Running completely updated Window 11. This is the second time this has
shown up.
I have a couple of external USB drives on my laptop. The one involved is
usually about half full (appox 1TB) Today I noticed that it almost
completely full, and this weird directory has shown up. Here is the
directory nameL eGzewu8d ghi5YgCfC. There are 1,319 files in the directory,
each 216 mb. They were created at 12:00 AM today. All of them. I haven't
tried to see what the contents are, if any, as I don't have any file dump
progams on my system.
The same thing happened a month o so ago, and I just deleted the directory
with no visible ill effects.

Anyone have any idea where thhis is coming from. I run Malwarebytes, and my
system is scanned at least once a week, with nothing found.

On Tue, 23 May 2023 22:34:39 GMT, MajorLanGod <lonelydad58@gmail.com>
wrote:

>Running completely updated Window 11.

THIS IS THE WIN 11

alt.comp.os.windows-11

KenW

On 5/23/2023 6:34 PM, MajorLanGod wrote:
> Running completely updated Window 11. This is the second time this has
> shown up.
> I have a couple of external USB drives on my laptop. The one involved is
> usually about half full (appox 1TB) Today I noticed that it almost
> completely full, and this weird directory has shown up. Here is the
> directory nameL eGzewu8d ghi5YgCfC. There are 1,319 files in the directory,
> each 216 mb. They were created at 12:00 AM today. All of them. I haven't
> tried to see what the contents are, if any, as I don't have any file dump
> progams on my system.
> The same thing happened a month o so ago, and I just deleted the directory
> with no visible ill effects.
>
> Anyone have any idea where thhis is coming from. I run Malwarebytes, and my
> system is scanned at least once a week, with nothing found.
>

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/storage-at-microsoft/how-windows-vista-backup-uses-zip-files-to-store-backups-and-how/ba-p/423390

"Backup splits the files among a series of zip files with a non-configurable
maximum size of 200 MB (or smaller if the media has less than 200 MB available).
Backup is designed to avoid splitting files across zips and media if possible."

When the ZIPs are split, they're not split the same way that
WinZIP would split them. To manually recovery them, you have
to concatenate a set of them to build something that will work.
The first file may have a ZIP header, the others are just "chunks"
rather than also being ZIP files in a ZIP series. That is why
the article has a little section involving concatenating some
files.

"copy /b disc*.mp4 disc1.mp4

Here's what the output looks like in the command prompt window:

DISC1_1.MP4
DISC1_2.MP4
DISC1_3.MP4
DISC1_4.MP4
DISC1_5.MP4

1 file(s) copied.
"

As a result, the same ceremonies that work with ZIP
attachments (a number of ZIP files with particular names),
don't exactly work with these Backup files.

You would have to check and see if you have "scheduled" backups
or something, using the Microsoft tools. Because the "200MB files"
detail is a hint. I can't think of any other tools that have
a thing about "200MB files" :-)

The directory name ? No clue on that aspect yet.

Paul

On 5/23/2023 4:53 PM, KenW wrote:
> On Tue, 23 May 2023 22:34:39 GMT, MajorLanGod <lonelydad58@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Running completely updated Window 11.
>
> THIS IS THE WIN 11
>
> alt.comp.os.windows-11
This was unhelpful or several reasons:

1. Many (most?) mail list servers don't carry that group; e.g., Eternal
September does not.

2. This Windows 10 list deals with many Windows 11 issues on a daily basis.
--
Jeff Barnett

On 5/23/23 15:34, MajorLanGod wrote:
> Running completely updated Window 11. This is the second time this has
> shown up.
> I have a couple of external USB drives on my laptop. The one involved is
> usually about half full (appox 1TB) Today I noticed that it almost
> completely full, and this weird directory has shown up. Here is the
> directory nameL eGzewu8d ghi5YgCfC. There are 1,319 files in the directory,
> each 216 mb. They were created at 12:00 AM today. All of them. I haven't
> tried to see what the contents are, if any, as I don't have any file dump
> progams on my system.
> The same thing happened a month o so ago, and I just deleted the directory
> with no visible ill effects.
>
> Anyone have any idea where thhis is coming from. I run Malwarebytes, and my
> system is scanned at least once a week, with nothing found.

Do you "eject" the drive before pulling it out?
If not, start.

Do the easy stuff first:

Highlight the directory, press shift-del. This
will do a complete removal (no recycle bin)
of the weird directory.

