I can't delete 2 files

Hi,

Yesterday I was at the NASA site, downloading some short videos and jpg's to drive D. When I tried to delete two files that I couldn't open, they can't be deleted.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap101109.html

I tried "unlocker" but it didn't help.

I've downloaded a lot of files from this site over the past few years with never a problem. It's secure, no spyware, viruses, etc.

Does anyone know what's going on with these 2 files and how I can delete them?

 

Is your D Drive your recovery drive? if it is thats most probably your problem !

 

Only drive C has system restore checked.

 

Is drive D: a flash or external drive?

 

Whats your OS ?
Have you tried opening Hidden files and folders in Safe Mode then try and delete, then reboot !

 

I have Windows XP Pro x64.

Drive D is a partition of the hdd that has drive C on it.

I haven't tried this but I will soon, thanks. I'll let you know if it worked.

 

I can't get into Safe Mode. I tried tapping the F8 key but it didn't work, then I tried the F5 key, which worked on another pc that I had. I tried both a couple of times. Could it be another key?

 

F8 is what gets you into Safe Mode. Not sure why F5 would work. Try tapping F8 again as the computer is booting. I have deleted files using this method. Do this in an administrator account.

click Start>Run and type "cmd" in the box without the quotes.
at the prompt type cd D:\Wall buU\Astron\New
Enter
type "dir" - no quotes
Enter - You should see the two files listed
If the file names are the same as what is shown in your attachment, type the following else you will have to type in the whole file name exactly as shown in the "dir" command.

del a detailed*.*
Enter
del Artist's*.*
Enter

This will delete all files with the first names shown so be careful if there are any other files shown using the "dir" command

 

At first, I tapped F8, once from reset and once after I completely shut down. I just tried again after completely shutting down but it booted straight to Windows.

For some reason, that pc needed F5. It was strange but it was what did it

I couldn't get past this part.

I was able to change the name of the folder from 'Wall buU' to 'WallbuU' but I got the same result.

 

You have to type "cd" without quotes before the path so it would be

cd D:\WallbuU\Astron\New

If you changed the name of Wall buU to WallbuU

 

Our posts crossed . . .


I didn't type CD the first time I tried. Here's what I got when I did. The directory won't change from C:\Docs and Settings\Administrator.

 

Okay.

At the prompt of C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator

Type D:\
Enter
Then
cd D:\WallbuU\Astron\New

 

I tried that previously but it says: "D:\ is not recognized as an internal or extrnal command, operable program or batch file." and it goes right back to C:\Docs and Settings\Admin

But I was able to: cd C:\ but not cd D:\

 

Sorry about that. at the prompt type:

D:
Enter

Then
cd D:\WallbuU\Astron\New


Kind of rusty on the dos commands.

 

It found the files but I couldn't delete them in dos. I first tried with .*. and then with ..*. because the file name as a . at the end of it. It has no ext when I unchecked Hide Extension in Control Panel > Folders > View

 

Since you have only two files in that Dir (New) you can try to delete by using the following command. Just make sure you are in the "New" directory and not somewhere else or you will delete everything in that directory.

type

del *.*
Enter

 

Did I do it right, I'm not sure but it didn't work . . .

 

you have to have a space after the del command so it would be

del<SPACE>*.*

 

It's a stubborn little file . . .

 

Wow, I am not sure what to do now except maybe boot to a linux distro like Puppy linux and try to delete them. Puppy is good because it defaults to root when booting. Download the iso and burn it. If that does not delete it, I would not know what else to suggest. Also, you could do this with a BartPE CD if you have one.

There may be one more way to do this if you are will to delete the whole NEW directory.

Make sure your path is D:\WallbuU\Astron
then type
rd<space>/s<space>New
This will remove the Help directory along with any files in it.

 

In my last post I meant to say New but typed Help. Sorry

 

I tried the above . . .

d:\WallbuU\Astron<enter>

rd /s New<enter>

It asked me if was sure, I typed y<enter>

then I rec'd the message "The system cannot find the file specified"

If I transferred all the other files on the hdd to an ext hdd and then formatted the drive, do you think these files might stop a format?

 

What types of files are these? I can't help but think that if you were to rename the extensions, you may be able to manipulate them.

 

These files don't have an extension.

 

I do not think you should think of formatting if the files have zero bytes. Try the Puppy Linux disk and see if you can delete them. But, formatting should not be a problem even with those files.

 

I would try to rename them to something short like "one" and "two". You probably won't be able to because of some error.

Then I would do a chkdsk to see if that helps whether you can rename them or not.

 

Hello,
Yes in her first post, she said she tried Unlocker.

 

In Windows Explorer's Folder and search options > View > Advanced settings, uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types" > Ok.
If the files then show extensions, what are they? If not, then give them an extension such as '.jpg', '.mov', whatever. Windows might bark at you, but do it anyway.
Then see if you can do anything with the files.

