Question Strange file names

[bwallx]

"examplefile(2018_09_07 17_31_04 UTC).mp3"

Why do I find my various drives full of files with the date appended? I never saved them like that.

Win 10 1809

 

[COLGeek]

How many such files are you talking about? When you open one, what happens? These are likely music files, or some sort (possibly back up files), game session recordings, etc. Could also be something eavesdropping and recording. Have you scanned for malware recently?

 

[AllanGH]

Most likely, either actual recordings, or buffered files from receiving broadcast audio files.

 

[onespeedbiker]

Those are file names pulled from Windows File History data file instead of File History restoring them. The numbers and letters are a time stamp, when the file was last backed up.

 

[AllanGH]

...Windows File History data file instead...

With an ".mp3" file extension?

 

[onespeedbiker]

Yes, the time stamp is inserted in the file by File History, the type of file is irrelevant; it doesn't change the file, it just adds a date and time in the file name. File History saves personal files, and .mp3 files, along with documents, music files, video files, pictures, any file that was placed on the computer hard drive by the owner.. When the files are restored by File History, the time stamp is removed, but if the file(s) are taken out of File History database, the folder where the files are stored, the time stamp remains.

 

[AllanGH]

I need to read-up on my windows minutiae, then.

In my distro, I see time-stamped files all the time, but file location implies the origin of the temporary file.

 

[onespeedbiker]

I made the mistake of pulling these files once and had to use a replacement program to remove all the timestamps.

 

[bwallx]

Aha! Thanks. The reason I see these is because I use a utility called "Search Everything" which literally does list every single file on a disk! Extremely useful for tracking stuff down. It works instantly. Literally within a split second. I have five drives and it lists their contents in a flash. Obviously it bypasses the normal MS routines. But why don't MS also do this? It would be so much quicker than clunk NTFS listings!

 

[onespeedbiker]

I would think it's akin to asking the Windows search engine to extract information from Excel. Windows treats the files as raw data because File History changed the file name with a time stamp to facilitate the workings of the File History data base.