re-post "short files"

[gert]

I repost my question incl. the answer because my lousy system will not allow
an answer to the reply(?? popups are not blocked):
hei Milly:
I have two mail accounts with different mail servers which I as usual
download with outlook 2003. Simultaneously short files as described below are
created in my main directory


We have no clue - you have provided no useful details.

--
Milly Staples - [MVP Outlook]

Post all replies to the news group. Unsolicited mail sent to my
personal address will be deleted without reading.


After furious head scratching, gert <[email protected]> asked:

| since some time I find short files like s40c.2 or s2fs.3 with a size
| of some KBi n my main directory.
| When I open these files with a text editor I see that these files are
| typical mail files, for example beginning:
| Return-Path: <[email protected]>
| Received: from mail.sda.t-online.de ([195.145.119.136]) by
| mailin18.sul.t-online.de
| with esmtp id 1EprpJ-1ZZKue0; Fri, 23 Dec 2005 19:39:37 +0100
| Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2005 19:39:36 +0100 (MET)
| From: (e-mail address removed)
|
| What happened?? Is this a virus or trojan problem
| Help is highly appreciated
| Thanks
| Gert

 

[neo [mvp outlook]]

I think Milly was driving at is what folder is the "main directory"? In any
event, Outlook doesn't create temporary files like this. Any chance you
have 3rd party programs installed (antivirus, antispam, .etc) that could be
creating them?

I would also ask that if you suspect a virus, have you scanned your computer
with up to date antivirus software?

 

[Vanguard]

I have two mail accounts with different mail servers which I as usual
download with outlook 2003. Simultaneously short files as described below
are
created in my main directory

| since some time I find short files like s40c.2 or s2fs.3 with a size
| of some KBi n my main directory.
| When I open these files with a text editor I see that these files are
| typical mail files, for example beginning:
| Return-Path: <[email protected]>
| Received: from mail.sda.t-online.de ([195.145.119.136]) by
| mailin18.sul.t-online.de
| with esmtp id 1EprpJ-1ZZKue0; Fri, 23 Dec 2005 19:39:37 +0100
| Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2005 19:39:36 +0100 (MET)
| From: (e-mail address removed)
|
| What happened?? Is this a virus or trojan problem
| Help is highly appreciated
| Thanks
| Gert

You are infected or you are using some anti-spam, anti-virus, or
anti-malware software that creates these files wherever "main directory"
happens to be. Could be an anti-spam program providing a text-only version
of a spam-tagged mail (and you need to configure it as to where it is
supposed to save them, if you want them saved). Could be it was an infected
e-mail and the plain-text copy is saved there.

Try restarting Windows in Safe Mode to see if the problem remains. Try
start Outlook in its safe mode ("outlook.exe /safe") to see the problem
remains.

Try using a file monitor utility, like FileMon from SysInternals, to capture
which process wrote the file in whatever location you are finding them.

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