After modded Skyrim crashed, I found files named a, e, f, g, i, p, s, and y taking up about 76 GB in the Windows folder. They appear when hidden files are turned off. Could they be malware, or is there another explanation?
What are these single-letter files taking up 76 GB after a Skyrim crash?
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Orla
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The timing makes the crash worth investigating, but it doesn't prove the game created the files. They could be crash-related output from the game, a mod, or another program. Single-letter names alone aren't enough to identify them.
Check the exact path, sizes, creation and modification times, and whether they have extensions. Compare the timestamps with the crash and look for any relevant error reports in Reliability Monitor or Event Viewer. Avoid opening unknown files with an executable program or deleting them from the Windows folder until you know more.
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Run a full malware scan with updated definitions if you're worried. A detection elsewhere on the computer doesn't automatically explain these files, though, and a clean scan won't tell you what created them either.
If the scanner flags one of these files, check the detection details before deciding what to do with it.
Orla:
A scan found a potentially unwanted modification, but I don't know if it has anything to do with the large files.
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That visibility detail is odd. In File Explorer, check the files' Properties and the hidden and system attributes, along with the exact path. A drive-usage tool and Explorer can show protected files differently, so the display behavior by itself doesn't establish that they're malicious.
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Orla:
One file's creation time was around the crash. I'm on Windows 11, but I don't know yet whether the crash caused it or the other way around.
hollow-freezer:
That timestamp is a useful clue. Check the other files too, since they might not all have been created at the same time.