Strangely dated files not put there by me

Does anyone know how this could happen? I had a new flash drive and needed to put something on it, of course. After I transferred a folder to it, next time I accessed it there was a text.tmp file there. I didn't know what it was but didn't delete it because I didn't want to chance it effecting the other info on there in the folder that I transferred. Now I just accessed it again after about a month of not using it and there are other files on there titled with just symbols. The date of creation on one of the files is 2032 and the other one is dated 1980. Oh and another folder, empty, is there too with no creation date on it.

How does this happen, and should I be concerned?

Yes be very concerned. Apparently you have a file(s) from the past interacting with a file(s) from the future. This has generated a spatial disturbance dilating time. The result you are observing is the creation of files that do not exist in time but do exist in space.

I will not venture into the possible ramifications of this other than to say you need to destroy the flashdrive now. Quickly smash it to bits before it can bring any harm to the universe.

Probably virus. I suppose you use some version of Windows. If so, try to open some of files in some simply text editor (not M$ Office!) ... Notepad I think is standard part of Win. Or you can post some of those files on some web server and I can check it.

reply to post by emberscott


Actually my husband just said it must be I've been bouncing around in time. The file from 1980 is empty. The one from 2032 in the list has 756,873 KB but when I examine details it says it is actually 739 MB. I scanned the drive for viruses and it says none are there.

reply to post by JanAmosComenius


So if I open it in notepad it can't infect my comp? Also, how would I put it up for you to check? I'm just very curious about this and I don't know how it would have been installed because I haven't even used the drive very often and I keep all my stuff up to date. I use Win 7

Originally posted by Ellie Sagan
reply to post by JanAmosComenius

 

So if I open it in notepad it can't infect my comp? Also, how would I put it up for you to check? I'm just very curious about this and I don't know how it would have been installed because I haven't even used the drive very often and I keep all my stuff up to date. I use Win 7

With 99.99% it will not infect your computer via Notepad but you will have hard time to open 700MB file. I do not know how to list just few first and last lines of bigger file on Windows.
Viri often use flash drives as "infection vector" - that was my first idea. But 700MB is way too much for any virus. It looks more as some temporary file of some application. Hard to tell if I do not have it in my hands. My inet connection is poor so I do not want to download so much data. Last Win on which I was working was XP so I'll probably not help you more.

reply to post by Ellie Sagan


756,873/1024 is equal to 739.1337890625 MB
So, that pans out. Sounds like a virus, if you haven't done so, turn all hidden files and folders to visible via....

My Computer > Menu Item [Tools] > Tab [View] > List located therein [Hidden files and folders] change radio button to [show hidden files and folders] > push [OK] button.

Now see if there are other hidden files and folders on the drive. We might be able to gain more info this way.

reply to post by Skada


I already set it to show hidden files and folders and there was nothing else there. So if this is a virus then my AVG didn't catch it. Like I said, all my stuff is updated and I really stay on top of it. I use SpyBot, AVG, and CCleaner almost obsessively. I have never gotten a virus on this laptop which I've had for almost a year.

Anyway, if it is a virus, should I just delete them?

reply to post by JanAmosComenius


Well thank you for your response. I'm glad you were willing to help.

I guess I'm bumping this because I really would like to know if it's ok to just delete these files. If they are from a virus, will that activate anything? I don't know if you can activate a virus in any other way than actually opening the file.

reply to post by Ellie Sagan


My advice, which isn't worth much..
Copy whatever files you need from the drive and delete the rest.
Start over from scratch.

I don't know what you have that would be +700mb....

If you didn't put the files on there yourself, then it is reasonably safe to assume you can delete them off the drive. I would back up the important files in at least 3 different locations as a precaution. Without seeing the file names, or a screen cap of the drive, I cannot give you very useful advice.

Yeah, I had a flashdrive that did strange things. 256 GB flash drive.
It was great.. until I loaded all of my past music productions files onto it to transfer to a new computer.
I guess it sent my past files back to where they belonged, because the folders were there but the files never made it...

Then I looked it up on google, and as it turns out, Kingston doesnt make a Datatraveler 200 in 256 Gb...
Sad world when people are counterfeiting flash drives...

Windows 7 like Windows Vista has a function where it will use part of a fashdrive as temp storage if the computer doesn't have memory above a certain limit, in Vista it was 2GB, if you had less memory than this a flashdrive would be used as temporary memory. I am not sure what the limit is in Win 7, but the feature is still there, that could be where the files are coming from, I would say you are fine with deleting them, it will not activate any virus.

The size sounds about right for a temporary memory file too.

Originally posted by Wolfie0827
Windows 7 like Windows Vista has a function where it will use part of a fashdrive as temp storage if the computer doesn't have memory above a certain limit, in Vista it was 2GB, if you had less memory than this a flashdrive would be used as temporary memory. I am not sure what the limit is in Win 7, but the feature is still there, that could be where the files are coming from, I would say you are fine with deleting them, it will not activate any virus.

The size sounds about right for a temporary memory file too.

The cache feature you are talking about is called ReadyBoost and its not switched on by default on a flash drive. The user has to specifically set it after plugging in the USB drive.

OP did you open any of the files after you copied them to your USB stick? It sounds like you opened a file and then removed the USB drive before saving or closing it.

reply to post by PhoenixOD


No I didn't remove the drive without properly closing everything and using the 'safely remove' device thing that is on computers. I am paranoid about losing stuff, so I always do that.

reply to post by Wolfie0827


When I tried to delete the stuff it said they weren't in that location anymore so it couldn't delete them. It said locate the file then delete it. The other file that said 'test.tmp' said it was a program file (or something like that) and if I deleted it, some programs might not work properly. But I did it anyway after moving the files I wanted to keep.

reply to post by Skada


img.abovetopsecret.com... The only thing I put on the drive was the School stuff folder.

img.abovetopsecret.com... This is the details of the file.

reply to post by Ellie Sagan


Ok,

Did you open any of the files on the flash drive once you had transfered them?

You see there s a few programs like Open Office or Ms office for example that will create a .tmp file when you open a document. That way if anything happens (like a power failure etc ) while you are working on a document or file you wont damage the original.

reply to post by PhoenixOD


I may have. But... the temp file should go away once you save it when you are done, right?