Perflib_Perfdata_7a8

Every night I clear/delete my Local Settings\Temp folder. I close all programs and windows before I do this but I CANNOT delete these files:
Perflib_Perfdata_7a8;
Perflib_Perfdata_22c;
Perflib_Perfdata_d74.

These files say they open with EarthLink TotalAccess and are DAT files. When I try to delete them I get the following message:
Cannot delete Perflib_Perfdata_7a8: It is being used by another person or program. Close any programs that might be using this file and try again.

Someone at work today said I have an infection and this is MALWARE.

How can I delete these files?

Windows XP SP2
Home Edition
Version 2002
Dell Dimension DVO51
4CPU 2.80GHz
279GHz, 504 MB of RAM

Thanks,

Richard

 

It's a performance log created by the system. If you use Disk Cleanup to clean the temp files, it will only delete files that have not been used for a while (5 days, I think) and save those files that may still be needed by the system or apps.

If you really feel that you need to remove them:

UnlockIt
FreeFile
Emco Move On Boot
Unlocker

 

Thanks man, appreciate you time & input