I've had those from time to time. I researched it and it is some type of temporary file. I just delete them.

The tilade character (~) is usually attached to temporary files.  When in doubt, delete and reboot.  If you have a problem, you can always restore it from the recycle bin.

The fact that this little bugger is showing up on your desktop makes me suspicious, though.  I would download AdAware or SpyBot and scan your machine, just in case.

I also have this file on my desktop.  I'm going to run either AdAware or SpyBot just to be sure I haven't picked up some spyware.

Thanks all for the suggestions. I have adaware, and ran a scan. Adaware didn't seem to think it was tracking-related, so I deleted the files. I'll do that in the future; I just like to know why stuff happens...

Do they ever use Outlook Express or something like that?

OE has a bug where it files a file named ~ on the C drive

Hi,

I am  just wondering how many people that have this on there desktop are using att cable modem?? I am using that and since they told me to download something because att is changing to Comcast at the end of the month...They also stated that we will need to re-boot our computers after June 30th... This makes me wonder if it has something to do with that....I have the same thing, when I delete it, it stays away for a few days and then comes back...John

I'll give it a shot next time the critter shows up.

Thanks.

I have dial up ( the cable people and dsl folks don't come out this far in the sticks yet.) and I get that file also. It seems to show up on my desktop when my wife opens an attachment, by way of outlook express, from one of her friends. She tried to opewn it once before I could stop her and there was some sort of message saying that windows couldn't open it. Now I make sure she scans and deletes any hincky attachments.

dimension4400,1.6ghz p4,384ddr sdram,20gb primary hd, 60 gb slave(both wd) ,radeon 7500 64 mb ddr video,sb live 5.1 digital audio, 4 port firewire, 4 port usb,hp930c, hp 5400c, sony trv 330 digital camcorder, intel pro pac webcam ,dell E151FP lcd monitor, 24x nec cdrw, 48x samsung cdrom.

1st system
IBM 760el Thinkpad
Selectadock docking station w/4x cdrom
4x cdrom
external floppy
48mb dimm ram
1.1gb hd
U.S. robotics 56k external modem
Iomega Click 40mb hd
4 pcmia slots (2 thinkpad,2 docking station)

You could try Renaming file to say test.txt right click & select "Open with Notepad" & see if it shows any info referring to OE.

DELL 2600 Notebook
Windows XP Home Edition
CPU 1.2Ghz XP SP1
256 KB Ram 18 GB Hard Drive
Dial-up Modem 56Kb

There is another thread on this same topic here. I didn't read the whole thread so I don't know if there was a solution discovered or not.