Windows 7 File Name Warning

[SunEater]

I recently received a pop up message from Windows stating:

File name warning. There is a file or folder on your computer called "C:\Program" which could cause certain applications to not function correctly. Renaming it to "C:\Program1" would solve this problem. Would you like to rename it now?


I click on the C: drive and the file is in plain sight, so I click on it to view the contents, and inside is:


Cookies (6KB)
Cookies-journal (2KB)
data_0 (44KB)
data_1 (264KB)
data_2 (1032KB)
data_3 (4104KB)
f_000001 (25KB)
f_000002 (58KB)
f_000003 (21KB)
f_000004 (21KB)
index (513KB)

This folder was created on 11/16/2014, and this is the date that I first received the pop up message. I am not certain, but I do recall a Windows update that I had to apply and when I restarted my PC I seen the pop up message. I ran MalwareBytes and Comodo scans, and nothing came up as a threat. So I read a couple of forums and a lot of people said to just click 'Rename'. So I did rename it, now when I open the C: drive, I see the folder 'Program1'... Well just today I had another update from Windows, so I updated, and was prompted to restart the PC as usual to complete the update process, and was prompted with another message that said:


File name warning. There is a file or folder on your computer called "C:\Program" which could cause certain applications to not function correctly. Renaming it to "C:\Program2" would solve this problem. Would you like to rename it now?


Now it is asking me to rename another file to 'Program2'. This folder is also visible in the C: drive, but this one is empty. My questions are:

1. What are these folders for?
2. What is the cause of these folders constantly being created?
3. Is this possibly dangerous?


Please if you are going to try to give me help, please know that I am not very "tech savvy" and do not understand a lot of tech terms and processes. Please explain this to me on a lower level lol. Thank you in advance for your time.

 

[indianacarnie]

Welcome to the forums SunEater!

Easiest things first, have you tried a system restore to a point before this started? Heres a tutorial on how to do that if you haven't before, just click on the link : http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/700-system-restore.html

I would alsc run this and see what it says : Free Virus Scan | Online Virus Scanner from ESET

 

[Sir George]

I recently received a pop up message from Windows stating:

File name warning. There is a file or folder on your computer called "C:\Program" which could cause certain applications to not function correctly. Renaming it to "C:\Program1" would solve this problem. Would you like to rename it now?


I click on the C: drive and the file is in plain sight, so I click on it to view the contents, and inside is:


Cookies (6KB)
Cookies-journal (2KB)
data_0 (44KB)
data_1 (264KB)
data_2 (1032KB)
data_3 (4104KB)
f_000001 (25KB)
f_000002 (58KB)
f_000003 (21KB)
f_000004 (21KB)
index (513KB)

This folder was created on 11/16/2014, and this is the date that I first received the pop up message. I am not certain, but I do recall a Windows update that I had to apply and when I restarted my PC I seen the pop up message. I ran MalwareBytes and Comodo scans, and nothing came up as a threat. So I read a couple of forums and a lot of people said to just click 'Rename'. So I did rename it, now when I open the C: drive, I see the folder 'Program1'... Well just today I had another update from Windows, so I updated, and was prompted to restart the PC as usual to complete the update process, and was prompted with another message that said:


File name warning. There is a file or folder on your computer called "C:\Program" which could cause certain applications to not function correctly. Renaming it to "C:\Program2" would solve this problem. Would you like to rename it now?


Now it is asking me to rename another file to 'Program2'. This folder is also visible in the C: drive, but this one is empty. My questions are:

1. What are these folders for?
2. What is the cause of these folders constantly being created?
3. Is this possibly dangerous?


Please if you are going to try to give me help, please know that I am not very "tech savvy" and do not understand a lot of tech terms and processes. Please explain this to me on a lower level lol. Thank you in advance for your time.

Using the search term "There is a file or folder on your computer called" brought up the following link;

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=There+is+a+file+or+folder+on+your+computer+called&t=palemoon

You can go through the results for more information, but simply removing the folder(s) causes no harm. Just as a caveat, in case there is a problem, make a system backup prior to removing.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Some programs aren't correctly written and they can create invalid locations.

I had installed a program (I can't remember its name) that created a folder called "Users\PJL\AppDataRoaming" instead of "Users\PJL\AppData\Roaming".