Unusual folder on the root of C

[at5147]

I recently noticed an odd folder that is on the root of my C drive. It was created back in Aug this year and just has a name of "....". When I open the folder it appears to be a mirror of what is on the root of the C drive. However, none of the folders are accessible from then on outside of the "...." folder. I've had this installation of Windows 7 Ult x64 for over a year and am not sure what created this folder. I have Malwarebytes installed and it is regularly running scans. I also ran ComboFix and have a log if needed. Here are some screenshots of the folder in question.

The main folder:

Inside the folder:

It will let me browse inside to "C:\....\....":

Error trying to access a folder inside:

Error accessing a folder inside just the first "....""

Properties of "C:\....":

Any insight would be great as my searches on Google and this site haven't turned up much.

System Info:
Windows 7 Ult. x64 SP1
AMD 965
8GB
MS Security Essentials
Malwarebytes Premium

 

[EasyLover]

It may be a left over of earlier malware attack. See if you can delete it using Administrator rights

 

[at5147]

I tried to delete it and it crashed windows explorer. Interestingly, if I delete a folder on the root of C, it doesn't show up inside the "...." folder any longer either.

 

[EasyLover]

Plz boot your PC in safe mode Command Prompt and from there use delete this folder.

 

[Hawkeye22]

I tried to delete it and it crashed windows explorer. Interestingly, if I delete a folder on the root of C, it doesn't show up inside the "...." folder any longer either.

Interesting. In DOS (and linux), the single dot means the current directory and two dots is the parent directory.

example: if your are in c:\windows\temp, then dir .. will show the contents of the windows folder. dir ..\.. will show the contents of the root folder.

It almost sounds like this isn't a real folder mirroring the root folder. When you click on it in explorer it appears to be showing you the parent directory as it's looking at the dots.

 

[guisasso]

Test your hard drive and memory for errors.

 

[at5147]

Interesting. In DOS (and linux), the single dot means the current directory and two dots is the parent directory.

example: if your are in c:\windows\temp, then dir .. will show the contents of the windows folder. dir ..\.. will show the contents of the root folder.

It almost sounds like this isn't a real folder mirroring the root folder. When you click on it in explorer it appears to be showing you the parent directory as it's looking at the dots.

It does look like that, which is why I hesitate just deleting it. When I go into the "...." folder and go to change the permissions of anything in there, it changes the permissions of the actually folders on the root of C. So my worry is if I delete it, it will delete the root of C.I haven't had time to bring it down to safe mode yet, but I suppose I can.

The C drive is actually a RAID 0 with two 320GB drives (not a mission critical system). I would have to take it out of the OS to test the drives for errors properly since I have a crappy RAID controller. Maybe running a chkdsk wouldn't be a bad idea though.

 

[lfkfkfkffs]

Sometimes folder like that are encrypted files from windows updates, my guess is you either had a bad update that created another sub folder, or your raid controller isn't properly writing data. Did you install any programs lately? can you post the Sha value of the program if you did. Also if you upgraded your system and didn't do a fresh install sometimes the windows.OLD can create folders like that when you do something like raid0.

If you have nothing of importance just wipe and install again maybe with a software based raid

 

[at5147]

I ran a chkdsk /r and it came up with no errors. I really don't think deleting it would be a good idea as I am pretty sure it will delete everything in the root of C.

The only thing installed at the time (Aug. 2014) was dBPowerAMP, which is a music converter that I'd have had for years and installed multiple times in the past. Looking at Windows' update history, only definitions for MS security essentials were updated that entire month and the month prior. This Windows installation wasn't an upgrade or anything, it was clean and has been over a year.

Looking at the properties for the "...." folder, it has an open with "Windows Shell Common Dll' which is odd since folders don't normally have that. It is unlikely that it is the RAID controller itself since there is another RAID 0 on the same system being used as storage and hasn't had any issues.

I would prefer not to have to reinstall because of this and also wanted to know what it was.

 

[EasyLover]

If it is not doing any thing or it is just bothering you, ignore it.