Computer help - got a file I can't delete

Grim/Don

Grim/Don

Joined
Feb 1, 2003
Messages
1,221
Downloaded what I thought was an AVI through KaZaA... Doesn't play and I can't get rid of the damn thing. I rebooted into Safe Mode and it still said that it was being used by another program. Tried Ad-Aware and AVG antivirus. Even borrored Spybot from work. Tonight, I fired up KaZaA, thinking that it was linked though that somehow and that would allow me to delete it. Nope. I am running DietK, so i'm not a complete newbie. I fired up HiJackThis and cleaned out some obvious stuff, but it's till there.

Any ideas? Is there a program out there that let you delete a file no-matter-what?
 
Hmmmm, let me think here a sec. OK. You need to turn off System Restore. This is what is keeping it on your system.

Do this:

All Programs> Accessories> System Tools> System Restore> System Restore Settings> Place a check in Turn Off System Restore> Apply

Reboot into Safe Mode

Run AVG Antivirus. After the file is found delete it.

Run AVG again.

Run all Spyware/Adware programs you have. DO NOT RUN HIJACK THIS!!! It causes problems when run in Safe Mode. You actually don't need to run it for this anyway.

After all of this done. Reboot normally and run AVG again. You should be clear.

And get rid of Kazaa. It sucks. It is very, very bad.
 
write down the full file path, i.e: C:\folder\subfolder\sub-sub folder\file.ext then create a boot disk. Boot from that and use the del command followed by the full file path.

Edit: do the above as well. Sometimes I have issues with files not wanting to be deleted, but this is usually fixed by a qick reboot. Anything more persistent may be a sign of no-goodedness.
 
worst case scenario you can burn a cd that will let you boot into linux, like the business sized one found here: www.lnx-bbc.org. linux should have no problem working with the hard drive. it's kind of a drastic move though.

Pete
 
Um, the suggestions others gave you will get rid of the file (which is probably a trojan, or a glitch in Kazaa) but it might make your system unusable so iwoudl advise AGAINST those steps.

Download ProcessXP (or a similar tool that displays process information on Windows machines) and search for that particular file. Note which processes have that file open. Use common sense when killing those processes (via Task Manager) - if you're not sure what yo uare doing then come back here with the list of processes that keep that file open and we'll provide you with further instructions.,

If/When you kill the process(es) that keep that file open make sure you understand what those processes do. If they are trojans of some kind they might rely on that particular file and need to be removed entirely (i had to remove one manually few months ago because none of the anti-virus programs would even detect it), that means ALL the files associated with it (not just the one that's been bugging you) and all the references to them anywhere (in registry or else in configuration files).

Either way, get PcessXP first (it's a free tool, look it up on Google) and come back with the results (or don't blame us for trashing your system :D ). Process i described is not a toy (and unlike what others said is far more likely to result in remedy of the problem rather than fixing of the symptom with problem still persisting).
 
I've had that problem as well. Some stuff from Kazaa just won't delete. Annoying as hell. Kazaa is bad but i use it sometimes when i can't get stuff from anywhere else.

Anyway, get mcafee quicklean or shredder. I think shredder is in quickclean. I've had no problems deleting troublesome files with it.

I think you can also download free file shredders which will do the job. I just tried Absoluteshield File Shredder .

It should work and it's a quick download and install.
 
note that there is a version of Kazaa (Kazaa Lite ++) that has been sanitized of all spy/ad ware, and functions quite well. Unfortunately, it's (slightly) illegal.
Bit of snooping around should find you a copy (hint--other FTP or Bittorrent services).
Works quite well, and no nasty.

Another good FTP utility is EMule, which is likewise free of such things.
 
Below is the report from ProcessXP: Everything loks fine to me. I clicked on the bad program and it kicked the CPU usage of Expolrer.exe to 97-100% (which tends to slows things down just a tad...). Beyond that, I didn't see any other processes that looked like they didn't belong.

