SOLVED Mysterious folders in my AppData>Local folder

[Zoolx]

@davehc: Its very simple. On our systems the folders are created in th wrong place. You dont have these folders (as i understand) so you dont have thi sproblem at all. In my case i have a lot of scripts on my system doing different things automatically. So its important for me the local folder is not touched by one two or even mor empty folders. These should be played in TEMP. We all want to know -> how to fix this:

till later ...
.Zool.

 

[davehc]

I must be getting too old (I am) . I don't even understand what you are saying

 

[lalittle]

Just to update, I just started WL Mail again right now and watched my AppData\Local folder. Once again, a new one of these mystery folders appeared right in front of me as I watched. It appears that one of these folders is created if WL Mail hasn't been started in a while. I don't know how long the space of time has to be for a new folder to be created when WL Mail starts, but it's apparently between perhaps 2 and 12 hours.

Larry

 

[draceena]

I wonder if we can nail it down to being just an issue with Windows Live Mail and not the other programs in the Suite. Currently, I have Live Mail as well as Live Writer, Live Movie Maker, and Live Messenger (I have the most up to date version for 2011).

Since I've already looked at my mail, I'll wait till tomorrow and try to remember to open the other Live programs before I do my mail and see if the folder is created no matter which Live product I use.

 

[lalittle]

I wonder if we can nail it down to being just an issue with Windows Live Mail and not the other programs in the Suite. Currently, I have Live Mail as well as Live Writer, Live Movie Maker, and Live Messenger (I have the most up to date version for 2011).

Since I've already looked at my mail, I'll wait till tomorrow and try to remember to open the other Live programs before I do my mail and see if the folder is created no matter which Live product I use.

While I can personally only confirm that WL Mail creates these folders, another report earlier in this thread said that WL Messenger can also cause this issue. I can't say if other WL apps can cause it as well.

On my three systems, the ONLY WL app I have installed is WL Mail, and I see this issue on two of these systems.

Larry

 

[Hadron]

Windows Live Mail is not on my computers and has never been on my computers.

Move on guys and find the real culprit.

 

[Zoolx]

short update:

Microsoft has no answer yet and want to give the case to the Live devision. This may take some time (as always)
I had installed Windows Live Messenger and even > Windows Live Mesh !!!!
Both inkl. tha Windows Live Mesh Active X Control, which ist still on my system even if i kill Live Mesh - i have desinstalled now. Have done a new start of my system and try to reinstall it again. We wil see if this works perhaps tomorrow ?!

till later
.Zool.

 

[TrainableMan]

These are work areas - many programs can use it. And it is nothing to worry about.

"Much ado about nothing."

 

[lalittle]

Windows Live Mail is not on my computers and has never been on my computers.

Move on guys and find the real culprit.

As stated earlier, nobody is claiming that WL Mail is the "only" culprit here. WL Mail is, however, the program that is CREATING these folders on MY system, and it appears that this holds for at least some of the other posters here. This is a fact, and has been substantially proven in the tests that I've run -- WL Mail appears to be the ONLY program creating these folders in the "Local" folder on MY system. Understanding what program is actually creating these folders is key to understanding why some systems appear to be placing them in the wrong folder (they should be placed into the "Temp" sub-folder of the "Local" folder, and not directly in "Local.")

You say that WL Mail is not on your system, but my guess is that you have at least ONE component from Windows Live Essentials on your system. So far the one common factor between all of the systems having this issue is that some part of Windows Live essentials is installed. Is this not the case on your system?

We ARE trying to "move on" -- we're simply trying to be systematic here. The first step was to figure out what program is generating the folders. The research I've personally done shows that on MY system, WL Mail is creating these folders. Could you possibly check your system to see if a WL component is creating them on your system?

Thanks,

Larry

 

[lalittle]

These are work areas - many programs can use it. And it is nothing to worry about.

"Much ado about nothing."

It's actually not "nothing." The "Local" folder is NOT a temp folder, and is not supposed to be used as one. These "mystery" folders are temp folders, but they are NOT being deleted when cleaning up temp files in Windows because they are not being placed in a proper temporary folder location. The "Local" folder is therefore being slowly filled up with temp folders that windows itself does not know how to delete.

