What is C\windows\assembly ?

I'm doing some remote work on a PC with XP home and notice in file explorer there's a folder called "assembly" when I try to open it I get a "download" folder and when I open that folder I get another "download" folder.... looks like I could drill down to 90 "download' folders before I reach the end.

Properties on the assembly folder say there's92 files and 93 folders inside but they don't show in the right hand view pane (all files are set to view in options)

Total size of the parent assembly folder is around 27megs.

But if I do a file search for "assembly" I get about 30 or so hits showing these 2 paths..


C\windows\assembly\GAC\

C\windows\assembly\nativeimages1_1****\

all ending with an _assemblyInfo_.ini file in which are many different Microsoft references (eg- VB, .net, enterprise services and a few dozen others.

with no indication of any "download" folders at all.

Any ideas?

And In file search I can right click the assembly folder to get properties etc but am unable to right click any of the "download" folders.

Bizarre.

If you search the internet for C:\windows\assembly a TON of "stuff" comes up. Looks legit to me.

Yes but what about the depth of all the download folders? 90+ seems a little odd.

A search on Microsoft produced this:

http://search.microsoft.com/search/r...ws%5cassembly+

thanks... I'm sure it's safe but I'd still like to find out how it got there. It's a days old installation on which only I've done the installation of new programs... all of which are normal, every day things. a/v, firewall, burner, etc. Perhaps it was the guy that installed the OS to begin with (a small computer shop). I'll get the PC's owner to ask him if he knows how it got there.

It's just a mystery I'd like to solve since it's a computer I'll be doing work on for a while and don't need any complications down the line.

Those folders are part of the .Net framework, where the common .net "assemblies" (to use MS' terms) are stored. The GAC is the Global Assemblies Cache.