How did I end up with these unknown folders/files on my external drive?

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Here is snapshot of my external drive. I never store any files directly in its root folder yet I have bunch of files eula.###.txt and others for example install.exe and similar files. How did they get there?



More important there are a number folders with numeric names. These are all zero bytes folders and has nothing inside them. What does this mean and how did it get there?



Note: I have masked my own files with boxes.



enter image description here






windows-7 hard-drive windows-explorer filesystems temporary-files







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  • 1




    They are Windows Updates, which has a habit, of using the largest disk available to store the files. Which updates other than VC++ in the case of the folder you have provided, is more difficult to identify. Folders can be deleted if you don’t care about removing the updates.
    – Ramhound
    3 hours ago















up vote
2
down vote

favorite












Here is snapshot of my external drive. I never store any files directly in its root folder yet I have bunch of files eula.###.txt and others for example install.exe and similar files. How did they get there?



More important there are a number folders with numeric names. These are all zero bytes folders and has nothing inside them. What does this mean and how did it get there?



Note: I have masked my own files with boxes.



enter image description here






windows-7 hard-drive windows-explorer filesystems temporary-files







share|improve this question



















  • 1




    They are Windows Updates, which has a habit, of using the largest disk available to store the files. Which updates other than VC++ in the case of the folder you have provided, is more difficult to identify. Folders can be deleted if you don’t care about removing the updates.
    – Ramhound
    3 hours ago













up vote
2
down vote

favorite









up vote
2
down vote

favorite











Here is snapshot of my external drive. I never store any files directly in its root folder yet I have bunch of files eula.###.txt and others for example install.exe and similar files. How did they get there?



More important there are a number folders with numeric names. These are all zero bytes folders and has nothing inside them. What does this mean and how did it get there?



Note: I have masked my own files with boxes.



enter image description here






windows-7 hard-drive windows-explorer filesystems temporary-files







share|improve this question















Here is snapshot of my external drive. I never store any files directly in its root folder yet I have bunch of files eula.###.txt and others for example install.exe and similar files. How did they get there?



More important there are a number folders with numeric names. These are all zero bytes folders and has nothing inside them. What does this mean and how did it get there?



Note: I have masked my own files with boxes.



enter image description here






windows-7 hard-drive windows-explorer filesystems temporary-files




windows-7 hard-drive windows-explorer filesystems temporary-files






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




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edited 9 mins ago

























asked 3 hours ago









zar

3761515




3761515







  • 1




    They are Windows Updates, which has a habit, of using the largest disk available to store the files. Which updates other than VC++ in the case of the folder you have provided, is more difficult to identify. Folders can be deleted if you don’t care about removing the updates.
    – Ramhound
    3 hours ago













  • 1




    They are Windows Updates, which has a habit, of using the largest disk available to store the files. Which updates other than VC++ in the case of the folder you have provided, is more difficult to identify. Folders can be deleted if you don’t care about removing the updates.
    – Ramhound
    3 hours ago








1




1




They are Windows Updates, which has a habit, of using the largest disk available to store the files. Which updates other than VC++ in the case of the folder you have provided, is more difficult to identify. Folders can be deleted if you don’t care about removing the updates.
– Ramhound
3 hours ago





They are Windows Updates, which has a habit, of using the largest disk available to store the files. Which updates other than VC++ in the case of the folder you have provided, is more difficult to identify. Folders can be deleted if you don’t care about removing the updates.
– Ramhound
3 hours ago











1 Answer
1






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These are leftover files from installations of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio. I had them too. You can safely delete them.



https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/950683/vcredist-from-vc-2008-installs-temporary-files-in-root-directory






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  • You beat me to it, so +1. It doesn't explain the empty folders though, but from doing some quick Googling they are safe to delete.
    – MoonRunestar
    3 hours ago










  • Yes, apparently the empty folders are temporary folders for Windows Updates, with some saying they're the .NET Framework.
    – SUM1
    2 hours ago










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1 Answer
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active

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1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes








up vote
5
down vote



accepted










These are leftover files from installations of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio. I had them too. You can safely delete them.



https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/950683/vcredist-from-vc-2008-installs-temporary-files-in-root-directory






share|improve this answer




















  • You beat me to it, so +1. It doesn't explain the empty folders though, but from doing some quick Googling they are safe to delete.
    – MoonRunestar
    3 hours ago










  • Yes, apparently the empty folders are temporary folders for Windows Updates, with some saying they're the .NET Framework.
    – SUM1
    2 hours ago














up vote
5
down vote



accepted










These are leftover files from installations of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio. I had them too. You can safely delete them.



https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/950683/vcredist-from-vc-2008-installs-temporary-files-in-root-directory






share|improve this answer




















  • You beat me to it, so +1. It doesn't explain the empty folders though, but from doing some quick Googling they are safe to delete.
    – MoonRunestar
    3 hours ago










  • Yes, apparently the empty folders are temporary folders for Windows Updates, with some saying they're the .NET Framework.
    – SUM1
    2 hours ago












up vote
5
down vote



accepted







up vote
5
down vote



accepted






These are leftover files from installations of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio. I had them too. You can safely delete them.



https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/950683/vcredist-from-vc-2008-installs-temporary-files-in-root-directory






share|improve this answer












These are leftover files from installations of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio. I had them too. You can safely delete them.



https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/950683/vcredist-from-vc-2008-installs-temporary-files-in-root-directory







share|improve this answer












share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer










answered 3 hours ago









SUM1

817




817











  • You beat me to it, so +1. It doesn't explain the empty folders though, but from doing some quick Googling they are safe to delete.
    – MoonRunestar
    3 hours ago










  • Yes, apparently the empty folders are temporary folders for Windows Updates, with some saying they're the .NET Framework.
    – SUM1
    2 hours ago
















  • You beat me to it, so +1. It doesn't explain the empty folders though, but from doing some quick Googling they are safe to delete.
    – MoonRunestar
    3 hours ago










  • Yes, apparently the empty folders are temporary folders for Windows Updates, with some saying they're the .NET Framework.
    – SUM1
    2 hours ago















You beat me to it, so +1. It doesn't explain the empty folders though, but from doing some quick Googling they are safe to delete.
– MoonRunestar
3 hours ago




You beat me to it, so +1. It doesn't explain the empty folders though, but from doing some quick Googling they are safe to delete.
– MoonRunestar
3 hours ago












Yes, apparently the empty folders are temporary folders for Windows Updates, with some saying they're the .NET Framework.
– SUM1
2 hours ago




Yes, apparently the empty folders are temporary folders for Windows Updates, with some saying they're the .NET Framework.
– SUM1
2 hours ago

















 

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