The open a command prompt and do a
chkdsk x: /f
where x is the drive letter of the flash drive

Worst case, reformat the drive

On 5/23/23 20:07, Jeff Barnett wrote:
> On 5/23/2023 4:53 PM, KenW wrote:
>> On Tue, 23 May 2023 22:34:39 GMT, MajorLanGod <lonelydad58@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Running completely updated Window 11.
>>
>> THIS IS THE WIN 11
>>
>> alt.comp.os.windows-11
> This was unhelpful or several reasons:
>
> 1. Many (most?) mail list servers don't carry that group; e.g., Eternal
> September does not.
>
> 2. This Windows 10 list deals with many Windows 11 issues on a daily basis.

1+

W10 and W11 are so similar, I think they should
be the same group.

And who cares anyway. This group is also about
computers too.

On 24/05/2023 04:07, Jeff Barnett wrote:
> On 5/23/2023 4:53 PM, KenW wrote:
>> On Tue, 23 May 2023 22:34:39 GMT, MajorLanGod <lonelydad58@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Running completely updated Window 11.
>>
>> THIS IS THE WIN 11
>>
>> alt.comp.os.windows-11
> This was unhelpful or several reasons:
>
> 1. Many (most?) mail list servers don't carry that group; e.g., Eternal
> September does not.
>
> 2. This Windows 10 list deals with many Windows 11 issues on a daily basis.

I read alt.comp.os.windows-11 via Eternal-September

--
Regards
wasbit

Jeff,

> 1. Many (most?) mail list servers don't carry that group; e.g., Eternal
> September does not.

Ethernal September does now (just checked). Neodome, netfront and mixmin
also do. Even aioe did.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

On Wed, 24 May 2023 11:14:46 +0200, R.Wieser wrote:

> Jeff,
>
>> 1. Many (most?) mail list servers don't carry that group; e.g., Eternal
>> September does not.
>
> Ethernal September does now (just checked). Neodome, netfront and mixmin
> also do. Even aioe did.
>
> Regards,
> Rudy Wieser
>

Indeed.

Eternal September started carrying alt.comp.os.windows-11 very shortly
after that group was created. As measured by posts from Eternal
September users to alt.comp.os.windows-11 way back in September 2021.
For an example, see: <http://al.howardknight.net/?ID=168492107600>

I can also confirm that Easynews and Newshosting (and all their
resellers) also carry alt.comp.os.windows-11. These servers use
the Highwinds Media backbone - see:
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Usenet_Providers_and_Backbones.svg>

--
Kind regards
Ralph

知之为知之，不知为不知，是知也

Jeff Barnett wrote:

> 1. Many (most?) mail list servers don't carry that group; e.g., Eternal
> September does not.

Actually E-S was one of the first servers to carry the group.

On 5/23/2023 6:34 PM, MajorLanGod wrote:
> Running completely updated Window 11. This is the second time this has
> shown up.
> I have a couple of external USB drives on my laptop. The one involved is
> usually about half full (appox 1TB) Today I noticed that it almost
> completely full, and this weird directory has shown up. Here is the
> directory nameL eGzewu8d ghi5YgCfC. There are 1,319 files in the directory,
> each 216 mb. They were created at 12:00 AM today. All of them. I haven't
> tried to see what the contents are, if any, as I don't have any file dump
> progams on my system.
> The same thing happened a month o so ago, and I just deleted the directory
> with no visible ill effects.
>
> Anyone have any idea where thhis is coming from. I run Malwarebytes, and my
> system is scanned at least once a week, with nothing found.
>

It is unlikely that any other backup program does things exactly the same way
as Windows ("Win7 Backup" in Control Panels) does them.

[Picture]

https://i.postimg.cc/7P0WL3SY/win10-backup-demo.gif

The built-in backup consists of a couple parts (two different folders).

The System Image backs up C: so you can restore the operating system.
The containers are very large and have .vhdx for a file extension.

The profile backup uses 200MB ZIP files, but it has some rules about
when to start new ZIP files. It can back up larger files than the
200MB size implies, by segmenting the larger file over multiple ZIPs.
There is a kind of demo in the picture.

I tried File History, but when visiting the drive letter I put
them on, they seem to be stored as ordinary files. They're likely
done with VSS somehow, but exactly how, I haven't figured that out.
In any case, they don't seem to be 200MB files particularly.

