[Wrinkly Pete]

Hi,

This is possibly posted in the wrong forum, but it does apply to Windows XP (as well as Vista and Windows 7).

I've noticed (now and then) that all 3 of my PC's sometimes (and for no apparent reason) rename files.

I was wondering why this happens, as it can be annoying for me to discover I have a file called (for e.g. only) "12ba33464Occbab0412" as it means it is no longer is identifiable.

I know this is NOT caused by spyware, malware or viruses etc; as all my PC's are updated hourly and scanned daily.

Any idea guys?

Purely to illustrate what I mean, I've attached a screen snippet, picked at random from the first file in Windows on my Vista PC.

Thanks.
Wrinkly Pete

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It's just a temporary folder that can be deleted.

[SpywareDr]

It's just a temporary folder that can be deleted.

[Neil Jones]

The files with random filenames are typically Windows Updates. They are left-over remanents. Usually they only leave behind a log file which can be deleted.

The names of the folders/files are randomly generated. It will change every time you run the update.

[Wrinkly Pete]

Thanks for the rapid response SpywareDr and Neil Jones.

I'm loathe to delete anything if I don't know what it does - Just in case it's important.

I've just looked again at one example on my Windows XP gaming PC.

On the C: Drive the very first (visible) folder is "722d4cacece7b0b1624729"
Inside that are 2 more (visible) folders: "amd64" and "i386"
These both contain a mixture of file types:
.dll (3)
.inf
.ppd
.cat
.gpd
I looked at both amd64 and i386 .inf files and they both relate to MS XPSDrv print drivers.

I suppose the real point of my posting was to ask why the apparently random renaming, and why such "cryptic" names to identify them by?
Does "722d4cacece7b0b1624729" actually MEAN anything, or is it just plucked at random as a unique "label"?
Why not call them "Printer Drivers" or something similar, so that a normal person can understand! (Not that I'm "normal" of course!)


I like to know what my PC's are doing as much as they want to know what I'm doing!

[SpywareDr]

Random names are used because: 1) they are temporary folders and 2) they do NOT want to overwrite anything else you already have on your hard drive.

These random-named folders are usually deleted at the end/close of the upgrade routine. Sometimes though, someting happens to keep them from being deleted.

You can leave them there if you like. They're not actually hurting anything . . . other than wasting space.

[Wrinkly Pete]

Random names are used because: 1) they are temporary folders and 2) they do NOT want to overwrite anything else you already have on your hard drive.

These random-named folders are usually deleted at the end/close of the upgrade routine. Sometimes though, someting happens to keep them from being deleted.

You can leave them there if you like. They're not actually hurting anything . . . other than wasting space.

Ok, thanks for taking the time to fully explain.
You learn something every day... even at my age!

[SpywareDr]

You're more than welcome.

[GeeksAsker]

Hi,

Two issues are discussed here:

1. My website's JPG image files sometimes would rename themselves and I don't know why. For instance an image called 123.JPG would replace image called 120.JPG and when viewed the image 123.JPG and 120.JPG would look identical just like 123.JPG and previous looks of image 120.JPG would be gone. What or who does that and how and why and what for?

2. Also, please see the attachment, I have all these mysterious non-deletable random-named files sitting around Documents and Settings obfuscating it when I try to find and click on it and believe me I have to click 5 times until I get to the proper My Documents on my Windows XP :-) Why did WinXP created so many labyrinths just in order to get to our daily files, remains a mystery. So what I'm trying to do actually is to find out what are those files and why there are becoming more and more of them making harder and harder to use my PC when I labyrinth my way through to My Documents (2 times click on top of something else before I get here => Documents and Settings => Owner => My Documents => etc.). And how do I delete them or is it safe to delete them and is it SAFE to actually keep them there?

Thanks for your help and ideas.

John

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Edited by GeeksAsker, 24 October 2012 - 01:24 PM.