File won't delete, won't open, freezes computer?

Hi!

I'm posting a question received from a friend of mine who is having a frustrating time with a file. Quoted;
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Can you help??? I've got a file I can't delete or open, and it freezes up the computer when we try. When we try to delete it, it says, "this file is in use by another program or person." But it says then even when absolutely nothing else is running. The file is under my documents. When we go to it, it freezes everything up. It has a Windows media player signature on it, with an extension of .avi--it's a movie. The file is called Mr.and Mrs.Smith.avi I wondered if the filename having the periods through it may have affected it so tried to rename it, but wouldn't allow us to do that either!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the meantime, I've found that you guys will ask posters to scan their computer to look for any underlying problems. I have the following programs/links myself, so figured that I'd get her to try some of these to see if they would help;

AntiVirus Full System Scan
AdAware
Spybot Search & Destroy
Spyware Blaster
Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool
Windows Defender (Beta)
CCleaner (aka Crap Cleaner)

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

Try deleting it in safe mode.

 

Thanks! I'll pass that on to her!

 

Also try this>

Open NOTEPAD and then click on "OPEN". Navigate to the file in the little Notepad "explorer" window and right click on the .avi file and delete it.

 

Thank you! I will pass this on as well, I haven't heard from her yet.

 

Ok, just received an e-mail from her.......

"no, no luck!! Tried the notepad thing, but still won't let me delete it. In fact it froze up Notepad!! Thanks so much. Will take any suggestions if more come your way."

 

What file is it?

 

As stated above in the first post.

 

Updated
This is the latest that I received from my friend on the details of her file problem ....

Quoted
"Everytime I shut my computer down, it says it has to end "explorer.exe" ? but nothing is running ? the executable program for internet explorer is iexplore.exe, so what the h is explorer.exe and what's it doing? Wondering if that has anything to do with the fact that I can't delete the avi file--cause it says the avi file is being used by another program or person. maybe this is the program?"

 

Explorer.exe is the program that gives you your taskbar, desktop, etc.

If your friend downloaded the file using a p2p programme, make sure that programme is closed too(and not running in the taskbar)

Did your friend try one of the freeware programmes here at majorgeeks that are designed to delete stubborn files?
This one for instance. I've never used it, but it sounds like it might be worth a try.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Delete_Doctor_d4473.html

 

Thanks, I'll e-mail this to her.

 

And another way>

Close all open applications.
Open a command prompt and navigate to the directory with the offending files.
Then open the Task Manager and click on the Processes tab. select "explorer.exe" under Image Name. Click "End Process".
That will leave you with only the command prompt and the task manager running.
Now at the Command Prompt, its time to delete the file(s). Using the DEL command. Example c:>\movies\DEL movie.avi
Now the files are deleted, go to the task manager and click on the Applications tab. Click the "New Task" button. in the dialog, type explorer.exe and click OK.

For folders the command is 'rd'.

 

Try this.

Boot into Safe mode, With Admin user, Right click on the file go to propeties, Click permissions, Check deny on all users, Reboot, navigate to the file and delete should delete without issues.

 

I'll let her know, thank you.

 

Hi!

I haven't heard anymore from her regarding this stubborn file that refuses to delete. Does anyone have any further ideas as to how to get rid of the file? (We're both computer dummies, so please be easy on us, lol)
Thanks!

 

Hi!
Received an e-mail from her, she would like to know how you get to the "command prompt". Thanks!
(Is that when you click on Start, click on Run?)

 

It's in the start menu. or should be.

The other way is start/run/cmd.

 

Thanks!

 

There is a handy free program called "moveonboot" that works super great. ITs free "google it" after you install it. Right click on the file and click on it and select "delete on next boot." After the reboot is done. Right click on the file one last time and delete it. "Moveonboot" has never failed me once. Works great

 

Move on Boot is good and so is Unlocker available here at MG under Admin Tools at
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Unlocker_d4660.html
Cheers
Robert

 

a program called pocket killbox will probably do it:

download it at this website.


good luck.

 

Great! Thanks so much guys! Lots of great suggestions!

 

Ok, one last bump, sorry to bring up an older thread.

She got in touch with me today, and says she still can't get the file to go away. Any other last attempts to rid of this annoying file? (Won't delete, causes freezing, and says that another person or program is using it.)

Thank you

 

Hello, oops, this has happened to me before but dont know if this will help your friend. A couple of options they could try are: Download some video codecs @ www.free-codecs.com ;

or since this is a video file, whenever you open a folder w/ video or pics, windows automatically creates a file called thumbs.db.

So tell that person to open up any folder, go to tools, folder options, view, and check the box "Do not cache thumbnails." And that way you could hopefully delete the file .

Otherwise, Hipster Doofus method should have worked.

 

If we knew the exact path to this file it would help.

I'm surprised the pocket killbox didn't fix this issue.

But, typically for stubborn files, I usually reboot into safemode with command prompt.

This way, you are in safe mode, and the command shell is open.

then I'd navigate to the file in question via the CD command
such as if the file was on the desktop:

cd%userprofile%\desktop (press enter)
del offendingfile.blah.avi (press enter) Hint, if you do not want to type in the full name of the file, you can just type in 4 or 5 characters then hit the TAB key to fill in the rest.

Once the file is deleted, type in:

shutdown -r (press enter) this will shut down the machine in 30 seconds and reboot.

If the file still has issues of deleteing, recovery console works also.

 

Thank you! I'll e-mail her.

 

As her where the file path is? As in the location of the file she is having issues with! This will help!

 

Hi! This is what she sent to me......
Thanks!

c:\Documents and Settings\Tammy\My Documents\Mr.andMrs.Smith.avi