*******

Start looking around C: or in Task Manager, for some third-party
stuff you've forgotten about.

The directory name was obfuscated for some purpose, like privacy.
Once you figure out what tool did it (maybe look in Taskschd.msc),
that will make it easier to research the obfuscation of the directory
name.

Paul

On Tue, 23 May 2023 21:07:43 -0600, Jeff Barnett <jbb@notatt.com>
wrote:

>On 5/23/2023 4:53 PM, KenW wrote:
>> On Tue, 23 May 2023 22:34:39 GMT, MajorLanGod <lonelydad58@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Running completely updated Window 11.
>>
>> THIS IS THE WIN 11
>>
>> alt.comp.os.windows-11
>This was unhelpful or several reasons:
>
>1. Many (most?) mail list servers don't carry that group; e.g., Eternal
>September does not.
>
>2. This Windows 10 list deals with many Windows 11 issues on a daily basis.
OK

KenW

On Tue, 23 May 2023 21:07:43 -0600, Jeff Barnett <jbb@notatt.com>
wrote:

>On 5/23/2023 4:53 PM, KenW wrote:
>> On Tue, 23 May 2023 22:34:39 GMT, MajorLanGod <lonelydad58@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Running completely updated Window 11.
>>
>> THIS IS THE WIN 11
>>
>> alt.comp.os.windows-11
>This was unhelpful or several reasons:
>
>1. Many (most?) mail list servers don't carry that group; e.g., Eternal
>September does not.

Yes, it does.

>2. This Windows 10 list deals with many Windows 11 issues on a daily basis.

On 5/24/2023 7:09 AM, Paul wrote:
> On 5/23/2023 6:34 PM, MajorLanGod wrote:
>> Running completely updated Window 11. This is the second time this has
>> shown up.
>> I have a couple of external USB drives on my laptop. The one involved is
>> usually about half full (appox 1TB) Today I noticed that it almost
>> completely full, and this weird directory has shown up. Here is the
>> directory nameL eGzewu8d ghi5YgCfC. There are 1,319 files in the directory,
>> each 216 mb. They were created at 12:00 AM today. All of them. I haven't
>> tried to see what the contents are, if any, as I don't have any file dump
>> progams on my system.
>> The same thing happened a month o so ago, and I just deleted the directory
>> with no visible ill effects.
>>
>> Anyone have any idea where thhis is coming from. I run Malwarebytes, and my
>> system is scanned at least once a week, with nothing found.
>>
>
> It is unlikely that any other backup program does things exactly the same way
> as Windows ("Win7 Backup" in Control Panels) does them.
>
>    [Picture]
>
>     https://i.postimg.cc/7P0WL3SY/win10-backup-demo.gif
>
> The built-in backup consists of a couple parts (two different folders).
>
> The System Image backs up C: so you can restore the operating system.
> The containers are very large and have .vhdx for a file extension.
>
> The profile backup uses 200MB ZIP files, but it has some rules about
> when to start new ZIP files. It can back up larger files than the
> 200MB size implies, by segmenting the larger file over multiple ZIPs.
> There is a kind of demo in the picture.
>
> I tried File History, but when visiting the drive letter I put
> them on, they seem to be stored as ordinary files. They're likely
> done with VSS somehow, but exactly how, I haven't figured that out.
> In any case, they don't seem to be 200MB files particularly.
>
> *******
>
> Start looking around C: or in Task Manager, for some third-party
> stuff you've forgotten about.
>
> The directory name was obfuscated for some purpose, like privacy.
> Once you figure out what tool did it (maybe look in Taskschd.msc),
> that will make it easier to research the obfuscation of the directory
> name.

Another possibility that comes to mind, is Windows Easy Transfer
and USMT materials. Maybe they are an earlier instance of a ZIP
based thing ? The size of the materials (even though ZIPped),
may correspond to the size of the user profile (home directory).

Paul

Ralph Fox <-rf-nz-@-.invalid> wrote in
news:romr6i5j21vnaa009m1b2cif0gennfeud1@4ax.com:

> I can also confirm that Easynews and Newshosting (and all their
> resellers) also carry alt.comp.os.windows-11. These servers use
> the Highwinds Media backbone - see:
> <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Usenet_Providers_and_Backbones
> .svg>
>
>

This was a nice digression, but does anyone have any idea about my original
question?

