How did these strange ~$ files get here?

I am running Windows 2000 Professional on a PII 400 512K, with MS Office 2003 Professional. For the last couple of weeks I have had a list of Word documents in a couple of files that all look like:

1) ~$sume-2004-03-01-A.doc 1 KB Microsoft Word Document 9/19/2004
2) ~$sume-2004-03-04-B.doc 1 KB Microsoft Word Document 9/10/2005
OR
1) ~WRL0003.tmp 37 KB TMP File 9/25/2004
2) ~WRL0004.tmp 29 KB TMP File 12/21/2004

They did not affect any of my original documents, but I would like to know what set off this type of backup(?) copy and what setting to adjust to make it stop. I know I could just delete it, but I am really curious and would like to get to the bottom of it. Besides, it doesn't happen all the time. Thanks.

 

Those are temp files that the program makes while in use. Usually they are hidden. They will disappear once the application is closed.

 

I wish that were the case. Some have been there over a month. None have gone away. Any ideas?

 

You can simplly delete these files without effecting the originals.

These are just temporary files that word uses when it is open. For some reason these files were not removed when you shutdown word but they are harmless and can be deleted.

 

They just started a couple of months ago. There must be a setting to control it. It is some weird backup of documents, always beginning with ~, or if it's a 1 KB File Conversion Window, it begins with ~$. It's driving me crazy. Something is wrong here.

 

They were always there.

Word and other office applications have always used that form of temporary file to lock who has access to the file amongst other things. They have become visible to you because at some point, in Explorer, you have gone to "Tools | Folder Options | View | Hidden Files and Folders" and checked "Show Hidden Files and Folders". [One reason to do this is because you were hunting malware]. If they bother you, select the opposite (default) option

You can safely delete anything that is older than the last time you cleanly shutdown and restarted the machine. These files can get left behind after a crash with Office Applications open or if you do a reboot without shutting down properly.

Be a little careful with recent files though as similarly named files can be the Recovery files that Word / Excel offer you after just such a crash.