Temporary Files in Windows?

[ManojNair]

Dear All,

I am just curious about some temporary files (starts with filename fff*.tmp) which are being created in c:/Windows directory everytime we start windows.

Eg. fffea999_{4118101F-650A-424F-B660-1DC9A807C9B9}.tmp
fffea9d9_{C48F82C4-AF57-4554-8F1B-A19AF2E4B55E}.tmp

I have seen the same happening in many computers with Windows in it (Win 95/98 and Me). But the interesting observation is that, it was not there first time for my new Windows ME Laptop, though it started occuring later on.

Can anybody explain me how it happened? What is the use of these files? How can we get rid of them automatically?

Best Regards,

Manoj Nair

 

[PAndersen]

Maybe it is an indication of registry errors.
Try running scanreg /fix .
If you include the line
if exists c:\windows\*.tmp del c:\windows\*.tmp
in autoexec.bat , the files should be deleted at startup.

 

[smitee]

ManoJnair

After you install Office 2000, you may notice files whose name begins with "fff" appearing in your Windows folder. For example, the file name may be similar to "fffeeecf_{44BE8B61-235B-11D2-8E66-D59A4E66D32D}.tmp". Also, every time you restart your computer, two more files beginning with "fff" appear in your Windows folder.

There'a a fix in article

OFF2000: Files Whose Name Begins with "fff" Appear in Windows Folder

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q221/4/38.asp

Smitee

 

[tsuji]

Hello, ManojNair.

These fff-files are generated by Machine Debug Manager (mdm.exe) which gets installed to your system mainly through MSIE with DCom as a component, and less generally by Office 2000. When it is installed, it is registered itself to RunService under HKLM. Hence, it would start up with your machine.

The fact that those fff files are not cleaned up means that your DCOM is not fully configured to be operative, which is all right, as it matters only when remote debugging becomes an issue. Hence, diabling mdm.exe at startup will generate no trouble on your system.

The ref mskb article is :

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q221/4/38.asp

To stop this phenomenon, do the following:
[1] With win98, run msconfig and deselect mdm.exe under startup tab. If you run win95, you can delete the reference entry to mdm.exe under HKLM\...\RunService.
[2] From Control Panel | Internet Options, or directly from IE, under Advanced, checked the box for "Disable Script Debugging".
[3] In any case, you can always safely delete all those zero-byte fff files under \windows. But, even if you leave them alone, they are incapable to do any harm to your system.

regards - tsuji

 

[tsuji]

Just a correction to my above posting:
RunService
should be read
RunServices

- tsuji

 

[ManojNair]

Thanks, tsuji & smitee for the article and also PAnderson for helping me out to get rid of them. Thanks again for all your valuable time.

Best Regards,

Manoj Nair