Why can't I delete this file?

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Malewarebytes [free anti-spyware from the usual download repositories] has a 'FileASSASSIN'- which would work well here. In fact, I'm mid way through clearing up a dozen such uncooperative files. Thanks for your leads too. What on earth crawled up those people who posted above? Phew! You'd think you told them to invest in SubPrime.

Keep up the good work, Leo.

R

Thanks, but how to make the different way ? imean I want make some autorun at usb flasdisk wich is can't be delete or even format it.

Could you help me to give some advice

Thanks

Thanks for the infomation, should update your info, program is not free, (DelinvFile) Hate to spend that much to delete just one file. Some good info on your site.

After alot of pain this worked for me for a file on a CD with a trailing space.
1. dir /x
2. Find short filename for messed up file, Ex. "PLATT~92.QXD"
3. xcopy PLATT~92.QXD c:\quark\test.qxd /N
4. Now the file is on your drive with a valid name that you can change to what you need.

Hope this helps someone.

Ok people,
wanna share with you how i got rid
of that stubborn obnoxious piece a crap.
The stubborn file i had was ones with :

^**@%@%#$^$#&#$&#$^%@%!@!$ crap like that
and they were more than 200 characters long.

I know how annoying and frustrating it is to have that
crap sit there like a statue, when you want it gone. Tried for
close to 8 weeks figuring out ways to remove this thing,
tried everything on the web not just google,
yahoo, msn literally EVERYTHING.Actually i'm not
too sure if reformating works , but i didnt reformat
because had too many files backedup and had
no place for extra storage.However none of the above methods,
worked.All the information in the forums
like using the commands to delete,renaming,delinvfile or any other
things didnt work for me.Infact i know how troubling
this is , i wanted to help everyone out there.

Here's what to do:
1)download unlocker : http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/
unlike the other softwares i tried, this virus free software
is FREE and most importantly IT DELETES THE CRAP.

2)After installation, right click on the file you wanna delete
press unlocker,and when it launches, there's a small tab at the lower
left of the menu, which allows you to choose delete.
Click delete.
It will say file cannot be deleted, system has to restart to delete the file.
What it actually means is that file wont be deleted on the spot,
you need to restart in order for it to be gone, SO DONT REMOVE UR HARDDISK!!

3)When you're about to restart DONT REMOVE YOUR EXTERNAL HARDDISK,
DONT END ANYTHING, LET THE COMPUTER DO IT'S THING, JUST
RESTART UPON DELETING THE FILE FROM UNLOCKER,

4)Check if the file's deleted upon restarting
ONLY AFTER EVERYTHING'S DONE PROPERLY, AND FILE'S DELETED, REMOVE UR HARDDISK SAFELY!

5)Enjoy and heave a sigh of relief :P

Hope this helps someone :), all the best!!

Oh and by the way unlocker helps alot in terms of
like say you have trouble removing your external harddisk.
Say if you're in a hurry and need to catch a bus, but your harddisk just
cant be safely removed, unlocker
helps you to close all programs, just unlock all, or kill all processes.
Follow the same procedure, at my computer, right click on the drive you wanna end safely,
and then click unlocker. Then just unlock all or kill all processes.

That would come handy after you have disabled this 2 functions
that maybe allowing explorer to access all your external harddisk
files thereby preventing safe removal.

GO TO CONTROL PANEL:

1)Under classic view, go to back up and restore,
Click create a restore point at the left hand corner,
uncheck all the boxes under available disks and click
ok/apply.

2)Under classic view, click indexing options, then,
modify, than check if all boxes are unchecked.

With that said, next time when you wanna remove your
harddisk safely, also not forget to make sure you have all the
windows closed, and you're facing only your desktop.

Oh yea and by the way if it works, you can thank me at [email address removed] :):) ciao!!

Regards,
Shameer G.D.

NICE!
Worked like a charm.

Unlocker worked like a treat!! Tried lots of other methods over a few weeks but unlocker did it! Thanks Shameer!!

Error Deleting File or Folder

We all have had the experience of seeing the Windows Error Deleting File or Folder – Cannot delete : It is being used by another person or program.

If you are unable to delete a file or folder when the only program running is Windows Explorer, the Windows application Explorer is usually* the program at fault. Explorer since day one has had a problem with releasing file locks but, you can use the following manual procedure to delete any file or folder.

You must be sure the file or folder you want to delete is not needed by either the operating system or an application. If you are unsure you can use the program Process Explorer to determine which program process has a lock on the file or folder. You can download the program for free at the www.sysinternals.com which, re-directs you to the Microsoft TechNet website http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx. After installing Process Explorer you can use the Find menu then select the File Handle or DLL option (ctrl-F) and type in the name of the file or folder name and learn the name of the program preventing the file or folder deletion. In any event, Process Explorer is a good addition to your toolkit.

