[xof]

I had a machine running Windows XP Home.
I did not run the updates past SP1 or install SP2.
I had some of the best anti-virus software for clean-ups.
I visited sites on the internet with no fear as to what they may attempt to deploy on the machine & as far as I know had not firewall protection on the router & certainly did not run any software firewalling. I did not execute anything without running the virus-checker on it first & I did not download any attachments etc.
I also only received email via web interfaces, I ran no email client: no Outlook/Express & no thunderbird or anything of the sort.

Strictly adhering to firefox as my only web app it seemed to be a robust system.

However about 2 years later something occured which left the following result:
When managing files via XP's GUI whenever a file or folder was named beginning with a 'q' OR 'Q' (case is ignored in Windows file-systems) it would disappear. No matter what type of file, you would select anything give it a name beginning 'q something' & upon hitting return: gone.
No Folder settings would reveal it again & it would only happen with names beginning with the letter 'q'; if it occured anywhere else in the name then everything was as normal.

I cannot recollect whether these files were visible via the Command Prompt interface.
I presume they must have been, since I cannot imagine that they had all really been 'assigned' out of reach of the OS since I am certain some critical system files must be named something that has a 'Q' as the first character.
The only thing I could think of was that this was the obfuscating behaviour of a ROOTKiT of some kind...

Any other like experiences, or insight on this weird behaviour?

(To mods: I realise that this may seem like a call for assistance in the wrong forum.
I am not looking to get this problem solved. I am inviting people to post their experiences of preposterously abnormal computing. If we get any explanations is a bonus; either way I sincerely hope it makes for an interesting thread.)

[Nova Dragoon]

You don't even have to open any files or anything, a non-patched windoze boxen will get owned by just sitting connected to the internet

[monkey_05_06]

Well I encountered some interesting..."features" of Win XP recently while trying to rid myself of a virus...but...it might be outside of Microsoft's TOS to use Windows without activating it...lol...so...I won't go any further on that line...(for the record, my parents own a full version, and it is activated and registered properly )

This post has been edited by monkey_05_06: 31 August 2006 - 06:20 PM

[MarkoDaGeek]

Too much reading, Moving on.

[xof]

Nova Dragoon, on 1 Sep, 2006 - 01:37 AM, said:

You don't even have to open any files or anything, a non-patched windoze boxen will get owned by just sitting connected to the internet

Well there was a spate of nasty spyware-coup-attempts at one point & that only took place when I ran Internet Explorer 6 to access a site that was not rendering (or something along those lines) in Fx (Firefox).
Appart from that a scarcity of '0wning' was conspicuous.

[eLliDKraM]

MarkoDaGeek, on 31 Aug, 2006 - 08:24 PM, said:

Too much reading, Moving on.

that's why you have a smart man's name

[BlueCube]

For a while there... I would store all my p0rn in a folder. I'd find some awesome full length films, not the stupid 10 second stuff. I'd click it once, then hit the "del" key on my keyboard (I had a Dell computer networked too it I wanted to send the information too) It would suddenly disappear! I'm not sure how to recover the files though. :-(

[fooboo]

This software has pulled my arse out of the fire a few times when it comes to lost files.

[DeeViLiSh]

Problem = "q" for a first letter of a folder

Solution = Do not name a folder with a "q" in front of it.

I backup everything on 3 200GB external HDD, always helps now and then. Only problem is finding the file but you know it's there

[Thorian]

You are right I dont believe it. an unpatched install of windows running for 2 years.

That is like wearing no assed pants in prison-> just asking for trouble.

[max302]

DeeViLiSh, on 1 Sep, 2006 - 11:18 AM, said:

I backup everything on 3 200GB external HDD, always helps now and then. Only problem is finding the file but you know it's there

WTF? I've never seen a 3 TB external HDD. Are you sur you weren't say 3200 MB?

[monkey_05_06]

I'm pretty "sur" he meant 3 200GB HDDs.

[Jayman]

Or another way of saying it, he has 3 external HDD that hold 200GB each.

[eLliDKraM]

100 terabyte files are kinda bigz

[xof]

MarkoDaGeek, on 1 Sep, 2006 - 02:24 AM, said:

Too many clever dickheads, Moving on.

Well it did run for two years.
I did explain that it was key to be diligent & not run IE or any flavour of outlook.

I am amazed no one was floored by the invisible files & folders that begin with 'q'.

I thought I was in the Twilight Zone when that started to happen.

EDIT: Disregard that, I suck cock.

This post has been edited by Videege: 03 September 2006 - 04:23 PM