Windows 8.1 Pro RTM x64
CPU
Intel Core-i5-3570K 4-core @ 3.4GHz (Ivy Bridge) (OC 4.4GHz)
Motherboard
ASRock Z77 Extreme4-M
Memory
4 x 4GB DDR3-1600 Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B (16GB)
Graphics Card(s)
MSI GeForce GTX770 Gaming OC 2GB
Sound Card
Realtek High Definition on board solution (ALC 898)
Monitor(s) Displays
ViewSonic VA1912w Widescreen (VGA)
Screen Resolution
1440x900
Hard Drives
OCZ Agility 3 SSD 120GB SATA III x2 (RAID 0)
Samsung HD501LJ 500GB SATA II x2
Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 1TB SATA II
Iomega 1.5TB Ext USB 2.0
WD 2.0TB Ext USB 3.0
PSU
XFX Pro Series 850W Semi-Modular
Case
Gigabyte IF233
Cooling
1 x 120mm Front Inlet 1 x 120mm Rear Exhaust
Keyboard
Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 3000 (USB)
Mouse
Microsoft Comfort Mouse 3000 for Business (USB)
Internet Speed
NetGear DG834Gv3 ADSL Modem/Router (Ethernet) ~4.0 Mb/s (O2)
Antivirus
Avast! 8.0.1497
Browser
IE 11
Other Info
Optical Drive: HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH10LS30 SATA Bluray
Lexmark S305 Printer/Scanner/Copier (USB)
WEI Score: 8.1/8.1/8.5/8.5/8.25
Asus Eee PC 1011PX Netbook (Windows 7 x86 Starter)
OpenSSL?

It looks like you have accidently installed something to the root of your "C:\" drive.

The two DLL's may belong to OpenSSL. That is what I found by Googling...
The other files could be log files generated by OpenSSL.

It also looks like there is a copy of "netstat" copied to the root as well.
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Self made
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate
CPU
AMD Phenom 9950 X4 Black Edition Agena 2.6GHz Socket AM2+ 14
Motherboard
ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard
Memory
Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA 01G-P3-1280-AR GeForce GTX 280 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI-e
Sound Card
Onboard
Monitor(s) Displays
Dell Ultrasharp 2007FP
Screen Resolution
1280x1024
Hard Drives
2 x Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" (RAID0)
Case
COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full
It looks like you have accidently installed something to the root of your "C:\" drive.

The two DLL's may belong to OpenSSL. That is what I found by Googling...
The other files could be log files generated by OpenSSL.

It also looks like there is a copy of "netstat" copied to the root as well.

I agree, there's something incorrectly installed...
but it's not the root of the drive... it's the user folder...

c:\Users\<account name>
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Homebrew
OS
XP Pro SP3 X86 / Win7 Pro X86
CPU
Amd 64 x2 4200 (2.4ghz)
Motherboard
Asus M2N-MX SE Plus
Memory
Kingston DDR2 800 2gb
Graphics Card(s)
Nvidia GF-8400
Sound Card
Realtek on Motherboard
Monitor(s) Displays
Acer x-193bw
Screen Resolution
1440 x 900
Hard Drives
Western Digital 500g
PSU
350watt In-Win
Case
In-Win
Cooling
Air
Keyboard
yes
Mouse
yes
Internet Speed
5mpbs
Other Info
Also ASRock ION 330 as HTPC (on XP).
Acer Aspire as GP netbook (on XP).
For those who could not open the linkexample..jpg

I'm befuzzled how the accident happened, as the only tasks I was undertaking were migrating my files from XP, also Firefox and TBird, the last being a $%(*er.
Now, do I just delete the files, or look deeper?:confused::(
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Dell Inspiron 560MT
OS
Home Premium 64 bit
CPU
2.9 gigahertz Intel Core2 Duo 64 kilobyte primary memory cac
Motherboard
Board: Dell Inc. 0K83V0 A00 Serial Number: ..CN750939CP069B
Memory
4096 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory Slot 'DIMM0' has 102
Graphics Card(s)
ATI Radeon HD 4300/4500 Series
Sound Card
High Definition Audio Device NVIDIA High Definition Audio (
Monitor(s) Displays
DELL ST2210 [Monitor] (21.7"vis, s/n P479R01Q0VCU, January 2
Screen Resolution
1920x1080
Hard Drives
628.58 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
554.78 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space
Keyboard
Std Dell UK
Mouse
KEYBOARD, 105, UNITED KINGDOM, KWE9C0
Internet Speed
~8000 kbps
Antivirus
Avast Free
Browser
Chrome
Other Info
Office 2007: Photo Editing; Serif PhotoPlus X7
It looks like you have accidently installed something to the root of your "C:\" drive.

The two DLL's may belong to OpenSSL. That is what I found by Googling...
The other files could be log files generated by OpenSSL.

It also looks like there is a copy of "netstat" copied to the root as well.