(edited x2 - Opened the file through ProcessXP, and it didn't have any effect on anything. Just the normal "Can't Play File" error. When I closed Media Player, everything was cool. Based on these experiences, I'm going to torh that file!:mad: )

Process PID CPU Description Company Name
System Idle Process 0
Interrupts n/a 1 Hardware Interrupts
DPCs n/a Deferred Procedure Calls
System 4
SMSS.EXE 396 Windows NT Session Manager Microsoft Corporation
CSRSS.EXE 620 1 Client Server Runtime Process Microsoft Corporation
WINLOGON.EXE 644 Windows NT Logon Application Microsoft Corporation
SERVICES.EXE 688 Services and Controller app Microsoft Corporation
SVCHOST.EXE 888 Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation
SVCHOST.EXE 988 Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation
SVCHOST.EXE 1172 Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation
SVCHOST.EXE 1244 Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation
LEXBCES.EXE 1300 LexBce Service Lexmark International, Inc.
LEXPPS.EXE 1336 LEXPPS.EXE Lexmark International, Inc.
SPOOLSV.EXE 1344 Spooler SubSystem App Microsoft Corporation
avgamsvr.exe 1964 AVG Alert Manager GRISOFT, s.r.o.
avgupsvc.exe 176 AVG Update Service GRISOFT, s.r.o.
SVCHOST.EXE 240 Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation
LSASS.EXE 700 LSA Shell (Export Version) Microsoft Corporation
explorer.exe 1628 97 Windows Explorer Microsoft Corporation
hkcmd.exe 1716 hkcmd Module Intel Corporation
IntelMEM.exe 1724 Modem Event Monitor Application Intel Corporation
tfswctrl.exe 1732 Drive Letter Access Component Sonic Solutions
2portalmon.exe 1744 HomePortal Monitor Application by 2Wire Engineering 2Wire, Inc.
dlbkbmgr.exe 1780 Dell AIO Printer A920Button Manager Dell Computer Corporation
dlbkbmon.exe 1864 Dell AIO Printer A920Button Monitor Dell Computer Corporation
LVComS.exe 1828 LVCom Server Logitech Inc.
realsched.exe 1880 RealNetworks Scheduler RealNetworks, Inc.
avgcc.exe 1900 AVG Control Center GRISOFT, s.r.o.
mmtask.exe 1924 <Musicmatch System Tray Application> Musicmatch Inc.
procexp.exe 2456 Sysinternals Process Explorer Sysinternals
IEXPLORE.EXE 520 Internet Explorer Microsoft Corporation

(Edited to add Bold)
 
Let me as a computer question. My hompage on IE got hijacked.(yes I was looking at porn :( :) ) I downloaded cwshredder with spysubtract and ran my pc cillin and ad aware with no luck. What do I do now? A friend said to search the site that hi jacked me on google and most likely someone will have a way to fix it. Any suggestions?
 
If you look at the properties of the file, what does the security tab say? Does your user account have privelege to delete the file?

You can also try this after starting in safe Mode:

1. Open a DOS prompt
2. Navigate to the folder that contains the offending file through your DOS prompt.
3. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del and open Task Manager.
4. Shut down the Explorer process. This will cause your desktop to disappear.
5. Delete the offending file from the DOS prompt
6. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del and open Task Manager. Do a File-Run and start explorer.exe. Your desktop should reappear.

You may also try moving the file to a different folder before deleting. A scandisk could also help alleviate the problem.
 
Buzzbait said:
If you look at the properties of the file, what does the security tab say? Does your user account have privelege to delete the file?

You can also try this after starting in safe Mode:

1. Open a DOS prompt
2. Navigate to the folder that contains the offending file through your DOS prompt.
3. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del and open Task Manager.
4. Shut down the Explorer process. This will cause your desktop to disappear.
5. Delete the offending file from the DOS prompt
6. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del and open Task Manager. Do a File-Run and start explorer.exe. Your desktop should reappear.

You may also try moving the file to a different folder before deleting. A scandisk could also help alleviate the problem.
Click to expand...
Tried KV's solution, no luck. AVG didn't find the file... (did remember to turn on System Restore!)

Went to the file, right clicked, and tried to click Properties... Would never open! It wouldn't let me see the properties.

