ccleaned

Oh yes, they're visible when you explore the Local Settings and also up one level (where the cookies are). Hidden files must be set to "Show'. Unlike CCleaner or IE Delete, you can point McAfee shredder to any arbitrary file or folder for shredding. So McAfee shredder can eliminate those".SH!" files. But they pop up again later. I will try to sort out when and how, and what happens at reboot.

I'll do some testing on that. Can't right now, but will post results later.

OK, thanks. This suggests even more strongly that these are holding files for a reboot shred by McAfee, and not malware after all.

Hazelnut, Thanks for that. That's the first I've seen where someone else has those same files/folders. I'll look into that thread some more. I know that McAfee says that it delays shredding some files until you reboot, and perhaps these are temporary back-ups that are destroyed upon rebooting. There's a hint about that in one registry line from your linked thread: HKCU\..\RunOnce: [DelayShred] "c:\program files\mcafee\mshr\ShrCL.EXE" /P7 /q C:\DOCUME~1\Mike\LOCALS~1\Temp\TEMPOR~1\Content.SH ! C:\DOCUME~1\Mike\LOCALS~1\Temp\TEMPOR~1.SH! C:\DOCUME~1\Mike\LOCALS~1\Temp\History\History.SH! C:\DOCUME~1\Mike\LOCALS~1\Temp\History.SH! C:\DOCUME~1\Mike\LOCALS~1\Temp\Cookies.SH! I had searched the McAfee site before, and again a few minutes ago, for ".SH!"references, but found none. Oh, well... I posted here in the CCleaner forum because I thought these files might have something to do with CCleaner, but now I'm thinking not.

No, IE doesn't recognize them nor remove them. I suspect malware too, but it's interesting that all the Web searches I've done for ".SH!" have turned up nothing. Surely someone knows what these are, malware or not. Overnight I ran scans of McAfee, Spybot and Adaware (all latest versions) in SAFE mode, as you suggested. Nothing was found at all. I don't know what the "MFT" is. I will have to look into that. Again, thanks for your help.

Glatzfront, Thanks for your help. I will try the safe mode scan. CCleaner seems to do a good job deleting the contents of the Temporary Internet Files, History folder and Temp folder. And it can be set to shred multiple times, which IE won't do by itself. But CCleaner doesn't even see the new ".sh!" duplicate folders, and the automatic IE deletion you suggest won't affect them either, so I don't know how that would help. McAfee's shredder tool (or other shredder tools) works fine to remove the ".sh!" files when pointed to them manually, but I'm concerned about their source, and how to eliminate once and for all. Someone must know what these are.

Well, yes, that's what I'm wondering.

Fredvries, OK, thanks. I did find references to ".sh" UNIX extensions on Google. But mine have the extension ".SH!" with the "!" (exclamation mark) right after the ".sh". And these are folders, not files, even though they are named with a file extension. Here is what I've got in my "Documents and Settings": Cookies Cookies.SH! Temp Temp.SH! Temporary Internet Files TEMPOR~1.SH! History History.SH! Does the added exclamation mark still mean that these are UNIX folders? I'm not a UNIX expert. And even if they are UNIX, why do they keep reappearing in new sessions even after I shred them, and what are they there for? CCleaner seems to ignore them (or generate them perhaps???). I have to shred them with McAfree's Shredder tool. Does anyone know what they are? Thanks again in advance.

Hey, sorry if this has been answered before, but I did a search here and didn't get a hit. After I use CCleaner, when I look in my user folder in "Documents and Settings", I'll see the usual "cookies" folder but I also find another folder called "cookies.sh!".When I look into my "Local Settings" folder, I see other versions of my Temp, Temporary Internet Files and History folder, called "Temp.sh!", "Tempor~1.sh!" (or something like that) and "History.sh!". These usually hold the uncleaned versions of the main folders. What is this ".sh!" all about? I Goggled it and could find nothing. It's got me concerned. I usually then use McAfee's Shredder to get rid of these extra folders, but I'd like to know what they are and what's going on. Does anyone know>? Thanks in advance!