|
There are isolated problems with current patches, but they are well-known and documented on this site. |
Search for a document just now, I was taken to the files in this folder , including surnames, etc. What do these files have to do with anything on my computer?
C:\Users\[name\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.GetHelp_8wekyb3d8bbwe\
LocalState\EBWebView\ZxcvbnData\3.0.0.0
Files names include:
english_wikipedia.txt
female_names.txt
male_names.txt
passwords.txt
surnames.txt
us_tv_and_film.txt
manifest.fingerrprint
manifest.json
I cannot find anything about “hidden themes,” and don;t know why you are pointing me to the Packages folder in App Data.
My comment was “Looks like you have your file explorer set to show “Hidden items”. See the setting in the “View” menu in file explorer.” (nothing about hidden themes).
don;t know why you are pointing me to the Packages folder in App Data
I was only referencing the root folder of the “AppData packages” you were showing and that the Appdata folder does not appear in file manager unless you have “Hidden Items” checked. See screenshot.
The only way you would see see search results from the “appdata” folder in windows file manager is if the “Hidden Items” was toggled on, so I’m not clear on how your got the search results. Perhaps I did not understand the question you were asking. I’m assuming you were using the built in windows file explorer, not a third party file manager.
It would help to know the search word(s) you used in file manager that netted your results.
From what I recall, these files are intended to be used as a blacklist of “bad passwords”. Chrome are using it too.
https://support.google.com/chrome/thread/79994768/what-is-the-zxcvbndata-1-folder-for?hl=en
Those files are used by some password managers and web browsers to warn about easily-guessable passwords, using an open source javascript library package from dropbox / zxcvbn at GitHub:
zxcvbn: Low-Budget Password Strength Estimation
Estimating Password Strength With zxcvbn
The zxcvbn name is from the first six letters at bottom-left of a keyboard.
Windows 11 Pro version 22H2 build 22621.2361 + Microsoft 365 + Edge
What do these files have to do with anything on my computer?
C:\Users\[name\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.GetHelp_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\EBWebView\ZxcvbnData\3.0.0.0
Specifically, it’s a User Data Folder (UDF) that contains locally-stored data related to host apps, in this case Microsoft.GetHelp.
Microsoft.GetHelp is a hybrid app which includes a WebView2 control to display web content. The \LocalState\ sub-folder confirms this and the \EBWebView\ sub-folder (which stands for Embedded Browser WebView) is the User Data Folder‘s default location.
So, although you didn’t create the files yourself, they were created on your behalf and stored in your logged-on username profile in a sub-folder under EBWebview for use by any app that uses WebView2 in order to check against easily-guessed passwords, as other have pointed out.
Given the controversial nature of the contents I’m just surprised they weren’t obfuscated from plain view.
You can read more about UDF here where you’ll see the information filed under Microsoft Edge.
You can read more about WebView2 and how it relates to Microsoft Edge here.
Hope this helps to answer your question.
Donations from Plus members keep this site going. You can identify the people who support AskWoody by the Plus badge on their avatars.
AskWoody Plus members not only get access to all of the contents of this site -- including Susan Bradley's frequently updated Patch Watch listing -- they also receive weekly AskWoody Plus Newsletters (formerly Windows Secrets Newsletter) and AskWoody Plus Alerts, emails when there are important breaking developments.
