SOLVED Mysterious folders in my AppData>Local folder

[TrainableMan]

I believe this is the forum for you to post your WLM issue:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/wlgeneraldev/threads

 

[davehc]

Questions and answers:

http://windowslivehelp.com/product.aspx?productid=15&version=15.3.2804.0607

Feedback:

https://feedback.live.com/Default.aspx?productkey=wlmaildesktop&wa=wsignin1.0&scrx=1

I have lodged the item for investigation, as stated in an earlier post. No response that would satisfy this thread..

You might find it beneficial to continue this thead on those pages?

 

[Zoolx]

can someone tell me why i cant reach this page at MS helpline ?

http://windowslivehelp.com/thread.aspx?threadid=0392112a-348b-489f-87c2-b3800eb952e1

in this case, our problem was discused and escalated but no way to go on here also ?

http://windowslivehelp.com/thread.aspx?threadid=caab0919-250b-426c-ae85-dc90fe34e932

mysterious ..
.Zool.

 

[TrainableMan]

Windows Live Solution Center is currently experiencing technical difficulties. You may receive an error such as "Page Cannot be Displayed" when attempting to view the site. We are aware of the issue and are working with our Operations team to resolve the problem.

They know the site is having issues.

 

[Nibiru2012]

Sorry to butt into this thread, on my first post, but I was fascinated by the sheer volume of what, to me, appeared as an almost total waste of time.
Why are the users so intent on worrying about something which, in Microsoft's eyes, is not, in the slightest degree, a problem?
There are several such hidden and system folders in Windows. They are hidden, by default, for the OS's exclusive use. Axiomatically, that is why they are hidden.
Several are constantly being written to, during the daily operations. They can easily be unhidden - possibly a mistake by Microsoft.
Surely it can be no concern, operationally, to users, that empty folders are being created in a portion of the OS that they should not even be seeing! (Or have I overlooked the essence of this thread?) I can see this has been pointed out, at least twice, by a moderator, but ignored.
I can assure those who mentioned it, that Microsoft will totally ignore any complaint/bug suggested from this feature.

Or perhaps, at this stage, it is just curiosity.? If not, hit the reset button in the folder views, and the problem goes away.

Hello murhpy! Welcome to the Windows 7 Forums website! :ciao:

I agree 100% with you on this. I stated back on page 2 of this thread that these folders were not taking up hardly any space at all and are really insignificant to begin with. Basically I advised to ignore them... but as you have seen.

To quote Shakespeare: this is "Much Ado About Nothing".

The thread has gone on ad infinitum, ad nauseum for way too long in my humble opinion.

Probably that's why this is only my second post here.

 

[lalittle]

To quote Shakespeare: this is "Much Ado About Nothing".

The thread has gone on ad infinitum, ad nauseum for way too long in my humble opinion.

The basic issue is that it bothers some people that a folder that is NOT supposed to be used for temporary files is being used as such, and that some Windows Live programs are leaving an ever growing collection of "nuisance" folders in a location that is not being cleaned up. Those of us bothered by this are simply interested in getting to the bottom of the issue, and are therefore sharing our findings in this forum with others that are seeing the same thing.

So far, even though the thread has become a bit long, it has actually been relatively fruitful. Because of this discussion, we've figured out that the folders are being created by either WL Mail or WL Messenger, and that it appears that only the newer version of WL Mail has this issue -- i.e. the previous version of WL Mail did not do this, which explains why some people are not seeing it on some systems. I'm not yet clear how the version history effects the WL Messenger users.

Larry

 

[TrainableMan]

This issue cannot be resolved here. According to Zoolx, Microsoft is aware of the issue. You may want to follow the various links in this thread to their site/forum and add your concerns or watch for their solution.

Currently your options are
1. Do not use the product
2. Ignore it, because it is extremely minor and is occurring in a folder where most users do not belong and where they could actually damage the stability of their programs/computer.
3. Manually delete the folders carefully at your own risk.

If Microsoft comes up with a solution please post it back here as well.

 

[Nibiru2012]

The basic issue is that it bothers some people that a folder that is NOT supposed to be used for temporary files is being used as such

It's always been that way! What in the world do you mean? Windows has TEMP folders and temp folders!?!

