CIA.ini

[Chris-P-Bacon]

Why on earth is a file named as such found in my computer? It is inside HP's system folder (at C:\Recovery\OEM\LOGS\SYSTEM.SAV\util). Using notepad I found even more bizarre content inside the file, full of lines containing terms such as "FBI" and "STATE.INI". What kind of sick joke is this?

[Nal_NR]

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[Dragon-Fur]

@Chris-P-Bacon 

It's not a national conspiracy - CIA.ini is simply a configuration file.

acronym

"A word formed by combining the initial letters of a multipart name..."

The letters that make up these acronyms are not unique.

It is not meant to be scary, though it is perhaps unfortunate in this case.

CIA = Compaq Installation Assistant

FBI = File Based Installer

I found a reference to the CIA.ini in some old archived notes (from 2012) for an old DV7 system .

In older systems, look for the file in C:\SYSTEM.SAV.

The file can be opened with NotePad.

The Notices in the first few lines of the file indicate it can be deleted.

In that same folder, you might also find:

RStoneLog.ini

oca.txt

Cia.ini

info.ini

HPdoc_BBV.CMD

Unfortunately, I've cleared out 100s of GB of data over the last year - actual examples of the files have thus far eluded my search.

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