Windows 7/Windows 10 question (SQM Files).

Hello. I'm new here and I have the following problem. I have a fresh install of windows (only ethernet driver and nothing else). In my windows/temp folder when I disable the internet connection (and only then) a fwtsqmfile.sqm (fwtsqmfile00.sqm, fwtsqmfile01.sqm etc.) file always appears. I disabled customer experience and application experience in the following: Group Policy, Registry, Task Scheduler, Control Panel. I have no program installed (especially windows live or messenger, just the ethernet driver). Virus Total says that these files are clean. A temporary fix is to use Ccleaner to automatically delete them but what I want to know (if anyone is so kind to help) is what are these files and what can I do to uninstall or prevent the service that creates them. Thank you in advance for any help.

userpc said:

...what I want to know (if anyone is so kind to help) is what are these files and what can I do to uninstall or prevent the service that creates them...

Welcome to Ten Forums userpc.

These SQM files have been around since Windows 7. They are used in collecting anonymous data and were described by @Kari here...

SQM files are used by Microsoft to collect user data, more precisely what install options were used and so on. The files are harmless.

fwtsqmfile.sqm - Windows 7 Help Forums

Thank you very much for taking the time and effort to answer me. I read the posts you told me and I tried the solutions described but those files are still there. Anyhow because I already spent two months from my life trying to find a solution for this issue but with no success, I will close this thread and maybe try another operating system. Again thank you.

If you install and run spybot-anti-beacon version 2.1 you will get rid of the telemetry and there will be no more fwtsqmfile01.sqm etc.