On Wed, 24 May 2023 22:13:38 +1200, Ralph Fox wrote:
> Eternal September started carrying alt.comp.os.windows-11 very shortly
> after that group was created.
>

As did news.individual.net, if memory serves. In any case, it's there
now.

Windows 10 and Windows 11 have some things in common, but there are
quite a few differences. I disagree with whoever felt there should be
only one newsgroup for the two of them.

--
Stan Brown, Tehachapi, California, USA https://BrownMath.com/
Shikata ga nai...

MajorLanGod <lonelydad58@gmail.com> wrote in
news:XnsB00DB2CF5D7D3lonelydad58.gmail.co@85.12.62.225:

> Running completely updated Window 11. This is the second time this has
> shown up.
> I have a couple of external USB drives on my laptop. The one involved
> is usually about half full (appox 1TB) Today I noticed that it almost
> completely full, and this weird directory has shown up. Here is the
> directory nameL eGzewu8d ghi5YgCfC. There are 1,319 files in the
> directory, each 216 mb. They were created at 12:00 AM today. All of
> them. I haven't tried to see what the contents are, if any, as I don't
> have any file dump progams on my system.
> The same thing happened a month o so ago, and I just deleted the
> directory with no visible ill effects.
>
> Anyone have any idea where thhis is coming from. I run Malwarebytes,
> and my system is scanned at least once a week, with nothing found.
>

OK, I have confirmed that these iiles come from Eraser (The Eraser
Project). I currently have it erasing a drive using the 'free space' option
and those files have sown up again. I now know that I can waid till Eraser
finishes and then just delete them all.

MajorLanGod <lonelydad58@gmail.com> wrote in
news:XnsB00DB2CF5D7D3lonelydad58.gmail.co@85.12.62.225:

> Running completely updated Window 11. This is the second time this has
> shown up.
> I have a couple of external USB drives on my laptop. The one involved
> is usually about half full (appox 1TB) Today I noticed that it almost
> completely full, and this weird directory has shown up. Here is the
> directory nameL eGzewu8d ghi5YgCfC. There are 1,319 files in the
> directory, each 216 mb. They were created at 12:00 AM today. All of
> them. I haven't tried to see what the contents are, if any, as I don't
> have any file dump progams on my system.
> The same thing happened a month o so ago, and I just deleted the
> directory with no visible ill effects.
>
> Anyone have any idea where thhis is coming from. I run Malwarebytes,
> and my system is scanned at least once a week, with nothing found.

I have confirmed that Eraser (The EEraser Project) is the source of the
mystery files. I ran Eraser aain yesterday, using the Free Space option,
and the files showed up again. So npw I know the source and how to deal
with the results

MajorLanGod <lonelydad58@gmail.com> wrote in
news:XnsB00DB2CF5D7D3lonelydad58.gmail.co@85.12.62.225:

> Running completely updated Window 11. This is the second time this has
> shown up.
> I have a couple of external USB drives on my laptop. The one involved
> is usually about half full (appox 1TB) Today I noticed that it almost
> completely full, and this weird directory has shown up. Here is the
> directory nameL eGzewu8d ghi5YgCfC. There are 1,319 files in the
> directory, each 216 mb. They were created at 12:00 AM today. All of
> them. I haven't tried to see what the contents are, if any, as I don't
> have any file dump progams on my system.
> The same thing happened a month o so ago, and I just deleted the
> directory with no visible ill effects.
>
> Anyone have any idea where thhis is coming from. I run Malwarebytes,
> and my system is scanned at least once a week, with nothing found.
>
I had the same thing hppen when I scrubbed deleted files with Eraser. I
would just delete them all without ny problems. I chenged some paramers
and Eraser stopped creating the files.

MajorLanGod wrote:

> I have a couple of external USB drives on my laptop. The one involved
> is usually about half full (appox 1TB) Today I noticed that it almost
> completely full, and this weird directory has shown up. Here is the
> directory nameL eGzewu8d ghi5YgCfC. There are 1,319 files in the
> directory, each 216 mb. They were created at 12:00 AM today.

Are you sure it's a genuine 1TB device? Sounds like the sort of
behaviour you get when a fake device "overflows" the smaller amount of
actual space it has got ...

Have you got space on another drive to backup the contents and test it?

<https://h2testw.en.lo4d.com/windows>