If you don't like what Windows Live Mail is doing then cease using it!

Most tech savvy users don't mess with email applications anyway as they're not that secure. If you must use one, then I recommend Thunderbird.

 

[clifford_cooley]

Nibs you don't understand. The problem is the programs are not using the temp folders. These mysterious folders are being placed beside the temp folder not in it.

 

[davehc]

I really am trying to stay out of this thread, as it has run its course, with no result.
Nibs is correct on all counts.
WLM, if that is the culprit (I see posts where neither that program, or Windows Live, are being used), then don't use it. Where the OS/MS put files or folders, in the hidden or system sections, is their privilige. It matters not to us mere mortals, as long as it does not lower the performance of the OS.
For those posters who are really concerned, I would suggest, at you own risk, you open up something like "Documents and settings" and see what is going on there. You might get seriously worried.
Have a browse through the multitude of discussions among experts and plain users alike. I've done it. You won't find anything that indicates that anyone is overconcerned with this.

 

[TrainableMan]

As I see it this is the entire issue in a nutshell:
The main issue is that at least one program in the Windows Live Essentials suite doesn't clean up it's empty folders from appdata\local and they didn't put these folders under appdata\local\temp. These {foldersWithClsidNames} would ideally be deleted but if not deleted then at least Microsoft should put them under temp.

 

[clifford_cooley]

I now have 22 of these empty folders showing.

 

[moonman]

FYI

I think it's pretty much self-explanatory.

 

[trentguy]

It's not just a Windows 7 problem. I use Vista Home Premium and I've accumulated about 60 folders in AppData\Local since I re-installed a few months ago. It seems to be about one empty folder for each day so it could be related to updates which download and instal automatically each night. The Folder creation time is usually around 9am, ie about 6 hours after my auto update starts, and about the time I start using the computer. I often run things overnight and still get a freebie folder! I don't use MSE - I have Avast as my antivirus, but I use Defender as my firewall.

 

[moonman]

It's not just a Windows 7 problem. I use Vista Home Premium and I've accumulated about 60 folders in AppData\Local since I re-installed a few months ago. It seems to be about one empty folder for each day so it could be related to updates which download and instal automatically each night. The Folder creation time is usually around 9am, ie about 6 hours after my auto update starts, and about the time I start using the computer. I often run things overnight and still get a freebie folder! I don't use MSE - I have Avast as my antivirus, but I use Defender as my firewall.

Windows does not download and install updates every night. See my previous post for the solution.

 

[trentguy]

Forgot to mention that I'm using Windows Live as well. Reading other comments it could be naughty Microsoft being too lazy to clear up after closing Win Live. The folder creation times would tie in with the first time I open Win Live each day.

 

[lalittle]

Windows does not download and install updates every night. See my previous post for the solution.

Forgive me, but I don't understand your previous post, or how it shows a "solution" to this issue. You said that it's self-explanatory, but unfortunately, it isn't to me, so could you possibly explain it in more detail?

Thanks,

Larry

 

[davehc]

So, in spite of my previous post, I would like to add a comment.
I do appreciate that, whilst this is of no operational concern, users are curious as to what is causing the problem. Keep uppermost in mind, hwever, that the vast majority of users around the wrold do not make uneeded customise options to the OS, and are totally unaware that there are empty folders in a hidden section.
But, to the point, I have been experimenting. How many, who are seein these folders, have the attached calendar operational in Live Mail?
It may have been a wrong reading, but I found after using the calendar, with,( I believe), a couple of reminders, that the folders then started to appear.
However, my imagination or not, it was definitely eminating from Live Mail. I do not use any of the other items in the package.

 

[trentguy]

I've seen a number of articles on the web about these files, and the concensus is that they are created during windows update. I had about 50 recently in Vista so it's not unique to Win 7. I moved them to another folder and rebooted to see what happened. All was OK so after a few days I deleted them and there hasn't been a problem. I've upgraded to Win 7 and have a few already, but as yet I haven't gone throught the exercise to move them and see if it's OK to delete.

 

[6205]

This issue is still not fixed in latest Windows Live Essentials 2011, build 15.4.3538.0513