It's not a "deal breaking" issue, but it does seem to be some form of malfunction.

Larry

 

[TrainableMan]

The only space a folder takes is in the allocation table - we are talking a few bytes of information. Compared to the size of harddrives today - negligible. And, as I said before, most people don't belong in here messing around anyway; the empty folders hurt nothing and if people leave these folders to the system they are a lot safer than the damage they could do in Local folders.

If you are comfortable deleting files here then fine, these empty folders are safe enough to delete. If you want to pop off a complaint to Microsoft that Windows Live is using the wrong folders for temp storage and then not cleaning up after themselves, also fine, though you are likely wasting your time (much like this thread).

 

[Zoolx]

.. i try to update the case anyway.

have reinstalled without much luck. MSN is creation the empty folder again after first run. If have tried to clear any live folder or registry setting before i installed it again.

:-(

good night
.Zool.

 

[Hadron]

As stated earlier, nobody is claiming that WL Mail is the "only" culprit here. WL Mail is, however, the program that is CREATING these folders on MY system.

Thanks,

Larry

Do you run Windows Live Mail constantly on your system?

 

[brkkab123]

I've got all of Live Essentials 2011 installed. I currently only use Live Mail & Live Photo Gallery on a daily basis. I'll use Live Messenger after I get a webcam.

 

[lalittle]

Do you run Windows Live Mail constantly on your system?

I generally open it several times a day, but I don't leave it open when I'm not actually using it. My typical process is to open it, check mail, delete some messages and respond to others, then close it again.

Is that was you were asking?

Larry

 

[Hadron]

I generally open it several times a day, but I don't leave it open when I'm not actually using it. My typical process is to open it, check mail, delete some messages and respond to others, then close it again.

Is that was you were asking?

Larry

Yes, that is what I was asking.
It is just that I tend to think that the culprit is more likely to be a resident application rather than one that you only have open for a relatively small period of time.

 

[draceena]

I did remember to try opening all the other Live products I have and found that the folder was NOT created when I opened Windows Live Writer OR Live Movie Maker, but once I opened Live Messenger, whammo, the file was created.

This makes sense to me as Live Messenger ties into Live Mail (I get a pop-up from messenger when I have new unread mail). So I now know that either Messenger or Mail is creating these folders on my computer.

 

[lalittle]

Yes, that is what I was asking.
It is just that I tend to think that the culprit is more likely to be a resident application rather than one that you only have open for a relatively small period of time.

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying here. I have confirmed beyond any doubt that on my system, WL Mail is the program creating these folders. This doesn't mean that WL Mail is the "culprit" necessarily -- it simply means that WL Mail is the source of the folders on my system. On other people's systems, it looks like WL Messenger is the source of the folders.

Whether or not some other application is responsible for actually causing WL Mail or WL Messenger to put these temp folders in the wrong location is still in question. What is NOT in question, however, is what program is creating these folders on my system.

Larry

 

[Zoolx]

so the last news could be, that even if you dont install "Live Mail" but use Messenger the folder is created if the Messenger app is trying to catch my emails from web. So my Messenger is accing as "Live Mail" perhaps without all funktions from live mail.

the question for me is ... even if i know exactly the software which is creating the folder ... how can i change the location ? Perhpas i have to look in all the files in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\ folder...

No idea at the momen. Try to figure out the path stuff ...

regards
.Zool.

 

[lalittle]

so the last news could be, that even if you dont install "Live Mail" but use Messenger the folder is created if the Messenger app is trying to catch my emails from web. So my Messenger is accing as "Live Mail" perhaps without all funktions from live mail.

the question for me is ... even if i know exactly the software which is creating the folder ... how can i change the location ? Perhpas i have to look in all the files in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\ folder...

No idea at the momen. Try to figure out the path stuff ...

regards
.Zool.

It could simply be that both Windows Live Mail and Windows Live Messenger use some common programming in the way they create temporary folders. There could theoretically be other "Live Essentials" components that create these folders as well -- we just don't know yet.

I don't see any way of changing the location of WL temp folders. Windows "Temp" variables are already set to use the "Temp" folder, and WL Mail doesn't appear to offer any settings for this. I also can't figure out any difference between the systems that exhibit this issue, and the ones that don't.

Larry