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.SSS File Type

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by shawv

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I have recently noticed large files with the extension ".sss" on one of my servers, investigating further I found them on other servers and other drives. I have tried to move them, delete them, copy them, and zip them and each time I get the error message that a service or the source file is in use and the item cannot be moved, deleted or copied in any form. These files aren't associated with any programs that I can find (although doing a net search I found a "sound" file extension definition. It seemed out of place since I'm the net admin for a construction company and not a music studio.) I talked to the virus software vendor and they didn't have any insight into it either. I stopped and started each service on the server, but the files continue to be locked up tight somehow. I need to free up space on my servers, each one of these files is in excess of 300 MB, some as big as 700 MB. If anyone has any ideas, I'll be more than grateful as to how to get rid of these, or better yet, how to stop them from appearing in the first place.

18 replies

by shawv

Thanks for answering me, I appreciate it, but it's definitely .SSS - no dollar signs anywhere in sight. Here's the actual file name...
SSH0P4H101.SSS

Any ideas?

by ann777

1) Get File Investigator from
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,7972,00.asp and see if it can tell you anything more about these files.

2) Run Sysedit and see if you can find anything strange running that may be loading these files and placing them in memory.

3) Rename one of the files to have another extension (maybe .old) and reboot. Then see if you can delete the file.

I've never heard of an sss extension before.

by ann777

Also if windows will not let you delete the file (file in use), you will need to boot to dos in order to manually delete it.

by ann777

FOUND IT.

files ending with an SSS are data files created by an application called Simple Spread Sheet.

See http://sss.sourceforge.net

I have no idea why they would be loaded on your computer and locked up, however.

by shawv

The tool you gave me from PCWorld was great - it didn't help in this particular situation, but I think it will be handy in the future, thanks for answering!

by don christner

My NT4.0 SP6a servers do not have any files with an extension of SSS. SSS does not show on any sites that I looked at, as a registered or commonly used extension.

Can you look at your file types (associations) in My Computer-View to see if it's associated with an app? Can you look in your registry for that file type and tell from the registry key that it's contained within, what it's for? Can you open the files with Wordpad to see if any of it makes sense? Can you boot to DOS to see if you can delete them?

Maybe post the apps that are on your servers to give us some ideas?

Don

by shawv

I tried all your suggestions, it didn't get to the root, but it sure kept me busy - thanks for the ideas, some I had tried, but others I hadn't. Thought you deserved the points since I used your ideas. THANKS!

by shawv

I'm going to try the things you all suggested and get back to you. Thanks and I'll be certain to let you know what happens.

by bhrdwh

hi,
.sss are mostly Simple Spread Sheet file extentions. You probabl have a shared folder on your NT Server with someone copying there / backing them there. since they are open / in use you obviously cant delete them.
you can use a file extention tool from www.downlaod.com to determine the type of file.
another suggestion, if you are using Backup Exec or other backup sofware maybe its their log file.
Akash

by shawv

Back up Exec was the culprit. I found that when I reconfigured my back up, I was backing up the location of the files, creating a back up of the logs, they were tied to the vncsnapshot service and because it was coming up automatically, it was keeping the files from being able to be moved, deleted or anything else.

by estebandelatorre

That's seems to be a temporary file.
To track where it may cam from, try this.
Set started services to manual, except those crucials services like Server, etc
Bring down your server.
Disconnect the network cable
Bring the server again al login locally with admin rights. (or a cached account)
Try to delete some files, if you can?t try taking ownership first, if still you can?t delete move or rename the files, issue a disk check (scandisk) on the "rare" drive where those files resides.
Replicating service=ON???

Good luck

by shawv

Tried all your suggestions, finally came down to vncshapshot and back up exec. Thanks for taking time to help me out.

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