...symbol ~ and why does it appear on my desktop?

Answer by illEagle
Submitted on 6/5/2004
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The file appearing on your desktop with the filename ~, commonly known as a tilde, is a backup of your Windows Address Book. It is appearing as a result of the April 2003 Cumulative Patch for Outlook Express (330994). The patch is installed for Outlook Express 5.5 or 6 in response to a vulnerability that could allow an attacker to run code of the attacker’s choice on a user’s machine. To exploit the vulnerability, an attacker would have to be able to cause Windows to open a specially constructed MHTML URL, either on a web site or included in an HTML email message. Unfortunately, there is a bug in the patch.Whenever you make a change in your Windows Address Book file (*.wab file), Windows makes a backup of this file. Generally this backup is called username.wa~ , however after the patch is installed the backup gets renamed to just ~ instead and saved in the directory where you start your Outlook Express. Most of the time, people start Outlook Express from a shortcut on their desktop, so the backup file gets placed there. This is how the tilde (~) file arrives on your desktop.

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Question by dabondu
Submitted on 12/17/2003
Related FAQ: N/A
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What is the symbol ~ and why does it appear on my desktop?

Answer by TayLee
Submitted on 2/7/2004
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Well I don't know what its really used for but i use it as a tongue lol :)~

Answer by Alberto
Submitted on 2/18/2004
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the ~ symbol has a couple of uses I know of: a) In math means "more or less" or "about" (such as " ~ $20.00) b) in spanish is used on top of the letter n to form another letter which can't be processed in this response, but if you go into Word and hit Ctrl-Shift ~ n simultaneously, the ~ will appear on top of the letter n.

Answer by daggers
Submitted on 5/18/2004
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mmmmm! i dunno what it is, but it keep'sappearing on mine too.

Answer by Jasper
Submitted on 11/5/2004
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I would have to agree with illEgals response, as I after reading it, realized that after adding or modifying my address book? Is when this symbol appears on my Desktop. I only wish I could stop it! So, Thank-you illEgal:)

Answer by didi
Submitted on 12/3/2004
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thanks..i thought i had a virus :O)~ its ok to delete this right?

Answer by Pie
Submitted on 5/18/2005
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No idea. I thought it was used for drool, though. :b~

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Answer by Rick James
Submitted on 7/20/2006
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its a french fry ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~` ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~` ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ^^ lots on fries

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