after using oe6 occasionally a file called ~.fil appears on my desktop ( it also appears in oe6 folder and in my documents and settings folder if i open it with word pad within a load of symbols appears the contents of my address book. If i delete these files then they return, sometimes next time i use oe6, sometimes not for a week or two. Anti viral toolkit pro ( with latest virus sets) says my system is clean as does adware6. My edition of xp and oe6 aree fully updated, etc. Any ideas on what this file is and how i can stop it appearing. Thanx John

John, The link below explains that ~ (tilde) file and what causes it. What is the Tilde (~) file that appears on Desktop HTH Tufenuf

lav750: Tufenuf provided you with good information about the ~.fil file. However, when you described the load of symbols (encryption), it also brought something else to mind. There are hidden .dat files in every Microsoft operating system which record the URLs (websites) you visit. Even after you empty the temp cache, do a standard disk clean-up, defrag, et al, these .dat files remain on your hard drive. The files are hidden very well and a history of your web surfing is there for those who know how to look. The extension ~.fil is not one of these hidden .dats, but there are others which cannot be documented. This has nothing to do with being paranoid, or having something to hide. Quite simply, hidden files on your computer which record information without your knowledge are a violation of a person's right to privacy. Until I did a scan with Spider (116), I didn't realize just how extensive the invasion was. The scan turned up URLs for websites I had not visited for over a year! Now that's a HISTORY. 8-) Some folks will not care in the least what's recorded on their PC, and that's cool. For those that do, you can probably still find Spider at: www.pricelessware.org It's very easy to use for scanning, then completely erasing, the hidden .dat files (requires a re-boot of your PC). But read the included documentation. The program itself is tiny: 415KB. Solarian

Here's the link for Spider 1.16 www.fsm.nl/ward/

Wombat: Since ya did, thanks for posting the way. 8-) Solarian