Shoutbox

I was running a spyware scan and noticed that there was a huge amount of files in c:\documents and settings\Jim\contacts\*Username*@msn.com

The *username* is actual contacts I have in my contacts list, but I did not want to type any if the addies here.

There is only 7 of my contacts listed in this directory. I have many more, but only these are present here in this directory.

This contacts directory also has a sub-directory named \Ignored, which is also filled with files.

What are there files for? They are listed as WINDOWSLIVECONTACT File.

Can I delete these files?

There is about 20megs of them on my system and it takes spyware scanning a long time to search through them... It seems never ending.

TIA

Those directories are normally hidden.

It contains the caches of each Windows Live Messenger user account you have ever used to sign in to Messenger. So each time you sign in to Messenger with a different user account, a new cache is created here.

The cache itself is a list of all the contacts for that specific user account. The cache makes that Windows Live Messenger can sign in much faster.

You could delete everything you find there, but it will be created again the next time you sign in.

A similar directory can probably be found at
C:\Documents and Settings\Jim\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows Live Contacts

quote:

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Originally posted by JimmyJazzCA
The *username* is actual contacts I have in my contacts list, but I did not want to type any if the addies here.

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That shouldn't be. The *username* is not a contact, it is a Windows Live account; the account you use to sign in to Messenger.

quote:

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
You could delete everything you find there, but it will be created again the next time you sign in.

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JimmyJazzCA, you can uncheck the WLM option (Security>This is shared computer so don't store my address book, display picture and personal message here) then these folders are either not created or created temporarily until you sign out (There are  a couple of these folders like CookieRevised said but I believe this option has effect on all of them). But you have to uncheck this option for each account of yours once by signing in each of them because this setting is account-dependent.

Thx for the replies.

I disabled (unchecked) them and now I no-longer have these file on my sys.

Appreciated !!!

Jim