# What the heck are these files on my computer?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-are-these-files-on-my-computer/148445>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [January 14, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-are-these-files-on-my-computer/148445 "2003-01-14T02:34:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-are-these-files-on-my-computer/148445/1 "2003-01-14T02:34:31Z")

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So, I’m clearing out all the internet-related junk files in my system and come across these in the Internet Logs folder (I’m using WinME & IE 5.5):

HPPAV.Access.LockFile.9  
IAMDB.rdb  
Backup.rdb

I tried to open the first two, but am told I can’t because they in use by another application.

I opened the third file with WordPad and see a bunch of gibberish and the words “The Internet” a lot. I tried Googling to no avail.

What are these files and what do they contain? Do I need them?

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-are-these-files-on-my-computer/148445/2 "2003-01-14T02:52:05Z")

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Just google them up. They are apparently Zone Alarm files.

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**Author:** ![White\_Lightning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@White\_Lightning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Lightning)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-are-these-files-on-my-computer/148445/3 "2003-01-14T02:57:12Z")

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They are PORN!!! AND YOU MAY NOT EVEN KNOW IT!!!

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**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-are-these-files-on-my-computer/148445/4 "2003-01-14T03:13:37Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by astro \*  
> \*\*Just google them up. They are apparently Zone Alarm files. \*\*

:smack:

I made copies and opened them up and, yes, they indeed Zone Alarm files. After shutting down ZA, I moved the files to another folder and restarted the system and they have been recreated.  
False alarm! Nothing to see here!

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**Author:** ![Berkut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-are-these-files-on-my-computer/148445/5 "2003-01-14T03:20:32Z")

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The “IAMDB.RDB” is the file where ZoneAlarm stores the permission info. The “BACKUP.RDB” is a backup of that file to roll back to in case the original gets corrupted.

## I think the first file is created by Access when you open a database. It keeps track of what parts of the database are locked for editing. Not 100 percent sure on that one, though.

On preview, I see you are way ahead of me. Oh well 🙂

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**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-are-these-files-on-my-computer/148445/6 "2003-01-14T07:49:26Z")

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Look, Mr. Townshend, we’ve heard this one a million times before. Now would you come down to the station with us?