Files That Won't Delete Off My Computer

[Luke T.]

I have Windows XP. My Recycle Bin has 19 files that do not actually show up as icons or anything. But say I send a document file to the recycle bin, and then go to the recycle bin and click on "Empty Recycle Bin." The usual window pops up asking me if I am sure I want to do this, but instead of asking if I am sure I want to delete this 1 file, it asks me if I am sure I want to delete all 20 files. I click yes, and then another window pops up and says it was not able to delete the "vBulletin[1]" file.

The document I wanted deleted gets deleted, but there are still 19 unseen files in there that won't go away.

The same thing happens when I attempt to manually delete my Temporary Internet Files. The Temporary Internet File folder has a IE.5 folder, and that folder has several folders inside of it with alphanumeric names like XGY93C or something along those lines. ANd inside each of those folders are the actual internet files.

When I try to delete these folders, most of them do go away to the Recycle Bin, but some get stuck and won't delete. ANd the most frequent file they choke on is "vBulletin[1]"

???

I think some of the Temp Internet folders that made it to the Recycle Bin, then got stuck later on when I tried to empty the Recycle Bin and are now invisible.

I have tried deleting these dang things by going to my command prompt and doing it the old fashioned way, but even DOS doesn't see them.

Help?

 

[crapmike]

i use system security suit, it´s very easy to use

for screenshots of the program and to download it
click here: http://www.igorshpak.net/


hope it helps you

 

[Thumbo]

Whenever Windows does what it wants instead of what I tell it to with a file, I boot into Linux and make the changes from there.

This is easy nowadays: if you have a CD burner download Knoppix (Google for it), burn it to CD, then boot off the CD. It won't make any changes to your hard drive unless you tell it to.

 

[De_Bunk]

Try "StrayCat" PC cleaner...

Its a 30 day shareware prog...

Run it once...and you will be surprised...


DB

 

[Wire]

Whenever Windows does what it wants instead of what I tell it to with a file, I boot into Linux and make the changes from there.

This is easy nowadays: if you have a CD burner download Knoppix (Google for it), burn it to CD, then boot off the CD. It won't make any changes to your hard drive unless you tell it to.

last time i checked, linux couldn't access NTFS

 

[Underemployed]

Oh but it can...there is even a linux boot floppy that can change win2k passwords.

Try booting in safe mode (tap the F8 key during start-up to access the necessary menu) and deleting the files then. This often allows you to delete or rename files which you cannot do when Windows is working normally.

 

[Zep]

The reason you can't delete those files is that they are open for some reason - a program somewhere is using them. You will need to find out why and resolve the situation. (Hint: Try shutting down programs and services and stuff...)

The clean out your IE files you mentioned (which are just the files IE caches from webpages you have visited), simply go to Tools, Internet Options, Temporary Internet Files - Delete Files (button on the open window). Tres simple, no?

 

[Soapy Sam]

Or you may be deleting the wrong ones. If you have more than one user profile and you log on as admin, you will see multiple copies of the Cookies folder.
XP conveniently hides your personal files in

C:\documents and settings\Somefolder\Cookies

A quick F3 reveals SEVEN such folders on my machine.
Did you delete the right ones?

The folders will contain *.db or *.dat files which are index files used by XP. If you write a script or something to automate removing cookies, remember not to try deleting these index files.

You may also have to use attrib to get rid of read only or hidden attributes.

In my brief experience with XP, old DOS / command line habits can be counterproductive. That said, CMD is a big step up from COMMAND.COM

 

[Luke T.]

i use system security suit, it´s very easy to use

for screenshots of the program and to download it
click here: http://www.igorshpak.net/


hope it helps you

I found SS very useful, but it still did not delete the files in question.

 

[Luke T.]

Whenever Windows does what it wants instead of what I tell it to with a file, I boot into Linux and make the changes from there.

This is easy nowadays: if you have a CD burner download Knoppix (Google for it), burn it to CD, then boot off the CD. It won't make any changes to your hard drive unless you tell it to.

I have never used Linux. I'd probaby do more damage than good.

 

[Luke T.]

