2003 Cumulative Patch for Outlook Express (330994) TILDE THUMBNAIL

From: Louise (anonymous_at_discussions.microsoft.com)
Date: 07/10/04 

Date: Fri, 9 Jul 2004 19:05:11 -0700

Is there a fix for the fix? I had problems with my OE
and to recreate my profile. Whenever I make changes to
my address book I get a "tilde" thumbnail on my desktop.
According to the below MS article it's a back up of my
address book because of the 2003 Cumulative Patch for
Outlook Express (330994 fix and there was suppose to be a
Patch that correct this?

What is the Tilde (~) file that appears on Desktop

What is this ~ file?
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.

Is the File a Virus and will Spyware or Anti-virus
Utilities Find it?

Because the file is simply a backup of your Windows
Address Book, spyware searching utilities or anti-virus
products wont flag it as anything suspicious.

Can I Delete the ~ File?

The simple answer is yes, the file can be deleted.
However if it is deleted, you wont have a backup of your
Windows Address Book if a virus or something else
corrupts it or you accidentally delete the information in
the address book. So I wouldnt necessarily delete the
file without backing it up first. Personally, here are
the steps I would take to remain safe in case you need
the file again.

Right click on the file and choose Rename

Type in a name for the file and add the .wab extension to
it
For Example, you might want to rename it to
addressbook.wab or something similar

Now, put a blank, formatted floppy disk in your floppy
drive and right-click on the newly named file

Choose Send To, Floppy Drive (most likely A)

Now the file is backed up in case of emergency, right-
click on the file on your desktop and choose Delete
Each time you make a change to your address book, this
file will reappear so its a good idea to keep that floppy
drive around and make a backup each time you make
changes. This protects you from losing valuable email
addresses in case of a disaster.

An alternative to this would be to change the Start in
option for Outlook Express. This has been suggested by a
few visitors and works well.

Find the shortcut to Outlook Express and right-click on
it
Click on Properties
Make sure Read-only is unchecked on the General tab
Click on the Shortcut tab
In the "Start In" field, change it to an alternative path
where the tilde file will appear, for example C:\
Click on Apply
Is There a Patch to fix this?

Although Microsoft has indicated that it knows about this
problem and intends to make a patch available, they have
not released one yet, as of July 2003.

Can I uninstall the April 2003 patch to fix it?

Yes, you can uninstall the patch, this will fix the tilde
(~) file from appearing, however you will not be
protected from this security vulnerability either. If you
want to uninstall the April 2003 (330994) patch, simply
visit this link and follow the uninstall directions.
Although I wouldn't advise anyone doing this.