So if you’re ready to get rid of that pesky file or folder print out the following instructions:

1) Close all applications and open Windows Explorer (if you were unable to print out the instructions leave the application with the instructions open and use the ALT-Tab to toggle between applications later when we stop Explorer)
2) If you don’t have the Address toolbar active in Explorer go to the View menu click Toolbars then click Address Bar
3) Locate the file you want to delete and click on it OR to delete a folder locate the folder containing the folder you want to delete and click on it
4) Right-click in the Address toolbar box and select Copy which copies the drive and pathname to the Clipboard
5) Close Windows Explorer
6) Press the Ctrl-Alt-Del keys simultaneously to open Windows Task Manager
7) Click on the Processes tab
8) Click on the Image Name column to sort the processes running alphabetically
9) Find the Explorer.exe process and click on it
10) Click the End Process button
11) Click the Yes button In the Task Manager Warning message box
12) Click on the Applications tab
13) Click on the New Task button
14) In the Open box type the letters “cmd” and click OK to open the command interpreter
15) Type the letters “cd “ (the letters cd followed by a space) and right-click then select Paste and press Enter (this will change the directory to the directory we copied from the Address toolbar)
16) Type the letters “dir” and press Enter (this displays all the files and folders in the directory)
17) Locate the file or folder name you want to delete (use the scroll bar if this is a directory with a lot of files)
18) Right-click anywhere inside the window and select Mark
19) Left-click on the first letter of the file or folder name to highlight the first letter
20) Hold the shift key down and left-click on the last letter of the file or folder name (the whole file or folder name should now be highlighted)
21) Press Enter (this will copy the highlighted file or folder name)
22) To delete a file type in the letters “del “ (the letters del followed by a space) or to remove a directory type in the letters “rd “ (the letters rd followed by a space)
23) Right-click and select Paste
24) Press Enter (this will delete the file or remove the folder)
25) Type in the letters “exit” and press Enter to exit the command interpreter
26) In the Windows Task Manager click on the New Task button
27) Type in the letters “explorer” and click the OK button
28) Close the Windows Task Manager

I noticed mention of software here that could remove these files automatically. Unfortunately they seem to require the system to reboot and in the case of Malewarebytes 'FileASSASSIN', it doesn’t work when Explorer is the process that is keeping you from deleting the file. I’m so used to doing the above procedure that I could delete the file in the time it takes Windows to shutdown let alone wait for Windows to start.

*The above procedure has worked for me 100% of the time for deleting files or folders when a registered process controls the file. The only time I was unable to use this procedure was when a “malware” program had control of the file I was trying to delete. At that time I had never heard of “malware” and I was in the process of manually detecting and removing what I thought to be a virus, trojan or worm which was attacking my system. I never use to use virus or worm prevention software because they are such resource hogs and they can cause many other problems. I’ve since found out the anti-virus software I renewed was worthless against “malware”, but not until I renewed the expired license, that came with the computer. After renewing the license I used the software to scan for viruses, worms and Trojans: the software found none. Meanwhile, it was getting just about impossible for me use Internet Explorer. After some painfully slow research I learned my computer was infected by a “malware” program, which led me to the free version of the program, Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. With much trepidation, I downloaded the free version of the program and installed it. When I ran the program it found the registry entries and infected files and removed them. Ironically, the malicious programs that Malwarebytes found were Trojan.Vundo, Trojan.BHO, Trojan.Agent and Rootkit.Agent. So much for protection the virus protection I paid to renew!

In the process of writing this I ran the malware program to look at the history and checked for updates. When I let the program update the definitions, my virus protection software wouldn’t let one of the files download because it detected a Trojan named Generic.dx in the directory of the Malwarebytes program directory while the update program was attempting to copy files.

That’s just great, now I’ve got an Anti-virus vs. Malware software war brewing!

There’s a reason I kept this stuff off my system all these years.

I hope you find this procedure as useful.

Tom

In my previous post I forgot about file names and folder names with imbedded blanks that need to be enclosed in double-quotes. Replace steps 22 and 23 with the following:

22) To delete a file type in the characters del “ (the letters del followed by a space and a double quote) or to remove a directory type in the characters rd “ (the letters rd followed by a space and a double-quote)
23) Right-click and select Paste and then type the character “ (double-quote) the fully constructed commands look like - del “file name.ext” OR rd “folder name”

Sorry for the over-sight. I think I could use a good a QA person.

Tom

Removing a Windows file is easy, once you figure out what the file is and where it is located. I use this procedure all the time for my wife, who is unwilling to learn a different operating system.
1. Boot the system from a CD with a live Linux distribution such as Knoppix, Fedora or Ubuntu.
2. Mount the Windows filesystem in Linux, which has no problem reading and writing Windows filesystems.
3. Delete the file with the command "rm ".
Of course, it's not quite that simple, and you need to know that removing the file won't corrupt Windwos so that it won't run, but once you learn a little Linux, it's easier than all the crap you have to go through trying one program after another in Windows. Or you can avoid these problems entirely by using Linux, which these days comes with extensive driver support, easy installation, and an OS more stable and faster than Windows. Oh, and it's free for download, of course. Some very good distributions are Knoppix, Fedora 9, Ubuntu 8.04 and OpenSuse 11.0.

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