just noticed “Documents / ApplicationDownloads” with MANY files

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hi all: after using windows since 1985, Malwarebytes alerted me to “Autosofted_Auto_Keyboard_Presser_1.9.zip” so i decided to search for other “.zip” files (using the excellent “Agent Ransack”) and found a ton (5GB) in usr / Documents / ApplicationDownloads – and not just zip, but even some folders like “519D393B-EFBD-4714-B627-F8BC87BEA59A” from as far back as 2019.

I’d hate to go through all these files to see if they are useful or ?

any advice ?

P.S. – curiously MalwareBytes  just ‘found’ this file today, even though the file modified/created date was 4/27/2023 and MalwareBytes does a boot drive scan every day on boot.

tia

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I’d hate to go through all these files to see if they are useful or ?  any advice ?

For me personally, my first thought is to find a clear reason how the files got there in the first place.  This seems unusual.  Windows folder paths never include a space before and after the “/”.   A folder name of “Documents / ApplicationDownloads” cannot exist unless there some kind of hidden characters and that would be a new one on me.  It should be “Documents/ApplicationDownloads”.  What are the file names?  The AskWoody members are a savvy bunch so you’ll probably get some helpful feedback.

Post some screenshots.

Desktop Asus TUF X299 Mark 1, CPU: Intel Core i7-7820X Skylake-X 8-Core 3.6 GHz, RAM: 32GB, GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti 4GB. Display: Four 27" 1080p screens 2 over 2 quad.

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thanks, and very very sorry, techtango, for throwing you off the scent – you wouldn’t have known this but i would have surrounded   usr / Documents / ApplicationDownloads   with quotes, but, of course,  ‘ usr ‘ is just a stand-in for my username, and i just wanted to make the path easy to read.

Mostly I was just surprised there was so much old junk in there (: ), and i didn’t want to take the time to look through it all — i was hoping, as is sometimes the case, that a user in the know would outright tell me, “go ahead and just ‘bin’ the whole thing” and then i would feel comfortable doing just that.

thanks again

 

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rialto bing wrote:

curiously MalwareBytes  just ‘found’ this file today

Probably a false positive following a detection update.
Upload the file to VirusTotal and see if it is bad.

As for the files, make a backup and then delete them.

cheers, Paul

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rialto bing

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TechTango wrote:

A folder name of “Documents / ApplicationDownloads” cannot exist unless there some kind of hidden characters and that would be a new one on me.

Yes, but not hidden characters, invisible ones (aka: a recognized blank space).  I have several totally invisible icons on my Desktop.  Example of how they appear in Explorer is the image below.  The Path address of one of the files shows the invisible name:

“C:\Users\username\Desktop\   .lnk”

Rename a file and enter (on number keypad) the new name as Alt+0160 (ASCII code).  With file extensions not showing the new name is invisible.  The same exist for icons for the file which is why nothing appears in the Name column in my image.

The ASCII code entered at the end or beginning of a file’s name can make the file look like another but will be recognized by Windows as a file of a different name.  File Explorer will even search for the invisible character, but will return all files that have a blank space in their name.

 

HTH, Dana:))

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rialto bing, TechTango

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Thanks for taking the time with your detailed reply.  Very helpful.

Desktop Asus TUF X299 Mark 1, CPU: Intel Core i7-7820X Skylake-X 8-Core 3.6 GHz, RAM: 32GB, GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti 4GB. Display: Four 27" 1080p screens 2 over 2 quad.

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Unusual indeed, many of those UUID (Universal Unique Identifier) serial numbers generated for folder names after program updates, new programs, or driver installations in user account temporary folders. Sifting though those files may give you a clue as to what created those files.

Do you remember installing any program using your local account, as a few do not need Administrative permissions?

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rialto bing

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ahh – i’ll check into the ‘local account’ – many thanks

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