Cookies, History & TIF Duplicated in Temp Folder

Just recently the following folders were duplicated in the temp folder (they also exist in the usual places):

C:\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Temp\Cookies
C:\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Temp\History
C:\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Temp\Temporary Internet Files

Don't remember these being there before. If I deleted them manually, they returned when I start IE. To try and remedy the problem I checked the option - 'Empty Temporary Internet files folder when browser is closed' in internet options. I also the ran disk clean up and deleted cookies, files etc. This seemed to get rid of the Cookies & TIF folders, but the History folder still remains.

Recently ran all the cleaning tools from the read me thread in the malware forum and TimW confirmed the logs were clean. Here's the link to that thread: http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=229452

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm running XP service pack 3.

Thanks.

 

No, these folders were definitely not in that location, even before the virus. I checked the temp folder almost every day so would of noticed and I always have hidden files & folders viewable.

These folders should be in the following locations (which they are & seem to work normally):
C:\Documents and Settings\User\Cookies
C:\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\History
C:\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files

But I now have all these folders duplicated in the Temp folder as well and I can't permanently delete them:
C:\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Temp\Cookies
C:\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Temp\History
C:\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Temp\Temporary Internet Files

Couldn't find much info on the net about this problem. Quite a few questions but no answers. The only info I could find was this:
'This is a consequence of damaged index.dat files. When Internet Explorer cannot read one of the index.dat files from the standard locations, usually C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Local Settings, it will create new folders under the Temp folder.'

Does this shed any more light on the problem?

Thanks.

p.s. The Cookies and TIF folders have reappeared in the temp folder.

 

Forgot to mention that I can actually delete the folders, but when I start up IE, they reappear.

My computer is hooked up to a belkin router with one other PC also connected.

I haven't updated my browser, but installed Firefox a few months back, but this didn't coincide with the temp folder problem.

Thanks.

 

Tried this program, but unfortunately doesn't work. It removed the folders okay (which you can do without using the program anyway), then recreates the folders when you open IE.