6 replies to this topic

[mona7865]

A couple of days ago in noticed that, when MBAM runs a quick scan, there are a lot of tmp files (XXXXXX.tmp - where X is a number) in System 32 being scanned, both on my Dell Inspiron and the HP Mini (both Win XP - P 3).

I would appreciate it very much if someone could explain why these tmp files are there, whether it is necessary they stay there and, if not, whether and how you can remove them.

They don't disappear when running CCleaner (default settings)) nor when doing a disk clean up.

Thank you.

[Firefox]

The system32 folder usually does not get *.tmp files. Files that I have usually found there with random mumbers and end in tmp have been found to by either leftover stuff from viruses or spyware.

If this was my computer, I would move those tmp files to a temp folder and then use my computer a few days and see if everything works fine, if it does then I would just delete them.

What AV program are you running? Have you tried running a full scan using your AV Program? Maybe a full scan with MBAM would not hurt either.

Just my 2 cents....

[mona7865]

I really don't know how long they might have been there. I just noticed they were scanned by MBAM's quick scan, but not flagged as "infected". My daily AV scan (I'm now testing Kaspersky AV 2010) comes up clean and so does a scan by SAS.

I'm just wondering why they are there, as they show up being scanned op both laptops.

[Jacktivity]

@mona7865 -

You got me to look at my own system32 directory. I didn't expect to find anything. Surprisingly, I found 4 tmp files. They were all 4-digit alpha-numeric names ending in .tmp. All were created on the same date and time and all were 6KB. I right clicked and selected properties, but that didn't tell me much of anything useful as to who they belonged to or where they came from. So I opened them in Notepad and found they were all from Sophos from when I was checking out a 64-bit anti-rootkit program they recently released. I just trashed them. You may get some type of indication as well, if you open them in Notepad.

[mountaintree16]

@ mona7865 and Jacktivity

I'm going to check mine soon too now

That's an interesting place for a computer to put them, heh.

Sounds like temp files stored there are more likely than not harmless.

[Firefox]

I just checked mine, and I do not have any tmp files in that folder, I tend to remove tmp files from my windows folders anyway....

[mountaintree16]

I can't even seem to find that folder, I'll keep hunting.

@ Firefox

Yeah, I use ATF cleaner whenever I use my computer (usually just once each day) and CCleaner once in a while I like to clear up space and clean up temp files.