joysness Posted December 10, 2004 Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 Hi All,Just a quick question...When I turned on my computer this morning I noticed a new icon on my desktop called custom.dic.I checked the properties and it says it was created yesterday (Dec 9) but that it is empty??!!I have no idea where it came from or what it is.Anyone know what it might be and if I can delete it or if I should move it somewhere??I have Windows XP home (no sp1 or sp2) Thanks for any insight you might have :flowers: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zfactor Posted December 10, 2004 Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 Custom.dic is a custom dictionary file. If you were recently using MS Word or another word like program you may have told it to create a custom dictionary for a word or words, though I do not know how you would do this (maybe via right click). At any rate, it is likely that you or another user inadvertantly created a custom dictionary.Here is some info on it from Microsoft on how to create or use a custom dictionary: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistan...1895581033.aspxThis is the most likely case, however I would not know of the custom.dic file could in any way be connected to a virus or malware app, but I doubt it since it showed up on your desktop, and malware usually tries to stay hidden.-EDITED- fixed some grammar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted December 10, 2004 Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 Most likely part of Office [Words?] dictionary.Your custom dictionary, your own words etc.Errmm just delete it....No SP1 or SP2 may powerless ask why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted December 10, 2004 Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 doh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joysness Posted December 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 Thanks for the quick replies..I thought it might be a dictionary but wasn't sure :D I only have Works on this system (useless program in my opinion, but it came on the computer).The only thing I did yesterday was send an email using Outlook Express. I don't remember ever trying to set up my own custom dictionary though. Powerless: I have the SP2 CD on order but every time I download the hotfixes or updates on this computer they render it unusable and I have to uninstall them.Of all the ones I've tried to use I have only been able to keep about 10 of them.I have an eMachine and it came with XP on it. I wish I had Windows 2000 or most preferably Linux but I'm not familiar enough with the ins and outs of computers to feel comfortable trying to install and set up Linux. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zfactor Posted December 10, 2004 Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 It is entirely possible that Outlook created the custom dictionary if you ran spellchecker and told it to add word to dictionary or something along those lines. Either way I would keep an eye out for it again so that you can find out the source (e.g. what you did right before it appeared). At least that is what I do when something like this happens so I can verify that it is not malware.-FOLLOWUP- As a test I opened up outlook and wrote some fake words, then I ran the spellchecker. I told it to "Add word to dictionary." It did not query me to make a custom dictionary but a custom dictionary is now there with the words I told it to add. Perhaps since you do not have MS Word, it did not store the custom dictionary in the word folder, but on the desktop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joysness Posted December 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 zfactorThat's probably it as I did do a spell check on the email.I'll just delete it since I don't really need a custom dictionary and now I know what it is for next time.Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trackrat Posted December 10, 2004 Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 If you want to try Linux go to this URL and order it free.http://shipit.ubuntulinux.org/If you are unsure about installing it that is what this forum is for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djohn Posted December 10, 2004 Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 If the file has a tilde mark at the side of it. Like this ~ then it was created when you sent the email and is a temporary file that can be deleted. SP1a and for those on SP1 a hotfix was released from Microsoft to stop this from happening.It is something to do with the address book use and you will get a new one every time you reply to someone that is in your address book. Updating to SP2 or downloading the hotfix will cure the problem. Microsoft didn't make the usual song and dance about the cure, they just slipped it in with one of the hotfixes so I'm not sure which number it will be. :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expertec Posted December 11, 2004 Report Share Posted December 11, 2004 If you want to try Linux, the best way is with Knoppix.It is a live CD, the whole thing runs in RAM without affecting anything on your hard drive.There are some disadvantages to this, for instance it can't save any changes to settings you might make etc.But it is a very good way to start with Linux and learn how to use it. :)http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scuzzman Posted December 14, 2004 Report Share Posted December 14, 2004 I've taken the liberty of collecting every linux link I've found useful and posting it... might be well worth a shot:http://www.geocities.com/j_dorn3/linux.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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