I was told that I should scan the file wklnhst.dat (properties say its a DAT file, 11KB) in order to get rid of it. It was in APPDATA/ROAMING - not in a folder- just on it's own, the last item there. This after having my machine repaired of all kinds of malware. But this particular item was never mentioned by the original person cleaning the machine. Not sure if they saw it.

I scanned with with a-squared, Superanti-Spyware and Malwarebytes (all are updated and I have the real time version of a-squared which is always running. None of them report it as malware/nothing is being detected when I scan it (or scan the whole C drive).

Do I really need to remove this? I know dates can be falsified but it says it was created and then accessed on the same date around when I bought it and started using it (the computer). Then it was "updated" this year in June (not by me).

If I should remove it but the scanners aren't picking anything up can I just delete it or is that too dangerous? Hard to find specific 'what to do' info online.

Thanks~

hmmm...ok - well maybe someone will see this over the weekend and have advice.

I've been looking for info on that file, and for the life of me, I can't find anything that says that it's bad, even though it's marked as something to get rid of in some cases.


Yeah, hopefully someone will know. I haven't ever personally seen this file. It seems to show up in a LOT of log files when people do scans. There's just nothing saying that it's bad or harmful.

For now i'd just leave it as it is, as it really doesn't seem to be a problem at this point.

I have a file (BOOTSECT.BAK) that showed up out of nowhere at some point and i've read conflicting things about what to do with it. It's supposedly a backup file from a previous OS(even though this is a full version, clean install of Vista). I can't get a straight answer on my file either so I haven't touched it. Better safe that sorry I guess.

Originally Posted by MWRed

I've been looking for info on that file, and for the life of me, I can't find anything that says that it's bad, even though it's marked as something to get rid of in some cases.


Yeah, hopefully someone will know. I haven't ever personally seen this file. It seems to show up in a LOT of log files when people do scans. There's just nothing saying that it's bad or harmful.

For now i'd just leave it as it is, as it really doesn't seem to be a problem at this point.

I have a file (BOOTSECT.BAK) that showed up out of nowhere at some point and i've read conflicting things about what to do with it. It's supposedly a backup file from a previous OS(even though this is a full version, clean install of Vista). I can't get a straight answer on my file either so I haven't touched it. Better safe that sorry I guess.

Thanks for responding. It is an odd one. I do see it listed in log files for people getting online help with malware - but always along with a thousand other files. And nothing ever specific regarding it.

Yeah. I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing that it shows up so much on peoples scans.
Same with the file I was talking about. Can't seem to find a straight, 100% positive answer for it.

Originally Posted by MWRed

Yeah. I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing that it shows up so much on peoples scans.
Same with the file I was talking about. Can't seem to find a straight, 100% positive answer for it.

Some computer radio show guys said they suspect it is a leftover virus file from the last major malware cleanup. So, likely harmless (but no promises on that). Nothing is detected when it is scanned by itself by any programs, so far. Still, they recommend to delete it only via an anti-malware program vs. deleting it directly into the recycling bin.