I agree, there's something incorrectly installed...
but it's not the root of the drive... it's the user folder...

c:\Users\<account name>

Yep. I totally missed that because I was in a hurry. I should never reply when I am in a hurry and cannot fully analyze something.

That being said...

For those who could not open the linkView attachment 67300

I'm befuzzled how the accident happened, as the only tasks I was undertaking were migrating my files from XP, also Firefox and TBird, the last being a $%(*er.
Now, do I just delete the files, or look deeper?:confused::(

Based on what you have said above regarding "migrating" files, since the folder structure between WinXP and Win7 is a "bit" different, you accidently put something where it does not belong. No big deal. It happens.

Follow the advice below at your own risk!

NOTE! As opposed to deleting those files, copy them to a USB memory stick or burn them to a CD/DVD and then delete them. That way, you can recover if there is a problem with an installed app.

YOU CAN STOP READING here but here is the long explanation if you care to read it:

Follow the advice below at your own risk!

"netstat" or "NETSTAT.EXE" should only be found in your system folder(s). It looks like you are running 64bit Win7 so you will find it in the "C:\Windows\system32" and C:\Windows\SysWOW64" folder. If "netstat" is in both of those places, you should be able to delete (see NOTE above) it from your user folder. (You will probably find it in other places as well but the system folders are where it definitely should be).

Do you have OpenSSL installed?
If you do not have OpenSSL installed you should be able to delete(see NOTE above) libeay32.dll and ssleay32.dll.

You should be able to delete(see NOTE above) all of those "randomly generated filename" files in the user folder. Those appear to be session files created by "Firefox". Have you tried opening one in "notepad"? If you can open one in "notepad", does it tell you what program created it?

I searched "Google" and the "default.pls" file could be something PowerDVD created. Do you have PowerDVD installed? If you do, PowerDVD will recreate this file if it does not find it. So, you can leave it or delete it.

After you get rid of those files, watch your user folder over time. Do the "randomly generated filename" files come back? If so, you have some app that is creating these in your user folder. Typically, files like this are some form of "log" or "session" file created by programs like "Firefox". (refer to my "Firefox" cache image attachment).

After you delete the files and use your computer, watch for any programs crashing. Check the event logs and see if there are any error messages indicating that a program cannot find one of those DLL's. If there is a program crashing because it cannot find those DLL's, uninstall the program and reinstall it. Make sure you leave the default install path.

Hope this helps!
 

Attachments

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Last edited:

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Self made
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate
CPU
AMD Phenom 9950 X4 Black Edition Agena 2.6GHz Socket AM2+ 14
Motherboard
ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard
Memory
Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA 01G-P3-1280-AR GeForce GTX 280 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI-e
Sound Card
Onboard
Monitor(s) Displays
Dell Ultrasharp 2007FP
Screen Resolution
1280x1024
Hard Drives
2 x Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" (RAID0)
Case
COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full
Thanks for the advice: I will consider it more deeply after weekend (will be away).
OpenSSL not knowingly installed, would it possibly come as part of some other program or application and if so of what types?
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Dell Inspiron 560MT
OS
Home Premium 64 bit
CPU
2.9 gigahertz Intel Core2 Duo 64 kilobyte primary memory cac
Motherboard
Board: Dell Inc. 0K83V0 A00 Serial Number: ..CN750939CP069B
Memory
4096 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory Slot 'DIMM0' has 102
Graphics Card(s)
ATI Radeon HD 4300/4500 Series
Sound Card
High Definition Audio Device NVIDIA High Definition Audio (
Monitor(s) Displays
DELL ST2210 [Monitor] (21.7"vis, s/n P479R01Q0VCU, January 2
Screen Resolution
1920x1080
Hard Drives
628.58 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
554.78 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space
Keyboard
Std Dell UK
Mouse
KEYBOARD, 105, UNITED KINGDOM, KWE9C0
Internet Speed
~8000 kbps
Antivirus
Avast Free
Browser
Chrome
Other Info
Office 2007: Photo Editing; Serif PhotoPlus X7
Thanks for the advice: I will consider it more deeply after weekend (will be away).
OpenSSL not knowingly installed, would it possibly come as part of some other program or application and if so of what types?

I cannot say for sure if it is installed by some other application. OpenSSL is used for Secure Sockets Layer communications. You can generate self-signed certificates with it.

If it were installed by an app I would suspect some type of web server application, FTP server, etc.
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Self made
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate
CPU
AMD Phenom 9950 X4 Black Edition Agena 2.6GHz Socket AM2+ 14
Motherboard
ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard
Memory
Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA 01G-P3-1280-AR GeForce GTX 280 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI-e
Sound Card
Onboard
Monitor(s) Displays
Dell Ultrasharp 2007FP
Screen Resolution
1280x1024
Hard Drives
2 x Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" (RAID0)
Case
COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full
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