deleting files that won't delete

[XtrPickels]

quick computer question...
downloaded some episodes of the Sopranos. One season buried itself 6 or so folders deep.. inside the season 4 folder is a season 4 folder is a season 4 folder etc.

I try to delete and it says that the names are too big for recycle bin, do i want to delete permenately. Click yes and it says access denied.

If i go through all the folders to get to the files, the properties are "hidden and write protected" If i change that and hit okay, it goes back to hidden and write protected on its own when i check again.

Nothing has come up in spyware, adware or virus checkers.
Anyway to just delete the files without right clicked and choosing delete?

[Squatch]

are the files locked?

they sound sketchy. don't download sketchy files the same way you'd avoid skanky women.

[DownhillRider]

Easiest way that's worked for me is to restart, hit f8 a bunch during bootup until you can get in to safe mode, then delete them in safe mode. If that doesn't work there's some other ways too, but I think it'd work.

[Knight]

I've had this issue a couple times when my hard drive needs a defrag, so you might want to check that.

[splat]

I had some shit like that, but worse, and it was spyware because I found after spybot identified it. Once I deleted it, it would attach itself the next folder. Next thing I know, I'm deleting necessary shit. Can you batch delete all the temp files and dump it?

[babel]

Possibly stupid question, but are you still running the download program? If the program is using the files (people are downloading from you) you wouldn't be able to delete them.

[bio-smear]

Possibly stupid question, but are you still running the download program? If the program is using the files (people are downloading from you) you wouldn't be able to delete them.

Not really a stupid question. Another process may have a lock on the files. Make sure that's not the case first, and then do this:


Boot with F8, Safe mode/single user mode, to a DOS prompt if possible.

This next part is clutch that you get it right. If you fuck it up, you could dump your hard drive.

If you didn't boot to a DOS prompt, go to Start > Run and type 'cmd' , click OK.

type:

rmdir c:\folder1\folder2\folder3 /s /q

Where folder1, folder2, and folder3 is just my speculative example of what your directory structure might be. folder 3 is the folder you want to recursively delete. folder1 and folder2 will not be deleted.

If it's a lot of data, it could take a few minutes. When it completes a new prompt will appear.

[Blurred]

I had some shit like that, but worse, and it was spyware because I found after spybot identified it. Once I deleted it, it would attach itself the next folder. Next thing I know, I'm deleting necessary shit. Can you batch delete all the temp files and dump it?

I've got something kind of like that. Spybot finds it, but I can't fucking delete the thing!

[Steven S. Dallas]

It's a trick question-you can't delete files that won't delete. I suggest you crack your hard drive open and talk to the band of tiny gnomes that live inside and operate it. Maybe the 6,304 of you can come to an agreement.

[BLOODSWEATSTEEL]

It's a trick question-you can't delete files that won't delete. I suggest you crack your hard drive open and talk to the band of tiny gnomes that live inside and operate it. Maybe the 6,304 of you can come to an agreement.

Wow. I laughed pretty fkn hard at that.

[XtrPickels]

updated spybot and adaware, nothing helped. Ran virus check, nothing.
Booted in Safe mode and tried to delete... same thing.
I've deleted all temp files since I've noticed it (Kinda forgot until i was going to burn other seasons on a disk) I'll try that again.

All the folders say they are 0bytes, but when I get down to the files, the folder says that its 3.54 gigs. The file sizes are what they should be, it almost seems like the files got corrupted when i deleted them ebfore

[splat]

Pickels - look up the thread i had in here for deleting a process a couple weeks ago.

Got some good suggestions on deleting shit permanently.

[milton]

a couple things to try when you are booted into safe mode:

-Deleting files with reserved name in windows:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;120716

-Go into command prompt (DOS), navigate to the directory. Run the command "attrib -s -h -r <filename>" w/o quotes, this will remove hidden/system/read-only attributes. If the filenames are really super long just use wildcard "*" instead of the <filename>, this will take care of all the files in the current directory. Next, try to delete with the "del" command, "del <filename>". You might need to run the same "attrib" command on the parent directory first.

[daPig]

sometimes windows will freak out if the path to a folder gets too long, this usually happens when theres long folder names that have been duplicated many times through the directory structure accidentally or maliciously. If this is your problem the trick is to reduce the character length of the path by changing the folder names.

Try this....back up the file you need to keep from the directory structure by copying it to another folder somewhere where you will remember its location. Go into the problem directory and use explorer to get to your deepest folder. Rename it "1". Go to the next folder up and name it "2", and so on until you get to the root of your directory. This will shorten the length of the path to one character per folder and when you are finished you should be able to delete the whole bunch, but you may have to delete them one at a time (its been a while since I have worked with this stuff).

[wanghoeby]

Not sure if this is still a problem for you but here my solution. I use "File Unlocker" and so far it seems to be the shiznit. A quick google search should lead you to the right place.

[doublediamond223]

You could always use a linux boot disk to explore your drive without running any of the windows processes.

[Nobody Famous]

If all else here fails try this. Look into what, if anything is locking the file, and stop that process from running.

Download a utility named Process Explorer from here. No need to install it, just run it from where you save the download. On the menu click Find > File Handle or DLL... Enter the file name, and click Search. If anything is listed as locking the file, you have the cause of the problem.

[Crock]

[laseranimal]

holy thread bump!!!!