(WinXP SP2) Wired Excel 2003 folder

[preachers]

I installed a green version of excel2003 some time ago, now the nightmare comes to me.
regardless if excel2003 been removed, many application always create the folder named "excel2003" and put a lot of files into it. I can't judge if they can be deleted, and I'm still keep to not touch them. the folder just in "C:\Program Files\excel2003" before, but today I find it in my document folder too, what can I do for it? why it is like this?

 

[SNGX1275]

Doesn't look normal to me. What is a 'green' version of Excel?

 

[preachers]

Maybe I could call it "portable"version, it don't need to install by a .exe file, and it only contain 9 files.

like this:

 

[gbhall]

It is something written in VB6 by the look of it, and looks big enough to be a nasty virus, however.
The fact that other independant applications produce excel2003 direectories which have file names in (apparently) arabic or similar, is, to me, a very bad sign. It seems fairly clear your registry has been interfered with. What have you done about anti-virus and anti-spyware? Have you tried the anti-malware forum, because you probably should do.

 

[preachers]

It is something written in VB6 by the look of it, and looks big enough to be a nasty virus, however.
The fact that other independant applications produce excel2003 direectories which have file names in (apparently) arabic or similar, is, to me, a very bad sign. It seems fairly clear your registry has been interfered with. What have you done about anti-virus and anti-spyware? Have you tried the anti-malware forum, because you probably should do.

thanks for reply!
I think I should explain it in detail for you.
I'm a chinese, and my system language is simplified chinese. those excel2003 files in screenshot of my last post is the portable version of excel2003 that installed by myself before. and those characters in file name are chinese.
the problem is when I delete that folder, it will then be created by other applications automatically.
in fact, there is no anti-virus soft in my pc, it because my old hardware configuration can't afford the endless software update, it lag my pc day by day. but certainly when this problem occur, I once installed them for virus scaning, but they told me, no virus! so now I don't consider it as a virus.(I used "Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware" "Avira AntiVir" and a chinese local anti-virus software called "360 safer" )

 

[preachers]

Ok, this may be a virus, but no anti-virus soft know it. I found it modified my "common files" dir to its own location.
I finally delete this ****ing version of excel2003 and replace all the key in registry to a new location. I'll see if it works, it may need some time to test.

thanks your advise gbhall!

 

[gbhall]

OK, thank you for your explaination which clears up some of my incorrect assumptions.

In the West, we would be taking a big risk by not running anti-virus software. But where you are, I can imagine malware generated in the non-chinese world might find it difficult to infect you. So it makes a lot of sense for you to use specific Chinese anti-malware, if you possibly can.

I guess from your post that you understand what the registry can do, and you appreciate that Windows will always create temporary locations expected by certain perfectly normal software - if the locations don't already exist. Any software can change the temporary location recorded in the registry to whatever it wants (especially if there is no protective software running to stop exactly that from happening !).

I conclude you might not actually have malware, just some registry change that you can correct yourself. Can you try comparing the registry locations where you find 'excel2003' with what is in the same key on a friends PC which has never had 'green' excel2003 installed and you may be ok ?

I also point out that the excel2003 thing probably did not come with a 'proper' installation program, because a 'proper' one would also have an uninstall routine which would be written to leave your PC just as it found it.