What is the "~" that turns up with Overnet

[fawlty]

Occasionally when using Overnet a tilde "~" will turn up on the desktop. I've only got it while using overnet (but then I use it most of the time) but never with Kazaa. Norton antivirus doesn't seem concerned by it & as far as I know there is no damage done but what is it? I use spybot which also doesn't seem concerned.

I just delete it but still wondereing what it is.

[Elaine]

It is a backup of your Windows Address Book. It is appearing as a result of the April 2003 Cumulative Patch for Outlook Express (330994). Unfortunately, there is a bug in the patch. Whenever you make a change in your Windows Address Book file (*.wab file), Windows makes a backup of this file. Generally this backup is called username.wa~ , however after the patch is installed the backup gets renamed to just ~ instead and saved in the directory where you start your Outlook Express. Most of the time, people start Outlook Express from a shortcut on their desktop, so the backup file gets placed there. This is how the tilde (~) file arrives on your desktop.

[fawlty]

Wow thanks for that reply Elaine. You are a wealth of knowledge. It's therefore just a coincidence that I'm in overnet when also looking at emails.


That's a relief because it does look a bit insidious when a strange looking file suddenly appears and NAV doesn't object.