Page is a not externally linkable
balam - 8:46 pm on Jul 25, 2005 (gmt 0)
In Windows 2000, there is a directory (in my case) located at "C:\WindowsNT\system32\Data". This dir has 46 files whose filenames start "CT", usually followed by a letter, 4 numbers, another letter and the extension ".DAT". The timestamps on the files are all from 2002, indicating to me that they are MS-installed system files, since my last re-install was in 2003. I accept these files as being both innocuous & necessary. It's the other 50,000+ files, sucking up just shy of 3GB, that I'm really curious about... Half of these files have a timestamp as their filename, with no extension, and (probably) average about 100KB in size. The other half have "thumb_" prepended to the filename, and (probably) average about 20KB. Example filenames are "2005-01-01_12-00-27" and "thumb_2005-01-01_12-00-27". Like clockwork, these files have been generated every 5 minutes for almost the last year. (The only gaps I noticed were when I know the machine was off - like when I've been away on vacation.) Searching has proven fruitless, thusfar. So, any idea what's creating these files? Why? What are they? Given the age of the files, I can probably delete most all of them, but can you say that with certainty? Enlightenment is greatly appreciated!
I'm starting to experience a space-crunch on my C drive, so I've gone hunting for fluff to delete.