Ok, so this is my first post and I hope I'm posting in the right forum. However, I noticed a strange file located in
C:\Users\<my suer name here>\AppData\Roaming as I was creating a start menu shortcut of a portable application. As I was manuevering through the directories, I noticed a strange file called "c" with no extension in the above mentioned directory. Curious, I sandboxed a copy of the file, and opened it with notepad. Once it was opened, a "\" is the only text contained in the file. So, I asked a ChatGPT program that I have installed on my PC that's specifically made for PC troubleshooting and PowerShell scripting, and followed all the recommended actions - such as scan my PC with Malwarebytes, Hitman Pro, etc. etc. My PC comes up clean each time. Following the next step of this ChatGPT advice, I renamed the file to "c.bak" to see if it would create another instance of the file and to see if I would have an appllication misbehave/ fail to load, etc. After waiting a few days as recommended I deleted the c.bak file figuring an application hadn't malfunctioned or anything so I figured it was safe to delete, thinking maybe it was a leftover from another application that I had uninstalled. Immediately after deleting the c.bak file, another instance of the original "c" file suddenly appeared. So, I went ahead and renamed it to "c.disabled" this time. My question is, is that I cannot trace what is creating this "c" file with no extension. I figured if this was caused from an application it would occur immediately right after renaming the file as "c.bak" which it did not - but the moment I delete the file, a new instance of "c" file appears suddenly. How can I trace what application is causing this? And yes, I did look at the properties details tab and it's just blank. Any ideas of what's going on here?
C:\Users\<my suer name here>\AppData\Roaming as I was creating a start menu shortcut of a portable application. As I was manuevering through the directories, I noticed a strange file called "c" with no extension in the above mentioned directory. Curious, I sandboxed a copy of the file, and opened it with notepad. Once it was opened, a "\" is the only text contained in the file. So, I asked a ChatGPT program that I have installed on my PC that's specifically made for PC troubleshooting and PowerShell scripting, and followed all the recommended actions - such as scan my PC with Malwarebytes, Hitman Pro, etc. etc. My PC comes up clean each time. Following the next step of this ChatGPT advice, I renamed the file to "c.bak" to see if it would create another instance of the file and to see if I would have an appllication misbehave/ fail to load, etc. After waiting a few days as recommended I deleted the c.bak file figuring an application hadn't malfunctioned or anything so I figured it was safe to delete, thinking maybe it was a leftover from another application that I had uninstalled. Immediately after deleting the c.bak file, another instance of the original "c" file suddenly appeared. So, I went ahead and renamed it to "c.disabled" this time. My question is, is that I cannot trace what is creating this "c" file with no extension. I figured if this was caused from an application it would occur immediately right after renaming the file as "c.bak" which it did not - but the moment I delete the file, a new instance of "c" file appears suddenly. How can I trace what application is causing this? And yes, I did look at the properties details tab and it's just blank. Any ideas of what's going on here?
- Windows Build/Version
- Windows 11 version:23H2 Build 22635.4660
Attachments
My Computer
System One
-
- OS
- Windows 11 Professional 25H2; Linux Mint
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- Manufacturer/Model
- Acer
- CPU
- 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-1215U 1.20 GHz
- Motherboard
- Acer Aspire C24-1700
- Memory
- 16 GB
- Graphics Card(s)
- Video Card: Intel Arc UHD Graphics (Alder Lake-P 282 GT2) - Integrated Graphics Controller [ACER]
- Sound Card
- Intel Alder Lake-P PCH - cAVS (Audio, Voice, Speech)
- Monitor(s) Displays
- Acer [Unknown Model: ACR40B0]
- Screen Resolution
- 1920x1080
- Hard Drives
- SSD: WDC PC SN530 SDBPNPZ-512G-1114
SSD: TEAM TM8PS7512G
HDD: WDC WD20JDRW-11C7VS0
HDD: Seagate ST2000LM007-1R8174 HDD: Seagate ST1000LM035-1RK172
- Case
- Acer AIO
- Keyboard
- Razer Ornata V3 X
- Mouse
- Razer Basilisk V3
- Browser
- Brave, Chrome, Firefox, Edge
- Antivirus
- Microsoft Defender
