Unknown File in C drive?

Discussion in 'privacy general' started by tomteeth, Dec 5, 2002.

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  1. tomteeth

    tomteeth Registered Member

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    Hello, Everyone, Does anyone know what this file could be, i found it on my C drive, its called the "FOO" file and its 1kb in size, when i try to open it, its states that is an unknown file and it has no Extension on it! How can i find out what this file is for etc? Thanks Tom
     
    tomteeth, Dec 5, 2002
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  2. Pieter_Arntz

    Pieter_Arntz Spyware Veteran

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    Hi Tom,

    Have you tried opening it with notepad?
    And does right-clicking it and choose properties reveal anything?

    Regards,

    Pieter
     
    Pieter_Arntz, Dec 5, 2002
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  3. tomteeth

    tomteeth Registered Member

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    Hi Pieter, on right clicking and selecting properties it states Size=68 bytes and Size on Disk=400kb and it says it was created on 11-25-02. This is the date this pc was in for repair at HP service in California! Remember ( i think i told you) that i did not have a Safe Mode on this pc, we'll they fixed it so i do now, Do you think that has anything to do with it? There was No option to open in Notepad!
     
    tomteeth, Dec 5, 2002
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  4. Pieter_Arntz

    Pieter_Arntz Spyware Veteran

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    Pieter_Arntz, Dec 5, 2002
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  5. tomteeth

    tomteeth Registered Member

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    Pieter: No, I dont have that, i heard of it but dont know what it does?
     
    tomteeth, Dec 5, 2002
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  6. Pieter_Arntz

    Pieter_Arntz Spyware Veteran

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    Well, it does lots of things, but the one I´m interested in for you is peek into files without altering anything.
    I´m moving this thread to Privacy general, where I hope it will get some more attention.

    Regards,

    Pieter
     
    Pieter_Arntz, Dec 5, 2002
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  7. *Ari*

    *Ari* Registered Member

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    Hi Tomteeth and Peter

    You find " open as " extension by highlighting the file first, then press shift down and right click the file.

    foo file aye, I think here is the answer:
    http://www.linuxprinting.org/pipermail/foomatic-devel/2002q1/000613.html

    regards - Ari
     
    *Ari*, Dec 5, 2002
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  8. tomteeth

    tomteeth Registered Member

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    Krusty, I did download the A3000 all in one printer yestersday, it had some kind of photo imaging tool with it but i did not download that, i figured i could do it later! Do you think this "foo" file is related to this?
     
    tomteeth, Dec 5, 2002
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  9. JacK

    JacK Registered Member

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    Hello,

    Are you using PHP ?

    Maybe your PHP is compiled with FOO support.

    Rgds,
     
    JacK, Dec 5, 2002
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  10. tomteeth

    tomteeth Registered Member

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    No, I'm not using PHP either! Thanks
     
    tomteeth, Dec 5, 2002
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  11. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    tomteeth,

    So, have you managed to open the file with Notepad yet?

    If you can't get an "Open With..." on a right-click or shift/right-click, then simply bring up Notepad first, then using Notepad's "File" > "Open..." menu option, browse to the location of "foo" and open it that way. Those 68 bytes might include an interesting text message.

    My guess is that the person working on your PC used "foo" as either an output file name from some test / utility program, or as an indirect output from a CMD window. (They may have simply piped the output from some simple DOS command to a file to capture some needed test information.)

    A lot of techs use "foo" or "foo.foo" or "foo.bar" or other such file name combinations to hold the output of commands or utilities. (At least they did back in the olden days ;) ).
     
    LowWaterMark, Dec 5, 2002
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  12. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    Here's another great little utility for viewing the available text from inside a file. From Bintext from foundstone.com

    http://www.foundstone.com/knowledge/proddesc/bintext.html
    It's very handy, especially when you have its shortcut in the Send To folder. Then, when you right-click a file, use the available Send To option to pass the file to Bintext directly. This utility does not even need to be installed. You just download it, unzip it and run it.
     
    LowWaterMark, Dec 5, 2002
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  13. pin

    pin Registered Member

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    is there a reason why this site needs my phone number in order to d/l their program!?

    but thx for the link, it's a nifty program =)
     
    pin, Dec 6, 2002
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  14. tomteeth

    tomteeth Registered Member

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    LowWaterMark: I downloaded Bintext, but am having a problem with Winzip, it would not unzip and here is what it said>> Extracting to "c:\unzipped\bintext\"
    Use Path: yes Overlay Files: no
    Error: Access is denied.
    Cannot create c:\unzipped\bintext(from low water at wilders)\bintext.exe

    Interrupted
    What do you think could be happening, maybe i stumbled onto a secret Goverment Project!!LOL!!! Tom
     
    tomteeth, Dec 6, 2002
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  15. tomteeth

    tomteeth Registered Member

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    I added that (from Low water mark) on my own, so i know where i get tips from!
     
    tomteeth, Dec 6, 2002
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  16. tomteeth

    tomteeth Registered Member

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    LowWaterMark: I just tried to open the "Foo" file using Winzip (alone) and it would not open it either, BUT, it flashed my Netzero Home Page first, before going quickly off the screen! So what do you think? Do you think this is possibly a file connected with Netzero? I use Netzero as a back up to the Internet!
     
    tomteeth, Dec 6, 2002
    #16
  17. Pieter_Arntz

    Pieter_Arntz Spyware Veteran

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    Hi Tom,

    Let me get this straight. When you tried opening that file with Winzip your browser (IE I presume?) opened (and showed your startpage?) and then the browser Window disappeared again?
    Do you have a firewall log you can check to see where that connection went to after Netzero?

    Regards,

    Pieter
     
    Pieter_Arntz, Dec 6, 2002
    #17
  18. tomteeth

    tomteeth Registered Member

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    Pieter, Yes, thats what happened! I just installed Outpost Firewall the other day, as soon as i got the pc back, I am not that familiar with outpost yet, how do i get to the Log file, i see where to change the Log file settings, do i go in there and what do i look for? And yes i am using IE6 (preinstalled) on my XP home edition!
     
    tomteeth, Dec 6, 2002
    #18
  19. Pieter_Arntz

    Pieter_Arntz Spyware Veteran

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    Hi Tom,

    I´m not familiar with Outpost either, but I´m sure the experts will jump in.
    I would like to rule out that a secret connection to the internet was made (or find out where and why)

    Regards,

    Pieter
     
    Pieter_Arntz, Dec 6, 2002
    #19
  20. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    Hi Tom,

    Well, that message is just that Winzip can not create a folder named "\unzipped\bintext(from low water at wilders)\" and not a problem with bintext itself. All you really need to do is unzip it without using the path. The ZIP container should simply contain two files: bintext.exe and readme.txt. Just extract them and put them anywhere you like.

    But, back to the earlier suggestion. Did you try to run Notepad and then use its File > Open... menu option to browse to and open the "foo" file? That should work the best.

    Also, did you mean to say you tried to open the actual "foo" file in Winzip? I doubt "foo" is a ZIP file, so that would probably give you an error. I wouldn't worry about any error from that in any case.

    Oh, by the way, I do the exact same thing you do with files I download through of referrals at a forum. I include the name of the person and site that made the recommendation in the name so I can remember "who to blame thank" for the reference. ;)

    Let's see if we can all figure this out together,
    LowWaterMark
     
    LowWaterMark, Dec 7, 2002
    #20
  21. tomteeth

    tomteeth Registered Member

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    I tried to open in Note Pad and it kept saying the file does not exit! Go Figure?
     
    tomteeth, Dec 7, 2002
    #21
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