So... Fired up the DOS prompt... and... Okay... I've done DOS... How do I change directories???:confused: :D I had to dig REAL deep to get that back. Followed the directions and went to delete the file. Had a looooooog file name so I typed in the first three words and ended with *.*... It asked me to comfirm (which should have been a clue!)

Yep. Blitzed the while directory! Only about 20-25 files. :footinmou After I realized what I'd done, I wrote down the file names so I can hunt for them again.

Oh, It DID get rid of the file!!:eek: Which is a good thing as I probably would have used a 12 guage next!.

Thanks for the help everyone!
 
Grim/Don said:
Below is the report from ProcessXP: Everything loks fine to me.
Click to expand...

I didn't meanyou to cut and paste the front page :) Now that you got ProcessXP please start it again, click Find/Handle and enter the name of offending file (the one that wouldn't close) there. A search window will pop up with result, note all the processes that have that file open. Then tell us whih processes are that have that file open - if it's just Kazaa then simply kill it (depending on your settings you exiting Kazaa might just move it to that quick-launch box or whatever it's called).

I clicked on the bad program and it kicked the CPU usage of Expolrer.exe to 97-100% (which tends to slows things down just a tad...). Beyond that, I didn't see any other processes that looked like they didn't belong.[/quote[

I don't see that program anywhere on the list of your processes. Explorer.exe is a normal process that is supposed to be there (killing it will cause your system to restart and/or respawn explorer.exe).

realsched.exe 1880 RealNetworks Scheduler RealNetworks, Inc.
Click to expand...

Are you sure you need this ? RealNetworks software is notorious for the number of spyware it brings with it ("free" versions, i'm not sure whether there are any payable spyware-free versions out there).
Click to expand...
 
It's good to hear that you got rid of the nasty file. It sounds like there was an error in the file system of your hard drive. This happens sometimes, causing the Explorer interface to completely wig out. A simple DOS prompt is much simpler and less buggy, making it a much better tool for removing problem files. It would be worth running a Scandisk at this point to patch up any remaining problems.

I hear that the File Manager interface from the Windows 3.1 days is also good for these problems, and is included as a utility somewhere on the Windows XP installation CD.
 
I had the same problem several time. My bro showed me a tip to erase those files.
create a text file with the exact same name than the file you want to erase
save it on your desktop
change the .TXT extension by .avi (or whatever the other extension is)
copy and paste this file in the folder where your "movie" is
say yes when you're asked to replace the existing file
last : erase the new "movie"

It worked for me a couple of time (and frankly, it only takes a minute ;) )
 
Grim/Don said:
Downloaded what I thought was an AVI through KaZaA... Doesn't play and I can't get rid of the damn thing. I rebooted into Safe Mode and it still said that it was being used by another program. Tried Ad-Aware and AVG antivirus. Even borrored Spybot from work. Tonight, I fired up KaZaA, thinking that it was linked though that somehow and that would allow me to delete it. Nope. I am running DietK, so i'm not a complete newbie. I fired up HiJackThis and cleaned out some obvious stuff, but it's till there.

Any ideas? Is there a program out there that let you delete a file no-matter-what?
Click to expand...
Glad you got rid of it, but I think I know what the problem was.

There is a known problem with AVI file in windows.
When you click on the file. windows tries to create a preview of the file(sometimes even if preview is turned off)....If windows has problems creating the preview, it never closes the file...That means that you can never delete it from explorer...There is a utility that fixes this problem, but I do not know where it is right now...
You can go to autopatcher.com and download autopatcher xp and one of the patches it includes it the fix for that problem.
 
doomonyou said:
Let me as a computer question. My hompage on IE got hijacked.(yes I was looking at porn :( :) ) I downloaded cwshredder with spysubtract and ran my pc cillin and ad aware with no luck. What do I do now? A friend said to search the site that hi jacked me on google and most likely someone will have a way to fix it. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

System Restore can fix this--I've used it several times (several hijackings) and it worked perfectly. Once you do that, start using Firefox or Opera instead of IE. Just be prepared to reinstall any software you've added since the hijacking.
 
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