 

I can't rename the files. I get a message that says "Cannot rename file: Cannot read from the source file or disk." and, right, Unlocker doesn't work.

 

Doing a chkdsk on D: couldn't hurt. My Computer>right click D:>Properties>Tools>Check drive for Errors. Mark both boxes and OK.

 

This may sound crazy, but what if you right click on the file and do a cut then do a View>Refresh.

 

Delete them in dos using delete tree command.
Somtines what apears to be one file is realy a dirctory structure thats hidden within a file name such as gzmart.dll

looks like 1 file but is realy a full directory with lots of sub directorys and files within.

 

The chkdsk just finished but the files are still there.

They were still there after the refresh.

What are the commands for it?

They were short videos, about 30 seconds each. I clicked only once to d/l each of them.

 

Did you ever watch those videos--I'm asking because I want to know if they completed downloading.

 

I heard the tone that sounds when a d/l completes. A video file from this site won't appear in a folder unless it completely downloads. After completely downloading, "Coping file" shows for a couple of seconds then the file appears in the folder.

I downloaded about 20 videos from the site yesterday. The others are ok, np.

 

http://www.computerhope.com/deltree.htm

Not sure how you are accessing dos but here is a guide for the dos command deltree

example
deltree c:\fake010

 

Other people have had luck deleting zero byte files with no extension using

Delete Doctor

It can delete Multiple ways.

http://www.softpedia.com/screenshots/Delete-Doctor_1.png

 

you have to access through dos without windows running it wont let you delete the file I belive because its being used by another program?

can you boot to just dos without loading windows from a dos boot disk not the command program?

 

Thank you all for your help . . . it's much appreciated !!

I tried: deltree d:\wallbuu and d:\wallbuu\astron\new but it didn't work.

I tried Delete Doctor and tried to delete the files and folder immediately and on boot-up but it didn't work.

This isn't something that I'd do. I usually run into problems when I try something that I don't know how to get out of. If I have to do something like this, it would be easier for me to transfer all the files on drive D to an ext hdd, format the drive if possible, and transfer the files back again.

I don't know why I can't get into Safe Mode by tapping F8. Something is wrong.

 

The files are short videos, about 30 seconds. The other files are either .mov, m4v, or zip. When I uncheck Hide extensions for known file types, there is no extension. I attached a screenshot when I had the box unchecked and extensions are seen for other files.

 

The reason is the files are a trojin and have taken part of your computer to store data which the hacker or spy where can access later through a back door.
the door is open and the files are being acessed or used which would cause the program to crash if they are deleted (windows safety).

The only way to remove the files is to never have them open at boot.
meaning the only way is to boot to another operating system (dos) from a win 98 floppy lol or another method.

then you would still have to use a 2nd program in dos to enable you to read from an ntfs drive. (NTFS4DOS) running in DOS

then using deltreee or just delete if its a single file.

unless you can find the current program which has these files open like in a media player which starts on boot. close that program and then try and delete the files.(in which case it would not be a trojin but a matter of a program having the file open at boot.

 

Just to answer your earlier question formatting will definitely delete the files for you. If that is not a big deal to you and you just want to get this over with that will work.

I think the files are temporary place holders that your download manager puts into the folder during downloading. When the download completes it usually removes that empty file and copies the actual movie from the temp folder over.

For some reason those place holder files are corrupt. Your error message is "file not found". Not "file is being used".

I haven't found a solution yet but I am curious how this gets resolved.

 

All the other files that I have open with VLC MP. The only other video program that I use is Media Player Classic Home Cinema.

Is it the concensus that the files are trojans?

 

If this is the case, or they are items left behind by a Trojan or some kind of virus / spyware, then your better off clicking on this link http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=208809 and following the instructions then posting back into malware forum !

 

The possibility that the files were dangerous didn't enter my head because I got them from the NASA site, not just a site that has pics/videos of galaxies.

I just ran Avast for the files. The first one was a high threat, a keygen, and the second was no threat. I sent the threat to the chest to be deleted when I reboot. I've started moving everything from drive D to an external and when its finished, I'll format the drive and move everything back.

Before running the malware suite here, I'll keep an eye out for probs. I'm interested in seeing if I can get into Safe Mode after I reboot and Avast deletes the threat.

I'll let you know how things turn out.

 

Good luck, Denise - keep us posted.

 

I don't think they are trojans. I use the Download Helper addon to firefox and it puts a blank file in a folder until a video completes downloading. I think your files are just those blank files that remain because they were not replaced when the video completed for whatever reason.

What is interesting is Avast describes the keygen as on drive U: which is not drive D: the location of the original files.

 

I didn't notice that until now. . . I don't know why Avast would've come up with that. I highlighted one of the files that I was having the problem with and clicked for Avast to scan it.

I just checked the entire drive with Avast and it found no probs.