This file could have been put there by one of your programs. Have you tried using the
SYSTEM RESTORE built into Win7? Attempt to
"rollback" your system back to a point in time
PRIOR TO THAT FILE SHOWING UP IN YOUR C: DIRECTORY. Before attempting this however, I would make certain that you
Make sure to BACKUP ALL PERSONAL DATA FROM THIS COMPUTER PRIOR TO ATTEMPTING FURTHER HARDWARE TESTING OR SOFTWARE REPAIRS IN ORDER TO AVOID IRRETRIEVABLE DATA LOSS!!!
It's very important you have your data backed up, since if this rogue file is being produced by a virus/malware on your computer, some viruses can cause SYSTEM RESTORE to fail, or worse they can scramble your Windows, and catastrophic file loss can occur. Also, your Windows might not boot after this attempt!
This method is kind of like using a Big Hammer to drive a little nail; but if often fixes things that wind up in your computer that you
SWEAR you didn't put there or even click on. This is quite likely to get rid of your bad file, with the least amount of effort.
If the problem persists after the Restore, another thing you can try that requires a bit more work, would be to run the
MSCONFIG.EXE program from the
<Windows-logo-key+R> command, and simply type in the command
"MSCONFIG.EXE" into the Run box that comes up. This will take you to the
SYSTEM CONFIGURATION program, click on the
STARTUP TAB, and under Startup, make sure all your items are have checks in the little checkboxes, then find and click on the
DISABLE ALL button. This will disable all programs that run when your computer starts up; if there is an offending program that's putting that file into your C: root directory, after reboot it should be gone!!
If the problem
STILL persists, another way to see what's going on is to re-use the method above using the
MSCONFIG.EXE program, but this time click on the
BOOT TAB, and go into
BOOT OPTIONS section on the bottom half of that main page; look for the
SAFE BOOT radio button and click it, then find the sub-radio button underneath that says
NETWORK and click that button as well. Click OK and Win7 will tell you that you need to restart your computer in order for these changes to take effect; do so. Your computer will reboot; if you have a password on your Win7 Admin login account, it will ask you for that password before it will let you into Safe Mode and your Windows desktop. Once you get your password typed in and you are on your Win7 desktop; wait a few moments and your desktop should be up. Note that the screen resolution will be diminished and things will look grainy as Safe Mode loads the very basic video mode of lowest resolution (for troubleshooting purposes only); you can then fire up Windows Explorer and look at your C: drive and see if your bad file is gone; if so something else in your Windows is putting that file there (not any of your Startup programs however!) and you'll need to look at repairing your Win7 itself or doing a Win7 Reset or Reinstallation from Factory Media (if you have it).
At this point, you will need to decide what to do. If that file is still there, my guess is that it's virus/malware related and you need to clean
ALL viruses from your computer. While you are still in
SAFE MODE, you should then visit the TrendMicro.com website and run their free online scanner called
HOUSECALL to scan your computer for viruses. Remove all viruses found after the scan. Next, visit the free
MALWAREBYTES antispyware website at
malwarebytes.org, install
MALWAREBYTES and scan/remove all spyware viruses found. Finally, re-enter the
SYSTEM CONFIGURATION program using the method above (
MSCONFIG.EXE), return to the
BOOT TAB, and go into
BOOT OPTIONS section on the bottom half of that main page; look for the
SAFE BOOT radio button and click it again
to turn the Safe Boot option off completely. Click
OK, and your computer will ask you to restart your computer again to save those changes. This will effectively put your computer back into
NORMAL mode; which is what you want.
After your computer restarts, check your
C: drive directory again. If the bad file is gone, you had a virus/spyware virus/malware of some kind and you are good to go!
If none of these repairs work, you probably have severe Windows corruption in your registry that is not repairable except by expert Computer Techs (expensive) at a repair shop; or you simply could have a new virus/malware out that currently does not have any antidotes available for cleaning.
If this is the case, your only recourse is to backup all your stuff as mentioned above, and perform a Win7 Reset or a Win7 Factory Reinstallation from Factory Media (if you have it). If you have to do a Factory Reinstallation and you don't have the Media, you can often purchase it by calling your computer manufacturer and they will send it to you in the Mail for
$29-$99 US (USB or DVD) if it's available. If your computer is too old (say older than 2007); your Recovery Media for your model PC or laptop may no longer be available if it's over 10 years old, and you are probably out of luck
unless you can find someone like me who can rebuild your machine from scratch manually.
Not many Techs know how to do this anymore; and fewer will want to do it because of the labor time (60-100 hrs.).
You now have all the options you need to get this going; and we've still ignored testing your Hard Drive and RAM memory Sticks; if you are the DIY type, here's the link to do that too:
Windows 10 - Unclickable Task Bar Best of luck to you, and remember to print out all of these instructions on your printer so you have hardcopy in case you scramble your machine! And if you get stuck, ask questions by posting back to this thread. We are here
24x7x365.
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