Try "StrayCat" PC cleaner...

Its a 30 day shareware prog...

Run it once...and you will be surprised...


DB

I ran StrayCat yesterday when I saw you mention it in another topic somewhere.

Didn't help.

 

[Luke T.]

The reason you can't delete those files is that they are open for some reason - a program somewhere is using them. You will need to find out why and resolve the situation. (Hint: Try shutting down programs and services and stuff...)

The clean out your IE files you mentioned (which are just the files IE caches from webpages you have visited), simply go to Tools, Internet Options, Temporary Internet Files - Delete Files (button on the open window). Tres simple, no?

No. It was the fact that using the Tools menu options didn't delete them that alerted me to the problem.

 

[Luke T.]

Or you may be deleting the wrong ones. If you have more than one user profile and you log on as admin, you will see multiple copies of the Cookies folder.
XP conveniently hides your personal files in

C:\documents and settings\Somefolder\Cookies

A quick F3 reveals SEVEN such folders on my machine.
Did you delete the right ones?

The folders will contain *.db or *.dat files which are index files used by XP. If you write a script or something to automate removing cookies, remember not to try deleting these index files.

You may also have to use attrib to get rid of read only or hidden attributes.

In my brief experience with XP, old DOS / command line habits can be counterproductive. That said, CMD is a big step up from COMMAND.COM

Yeah. I have several Temporary Internet Files folders. I used my search function to find them. I guess I wasn't clear on that in my OP.

Sadly, I do believe I did delete the .dat files.

I have two user accounts on my computer. On one of the accounts, my Recycle Bin appears to be empty, but in fact has nineteen files of some kind which I cannot make appear no matter what I do. But the computer sees them, because it asks me if I want to delete them every time I try to empty the Recycle Bin, and then it chokes and says it can't delete them.

I'm still stuck, folks.

I've tried everything that has been suggested in this topic, except messing around with Linux, and none have worked. If I was going to start fooling around with Linux, I would need instructions a five year old could understand.

 

[crapmike]

have you tried deleting them in DOS???

 

[a_unique_person]

Try running in safe mode, just about nothing but windows should be starting up.

What are the files called?

I think it would be good if windows let you know which program had the locks on the files. It knows the files are locked, but won't tell you what locked them. Couldn't be too hard for it to track this useful information.

 

[a_unique_person]

You just had that virus. Maybe some piece of spyware or virus has them locked. Look at all the tasks that are running, then look them up on google and see if they look legitimate or not. If they don't, kill them, and see if that frees up the file.

 

[Zep]

Look up above! I thought I said that first!!!

The reason you can't delete those files is that they are open for some reason - a program somewhere is using them. You will need to find out why and resolve the situation. (Hint: Try shutting down programs and services and stuff...)

 

[richardm]

When you say you tried to delete them from a DOS prompt, did you start the DOS prompt from within Windows?

It's possible to boot an XP machine to a command prompt, from the same startup menu that Safe Mode is invoked from. If you haven't tried that, it might be worth a go.


I've also seen these instructions repeated a few times:

Open a Command Prompt window and leave it open. Close all open programs. Click Start, Run and enter TASKMGR.EXE Go to the Processes tab and End Process on Explorer.exe. Leave Task Manager open. Go back to the Command Prompt window and change to the directory the undeletable file is located in. At the command prompt type DEL where is the file you wish to delete. Go back to Task Manager, click File, New Task and enter EXPLORER.EXE to restart the GUI shell. Close Task Manager.

Might be worth a shot if nothing else works!

 

[crapmike]

yep within windows

found this from another site

The Info file in the Recycler folder sometimes gets corrupted. Windows will automatically recreate the Info file if its missing so the easiest way to repair is to delete the Info file:

Start a command prompt (cmd.exe)
Move to the Recycler folder
Enter the command
attrib -h info*.*
Delete the file
del info
Restart the computer
If its the actually Recycler folder that has become corrupted you may need to delete this by removing the system and hidden attributes (attrib -h -s c:\recycler) and then deleting.

 

[a_unique_person]

Look up above! I thought I said that first!!!

Yes, but is said it better.